The last smithery in San Francisco

On Folsom, far, far, from SOMA, is Klockers Blacksmith & Metal Shop. Started by Fred Wilbert but given it name by Finnish emigrant named  Edwin Klockars. Obviously Edwin Klockars was not the name he was born with as real Finnish first names have to sound like Disney characters such as Mika or Heikki or Kimi  and the last name has to end with "nen" like Hakkinen or Kovalainen or Raikkonen); but, anyway, the shop is now run by Tony Rosinelli. Tony still makes tongs
that are used to clear cans from jammed conveyors.

Inside the shp is like a movie set of an old  blacksmith shop. 

Smithery-1323

Including machine tools (some of the very few that haven't been sent to China!) and a stove.

Smithery-1330

While above the shop Tracy Taylor Grubbs holds Salons.

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4 thoughts on “The last smithery in San Francisco

  1. Steve, that first shot of the blacksmith shop is fantastic. The lighting is perfect. While in the shop, everything is dark and the scale of the place makes it hard to really focus and see what’s in there. You captured those bits of it perfectly.
    And, of course, the frivolity above.

  2. Edwin Klockars was probably a Swedish-speaking Finn. There are several people with that name in both Finland and Sweden. “Klockare” used to be the Swedish word for the person who rang the bells and played the organ in a church. Same construction as “Fiskars’, a town in Finland where the Fiskars scissors and garden tools are made. Fiskare is Swedish for fisherman.

  3. I didn’t know that, thanks. The other names I referenced were Formula One drivers of which Finland has produced – if that is the right word – an inordinately large number of champions.
    How did you run into this post?

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