, and pen repair shops.
[Doug Flax, also known by his username DocNib, posted this on Pentrace on Aug 29, 2008, and gave me permission to cross-post it on L&P on Aug 29, 2008, and now I am archiving it here.]
“Major pen shops and pen sellers should be on that list, too.
“Yes, the list could get quite long, but you can’t forget those pen shops in major or minor cities that helped keep interest alive in Contemporary and/or Vintage pens.
“Chicago has Sam Himoto at the Pen Hospital, our Flax on Wabash, Gilbertson Clybourn (?) on Michigan Ave., and even Marshall Fields had pens. We started with one 4’ showcase in 1978 in Chicago, and the same thing in Phoenix in 1980, and grew to about 15 within several years and got those “closet” collectors out into the light and got their collecting juices a flowin’. Now, they had somewhere to go and talk vintage, modern, or both.
“Many major cities had them, those bricks & mortar battlefields, in the early days before the Internet, that really worked hard to change the mind-set of the populace to using FP’s again, whether vintage or contemporary. After the “closet” collectors came the “believers” who just didn’t have many places to go to feed their habit and after them came the “non-believers” who had to see what the fuss was all about. Well, we see where that’s gone today, collectors and users everywhere you look, which is a good thing!
“By no means am I forgetting the shops that had been around for umpteen years, the FPH’s, the Arthur Brown’s, the Fred Krinke’s, the Jack Price’s, etc., these guys were, and still are! pioneers, but the addition of all the other shops helped bring this hobby into the limelight and make it a truly Global phenomenon!
“So let’s add the pen shop owners (current, retired or passed on) to what could become a very long list, and give them their due.
“Just my 2-cents, or maybe 4-cents, as I’ve rambled on a bit!”
And I wrote, “Along with Doug Flax’s list of pen shops and pen sellers we should include a list of the pen repair shops. Most pen shops had a repair shop in the back, but there were also some self-styled pen repair shops that also sold pens.
“Most people are familiar with the Fountain Pen Hospital in New York, but most people aren’t aware of all the other shops that used that name. The Angelus Pen Hospital in Los Angelus is now named The Fountain Pen Shop, and is owned by Fred Krinke. The Fountain Pen Hospital of Baltimore was owned by Michael Quitt. Gregory’s Fountain Pen Hospital was located in Detroit. There was a Reliable Fountain Pen Hospital in New York before the present day one. The Fountain Pen Hospital of Texas was owned by Judy Barnett. Tucker’s Fountain Pen Hospital was in Philadelphia. And the Universal Fountain Pen Hospital, owned by Sam Himoto in its last years, was in Chicago. It went out of business in 2004.
“There was also the Good Service Pen Shop in Boston run by George Salustro, and later taken over by the Bromfield Pen Shop. There was the Golden Gate Pen Shop in San Francisco. The Kentucky Pen Shop was Bud Wilkinson’s shop in Louisville. Joseph Lipic’s repair shop was called “The Pen House of St. Louis”, and later “Lipic’s Pen Corner”. There was a Pencraft Pen Co. in Toronto. Rapid Fountain Pen Repair Co. was located in New York. And the owner of The Stationery Shop in Haverhill, Mass., advertised that, “I am a fountain pen doctor, and prescribe free of charge for all minor ills”. There was even a repair shop called Specialty Repairs here in my city, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada.”
George Kovalenko.
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