Every business day, as he has done for the past 49 years, Paul Schweitzer, 69, travels the streets and skyscrapers of Manhattan making “house” calls, carrying his black leather tool bag by his side. Schweitzer, who insists on wearing a suit and tie while on his rounds, is one of the last of his kind: the typewriter repairman.

In 1932, Schweitzer’s father opened Gramercy Typewriter in Manhattan, selling and repairing typewriters. “At one time, there were millions of typewriters in the city,” says Schweitzer, who began working for the family business in 1959 and took it over when his father retired in 1975. “You would go in an office and there were a hundred desks and each one had a typewriter,” he says.

Over the years, Gramercy earned a reputation for quick repairs and excellent customer service. The elder Schweitzer gave out wooden rulers that bore the company’s name and logo as advertising. The shop’s client base spanned from the tip of Wall Street up to the top of Harlem.

Although he hopes to pass the business on to his son, Justin, Schweitzer has been around long enough to know another shift or two is ahead. “I’m thinking, what is the next thing after printers?” he says. “Maybe they will be voice-activated? Or maybe people will get so disgusted with the breakdowns and failures they’ll go back to IBM typewriters. I’m waiting to see what happens next. We’re hanging in there.”

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