In days gone by, business professionals and distinguished authors jammed out their words onto paper by way of a typeball, back when the monkeybox was the cardinal means for communication. But if you think typewriters are a thing of the past, you’re sorely mistaken. There are plenty of nostalgics, hipsters and romantics out there that prefer to type with this retro mechanical machine instead of staring blankly at a Mac laptop. Sarasota Vintage Typewriters holds the largest selection in the country with makes/models from all over the world of the finest typewriters ever made. The one pictured happens to date back to 1958, once owned by a highly decorated Coast Guard officer, James D. Craik. No Remington Raider, Craik served in World War II as Chief Commander, and eventually was named Admiral of the Eighth Coast Guard District in New Orleans, receiving the Legion of Merit for personal direction of his forces in the rescue of 12,000 people imperiled along the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Betsy in 1965—proving these storytellers already hold some neat stories of their own. 

Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.

PHOTO BY WYATT KOSTYGAN.

Riding the recent movement to unplug and unwind, Sarasota Vintage Typewriters’ explains their mantra, “to disconnect ourselves and our children from the effects of our geometrically growing and unsustainable digital invasion”—an invasion most of us welcome and have adapted to easily. But if you’re feeling edgy, rebellious even, or just fed up with technology, dial it back to simpler times. Walk into work with one of these indispensable machines and let your boss know this is how you’ll be corresponding in the office from now on. We’re kidding, don’t do that. However, you could meander over to a park bench and letterpress an old-school poem to someone special with your inked ribbon. Picture a soldier writing to his sweetie from overseas and you’ll time travel via shift key back to the 1900s. No password or plug in necessary.