The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword
By Susan Motander

Reproduced with permission from Monrovia Weekly
June 2, 1999

When even Martha Stewart starts ending personal notes via e-mail, the gracious are of penmanship and the joy of using a fine writing utensil may seem doomed. There is, however, a hope in the form of Fred Krinke and The Fountain Pen Shop. Krinke, a native of Sierra Madre, who now lives with his wife in Arcadia, recently moved the shop to Monrovia.

The business was started by Krinke’s grandfather, John Froehlich, in 1922 as the Angelus Pen Hospital. For 77 years, the shop remained in downtown Los Angeles. Krinke’s father took over in 1940, and Krinke took control in 1976.

While The Fountain Pen Shop does offer a wide range of new pens for sale, it offers much more. There are wonderful old “new” pens - those pens that are brand new and unused, by which were made years ago. There are also collectible pens, those elegant old pens that seem to add a touch of gentility to the most mundane of notes.

Additionally, Krinke does repairs. That cherished heirloom that now scratches across the paper need not be relegated to the back of a drawer. It may need something as simple as an adjustment of the two prongs of the nib. If the pen does not seem to hold ink, it may just need a new “sac,” the ink compartment of a fountain pen.

The Fountain Pen Shop’s customers are loyal. One Saturday, in the space of less than an hour, people came in from Costa Mesa (rework on a nib), El Segundo (a missing inner cape and end button), and Silverlake (a cracked case).

The Silverlake customer, Barbara Noble, is a deputy attorney general who admits that while a great deal of her work is done on a computer, she prefers her fountain pens when taking notes in depositions and for writing personal letters. To prove her point, Noble pulled three fountain pens out of her purse. Noble also admitted that she had come into the shop to look for a new fountain pen. “I have birthday money,” she laughed.

The shop also has another fascinating feature, its own fountain pen museum. Krinke has a display of fountain pens dating back to 1848. Those early pens were filled with eyedroppers. Krinke can explain the difference between the pens and will proudly show off his celebrity pens. The museum collection includes the fountain pens of Leland Stanford and Lucky Baldwin, The favorite pen of the owner: “I prefer my Parker Vacumatic,” and his ink preference: ”Quink by Parker because it has a built-in cleaning solvent.”

In regard to cleaning a good fountain pen, Krinke also has a bit of advice. “Every fourth time you fill your pen, rinse it with cool water first,” he advises.

Krinke cites one more reason for writing with a fountain pen. “it’s Y2K compliant,” he explains with a smile.”

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Also check out the article about The Fountain Pen Shop in Pen World.

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