Holy shift! This Puget Sound typewriter calendar has the write stuff

Sure, you could walk into any mall, grocery, or bookstore and find an array of calendars. They'll feature national parks, old cars, maybe even giant cats destroying cities. But do any have typewriters? Typewriters from the Puget Sound region?

Over the past few years, Heidi Lewis has organized the production of a typewriter calendar featuring antique machines from Puget Sound area collectors. She does it for free, in her spare time.

The calendar photos are donated by members of a Facebook group she started in 2018 — Puget Sound Typewriter Enthusiasts. All proceeds go to Bremerton Typewriter Company, where the calendar is sold. The repair shop has become a hub for the region's niche, and fervent, typewriter community.

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“I wanted a calendar for my wall, so why not let other people be a part of it?" Lewis said. "It seemed silly to me just to take a bunch of pictures of my own machines and put it on my own wall. I thought, ‘Well, I'm enjoying my time with these people. I've made some real connections. Why not put that together?’”

Lewis has spent her life bouncing between Western Washington and Switzerland, where she currently lives. Inspired by the Swiss' penchant for starting clubs around niche interests, she formed a Facebook group to see if there were others like her in the Puget Sound region. The group quickly added a couple hundred like-minded members sharing photos of their collections, providing maintenance tips, and organizing local type-ins (in-person meet ups for typewriter fans).

I too am one of those nerds, er … enthusiasts. I will sometimes pull down a typewriter to write birthday cards, post cards, or just to brainstorm ideas. By hardcore collector standards, I’m not impressive and only have about seven typewriters at home (four of which actually work). While Lewis’ personal collection once held more than 100, she currently has it down to about 50.

Still, could one of my prized typewriters make the calendar cut? When Lewis asked for submissions for the 2026 calendar, I began wondering if I had any model-worthy machines on the shelf.

The sleek and dainty Skyriter? Perhaps, but it could use a good cleaning and isn't runway ready. My Olympia SM3 is too hipster to be interested in such attention. The Smith-Corona is a bit of a wallflower and likes to blend in with the crowd. But perhaps, the Royal. Yes, a 1921 Royal No. 10. At over 100 years old, it’s got the look: smooth lines, shiny black paint, and gold lettering. It teases you with ornate glass windows, offering a peek at what's under the hood. It has angles that would make Zoolander proud!

But is it good enough for the Puget Sound typewriter calendar?

Why typewriters?

While Lewis handles the busy work behind the scenes, Bremerton Typewriter Company handles the sales. Profits go to support the shop in downtown Bremerton. If you need supplies or repairs, this is pretty much it for the region. Who comes into the shop? “Everyone,” according to owner Paul Lundy.

“When you visit the shop and talk to customers, you will find a wide variety of stories on the fascination with typewriters,” Lundy said. “From kids discovering them for the first time to more experienced folks re-discovering the utility of the most basic writing machine.”

“I listen to the shop visitors that tell me of the therapeutic quality of getting thoughts directly on paper,” he said. “The way barriers drop when sitting in front of the typewriter. I could go on, and so do my customers.”

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People come to typewriters for many reasons. They exist in stark contrast with modern life on screens in a disposable world. They're outdated. They're also fun. They're dusty, and they're more beautiful to look at than any current writing device. Unlike your friends/relatives who only read clickbait headlines, yet still have a lot to say on Facebook, a person must slow down to use a typewriter, think, and be intentional. Your iPhone, laptop, and even your attitude will be outdated by the time you become accustomed to it. But if you care for a typewriter, it will last through the years and then it will be there for others.

In an age of word processing and spell check, auto formatting, and a plethora of font options, typewriters just do one thing. Press down a key, up goes a hammer onto a piece of paper, it makes a mark. That’s it. Mistakes stay on the page. You can’t copy/paste a paragraph that you suddenly feel would work better elsewhere in an article (which I have done while writing this one, numerous times). With every key pressed, you are participating to form words, thoughts, or Christmas cards, all without any need for electricity.

For Lewis, who discovered she had ADHD as an adult, typewriters also proved to be a decent remedy. With notifications and pop-up windows, computers are often quite distracting.

“It's a kind of a feast for the senses,” Lewis said. “Not only can you feel the keys more than you would on a computer keyboard, you feel the keys, you feel the tension, you can feel all of the parts of the machine; that the key attaches internally through various metal rods and nuts and bolts and ends up at the slug, which hits a rubber platen. All of that is translated through your fingers."

“And you also have the sound,” she added. “Every letter you type produces a sound. And so, it becomes a kind of music … when I'm writing, I get into a groove, and the sound of that machine is part of the experience of it.”

A typewriter calendar

Toward the end of each year, Lewis takes typewriter photo submissions from across Puget Sound.

“I love color,” she said. “You know these go on people's walls … I want something that's visually appealing ... in the summer months, it's nice to have brighter colors. You have machines that are very bright, especially from the ’50s and ’60s. You got some really candy-colored machines. Or, for example, last year for the 2025 calendar, we had one that was staged next to an old ’50s classic Oldsmobile. And that was perfect for me if there was sort of a red, white, and blue theme going on there.”

Lewis organizes the photos, a helpful relative designs the calendar, and Bremerton Typewriter Company gets them printed and handles the sales.

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She has few requirements, mainly that photo files are large enough to be printed. Other than that, she gets a vibe for each typewriter and goes with it.

“A couple of years ago, one of the group members submitted a nicely staged photo of his typewriter alongside a black and white photo of his father. The photo is probably from either World War II or Korea, in military uniform, and a folded up American flag, like the ones you get as part of the military service. And I made sure to put that one as November, because of Veterans Day.”

She added that seasonal or holiday elements can sometimes place a photo in certain months.

My 1921 Royal No. 10 was actually brought back to life by Lundy over at Bremerton Typewriter Company. So in a way, it would come full circle to be in a calendar sold there.

The Royal No. 10 is not just a typist’s workhorse, it’s a work of art. It’s the model Hildy Johnson uses in “His Girl Friday.” Paul Sheldon writes on a No. 10 in Stephen King’s “Misery.” It’s the typewriter Taylor Swift hammers on in the black and white music video for “Fortnight.” It looks like it belongs on a desk inside the Addams Family home. It can give the vibes of a 1980s goth kid writing poetry while watching the changing autumn leaves fall to the ground; a poem that will inevitably end up as lyrics in a dark New Wave song.

My goal: Autumn. A very emo season.

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With little time to spare, my typewriter photoshoot took place quickly on a dock overlooking a chilly local lake as a cold autumn wind arrived. With some tiny pumpkin props, and colorful dried leaves, I guided the Royal through a few expressions — angles to look serious, pouty, joyful, introspective. I played Echo & The Bunnymen, for inspiration.

Then, we waited.

By mid-November, Lewis' work was done. The 2026 calendar was being sent to the printer. A preview was posted in Puget Sound Typewriter Enthusiasts. The Royal No. 10 made the October page.

The calendars will end up at the typewriter shop in downtown Bremerton, where Lundy continues to keep these machines hammering for local writers. Perhaps a few will return in the pages of next year's calendar.

“People love the annual Puget Sound Typewriter Enthusiast calendar for its rich photo collection of typewriters and the chance to get one of their own in print,” he said. “The response is amazing, selling out every year.”

Participation in the Puget Sound Typewriter Enthusiasts calendar is voluntary. The author of this article has received no compensation, nor will he receive royalties from the sale of the calendar. All proceeds support Bremerton Typewriter Company.