Tom Hanks visited Portland’s Type Space two years ago. The shop now has an autographed typewriter from the Oscar winner’s personal collection that visitors can use.
PORTLAND, Ore. — When Tom Hanks stopped by Type Space in Southeast Portland two years ago, owner Antony Valoppi figured the story ended with the Oscar winner walking out the door with a $175 Underwood Leader. But Hanks had also promised something else: He’d send Valoppi a signed typewriter from his personal collection.
More than two years later, the package finally arrived.
Valoppi spoke with Hanks’ manager on Monday, “and it arrived on Wednesday,” he said with a grin. “I just got it in.”
The machine, a 1955 Rheinmetall with a German keyboard where the Z and Y keys are exchanged, now sits at the front of Valoppi’s shop, where he insists it won’t be kept behind glass.
“People can come down and type on it. That’s great; it’s not hands off,” he said.
The gift capped off what Valoppi described as a surreal brush with Hollywood. Back in May 2023, Hanks’s manager called out of the blue to ask if the actor could stop by. Valoppi later recalled that Hanks spent nearly an hour in the shop, mostly just talking about typewriters.
“We just talked about typewriters, not much about his movies or things like that,” Valoppi said. “Just the nicest guy.”
It was a fitting moment for Valoppi, who has built his business around a passion for the analog machines. A former restaurant owner, he turned to typewriters after a decade of collecting, a life-altering car crash, and years of recovery. He opened Type Space in July 2021 after taking over an old gold and silver shop, and in its first year, Willamette Week named it one of Portland’s top 100 businesses.
“For me, it’s the connection to the word,” Valoppi said. “It makes my writing more intentional because I don’t have cut and paste, delete. I really have to think about what I’m putting down.”
The shop typically has about 24-27 typewriters for sale and another 150 in the pipeline. Valoppi estimates he sells 10 to 12 a week — helped, in part, by the Hollywood attention. David Wilcox, a stage director for Quentin Tarantino, once drove up with 38 typewriters for him to purchase.
But the space has also become a gathering place for the curious.
“This is also a community space,” Valoppi said. “You can come and grab a machine off the shelf. We don’t charge. I’ll walk you through the machine, and you can type your sweetheart a letter.”
As for Hanks’ gift, Valoppi said he never really expected it to come through.
“It was good intention, but I never expected it,” he said. “It makes me feel grateful and thankful. I like to think that he respects what I’m doing and the craft that we’re in.”
The signed Rheinmetall will not be for sale, instead staying on the shop’s front table, ready for anyone to take a turn at the keys.