It was a time of gas lamps and street cars when Fred Krinke’s grandfather flung open the doors to the Fountain Pen Shop, supplying the writing instruments and bottles of midnight-black ink that the lawyers, judges, note takers, letter writers and shopkeepers required in bustling downtown Los Angeles.

By the time Krinke took over the shop, the ballpoint pen was bearing down on its more elegant sibling, and eventually the keyboard and touch screen threatened to do in the fountain pen altogether.