Tag: Vroman’s Bookstore

You’re invited to a Southern California Type-In!

Date
Saturday, May 10, 2025

Time
1:00 PM onwards

Location
Vroman’s Bookstore
695 E Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91101

2 blocks West of Lake Avenue, which has both East and Westbound exits off of the 210 Freeway.
We’ll be meeting upstairs on the second floor.  Parking available behind the bookstore as well as on surrounding streets. There is a handicapped accessible ramp (from the parking lot in rear) and entrance(s) with an elevator to the second floor as well.

What is a Type-in?

Type-ins are community-based, family friendly events at which typewriter enthusiasts share their love for the analog art of putting ink onto paper with mechanical marvels of the late 19th through 20th centuries. To do this they bring one or more manual typewriters and their knowledge and love of the machines to share with the community. New friends share stories, history, repair tips, working methods, and other typewriterly ephemera. Typists of all ages and levels of ability are welcome.

Typewriters optional
We definitely encourage those without their own machines to attend. With some luck and the kindness of new friends, you should be able to try out a variety of machines which are present in an effort to decide what styles and feel you might consider for purchasing one of your own one day. (Please kindly ask the owners’ permission before trying a machine out.) If you’ve got multiple typewriters, feel free to bring an extra for a friend.

“Like a jam session for people who like typewriters. You had unions do sit-ins and hippies do be-ins, so I thought, ‘We’ll do a type-in.’”
—Michael McGettigan, 56, bike shop owner who coined the phrase

Activities during the afternoon

  • Basic typewriter demonstrations covering: use, maintenance, and repair; how to find/buy typewriters, how to date the year of manufacture of your machine, etc.
  • Type up a message about how much your Mother means to you (May 11th is Mother’s Day)
  • Speed typing contest
  • Writing! (naturally)
    • poetry competition
    • letter and postcard writing;  bring some stationery/envelopes/stamps to write letters to friends & loved ones
    • Typing prompts for those who need inspiration for writing
  • Typewriter Art – composing visual pictures using ink on paper
  • Cadavre Exquis – a dedicated typewriter with paper is set up for participants to compose and write a group story, each taking turns throughout the event at writing one sentence at a time.
  • Impromptu lightning talks of 3-5 minutes on topics like “how to buy a typewriter”, “how to get into home typewriter repair”, “how to work a typewriter into your daily writing routine”, “how to join the Typosphere” etc.
  • Participants are encouraged to type up their experiences of the event for posting to their personal websites (aka the Typosphere).
  • Meet new pen pals to start exchanging letters via typewriter and post
  • Selfies with the typewriter mural on the front of the bookstore.
  • Typewriter repair advice: Have a broken machine and not sure what’s wrong? Get some advice from the community.
  • Bring and share your own ideas… What do you use your typewriter for?

Vroman’s Bookstore

Vroman’s Bookstore is a Pasadena institution and SoCal’s oldest indie bookstore since 1894 (almost as old as the invention of the typewriter itself!) While you’re visiting, be sure to check out not only their book selection, but their gifts and cards; the wide array of notebooks, stationery items and their fantastic fountain pen counter; and their children’s section. Downstairs stop by their and their excellent wine bar or Tepito Coffee Shop which will be open for snacks and beverages throughout the day.

Looking for Typewriter-related books while you’re there? Ask for some of the following:

  • The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist’s Companion for the 21st Century by Richard Polt (Countryman Press, 2015)
  • Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks (Knopf, 2017)
  • Typewriter Beach: A Novel by Meg Waite Clayton (Harper, July 2025)
  • Yankees, Typewriters, Scandals, and Cooperstown: A Baseball Memoir by Bill Madden (Triumph, April 2025)
  • Olivetti by Allie Millington (Feiwel & Friends, 2024)
  • Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin (Simon & Schuster, 2003) as well as other follow up books in the series
Two rows of four typewriters each lined up on opposite sides of a table.
Who’s ready for a type-in?!?

RSVP & Questions

Our meeting space, which is frequently used for author talks and book signings, should be adequate, but please RSVP (with your expected number of typewriters) so we can plan for the appropriate amount of tables and chairs.

Questions? Media queries? Contact: ChrisAldrich@jhu.edu

Read Your Local Bookstore Wants You to Know That It’s Struggling (nytimes.com)
Independent booksellers are desperate for customers to return, and not just for an online reading.
Bookmarked on: Oct 15, 2020 at 20:19

Avid Bookshop in Athens, Ga., sends personalized URLs to customers with a list of handpicked recommendations. ❧

Perhaps if they went the step further to set up domains for their customers, they could ostensibly use them not only as book blogs, but also to replace their social media habits?

An IndieWeb friendly platform run by your local bookseller might be out of their wheelhouse, but it could potentially help solve their proximal problem while also solving one of society’s problems all while helping to build community.
Annotated on October 16, 2020 at 12:51PM

Take Vroman’s Bookstore, a 126-year-old institution in Pasadena, Calif. It has more than 200 employees, 20,000 square feet of space and the rent to go along with it. In a normal year, it hosts anywhere from 300 to 400 events, bringing in authors for readings and signings, along with customers who buy books and maybe a glass of wine from the bar. But none of that is happening this year. ❧

Coincidentally I bought two books at Vroman’s yesterday and it looked reasonably busy for mid-day. (Maybe because of this article?)

It’s a bit disingenuous to mention wine at their bar as their wine bar was only finally open for a minute before the pandemic shut everything down.
Annotated on October 16, 2020 at 12:54PM

Like many other stores, Vroman’s is hosting online events to promote new books, which can attract attendees from all over the country but generally bring in almost no money. ❧

Maybe they need a book paywall for admission into those events? Buy a book to get the zoom code to get into the event?

David Dylan Thomas essentially did this for his recent book launch.
Annotated on October 16, 2020 at 12:55PM

In the best of times, the margins at a bookstore are paper thin — traditionally, a successful shop hopes to make 2 percent in profits — but operating during a pandemic is even more expensive. ❧

Yes—they said paper thin…
Annotated on October 16, 2020 at 12:57PM