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Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: franksolich on January 12, 2012, 12:19:04 PM

Title: primitive wants to know about taking care of old office buildings
Post by: franksolich on January 12, 2012, 12:19:04 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1158251

Oh my.

An aspiring writer.

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wryter2000 (32,867 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

Does anyone here know about taking care of old office buildings?

I'm writing a Harlequin romance novel (yes, one of those), and I want my heroine to be in the business of restoring old office buildings in downtown Oakland. The buildings would date back to the 1920s or so. I especially need to know what kind of elevators such a building would have (not the original elevator, I would guess ) and how they would work or break down.

Can anyone supply that sort of information or point me to a source?

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Angry Dragon (15,403 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

1. try Otis elevators maybe

When franksolich was in college, he worked for a wholesale hardware distributor, part of whose premises had been a saltine-cracker factory back in the 1880s.  There was an elevator there, still in use, that was once used for carrying teams of horses up-and-down from different floors.

It wouldn't pass OSHA inspection these days, but I thought it was a pretty cool elevator.

Anyway, every time it broke down, someone had to be called to come from Omaha to fix it, and he oftentimes griped that the only place he could find spare parts for it was in museums.
Title: Re: primitive wants to know about taking care of old office buildings
Post by: Karin on January 12, 2012, 02:32:55 PM
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restoring old office buildings in downtown Oakland.

Burn them.

A Harlequin novel in downtown Oakland?   :???:  These take place on Scottish moors and in drafty castles.  Is she doing something stupid like making an Occupy romance story?  Those creatures just hook up, or grab what they want. 
Title: Re: primitive wants to know about taking care of old office buildings
Post by: GOBUCKS on January 12, 2012, 02:57:02 PM
Which reminds me. No updates from nutcase nadin on the Brinks truck dropping off her latest load of essay royalties.

Funny....if you look for it in the Kindle store, it ain't there.

Maybe orders for her blockbuster overloaded them servers.
Title: Re: primitive wants to know about taking care of old office buildings
Post by: SSG Snuggle Bunny on January 12, 2012, 03:22:38 PM
Otis elevators: We'll never let you down!
Title: Re: primitive wants to know about taking care of old office buildings
Post by: jukin on January 12, 2012, 03:56:34 PM
Taking care of old office buildings = work which means the DUches will know nothing about that.
Title: Re: primitive wants to know about taking care of old office buildings
Post by: DumbAss Tanker on January 12, 2012, 04:20:38 PM
In the 20s, any quality office building would have had an elevator operator for passenger traffic as a necessary part of presenting a desirably-professional public appearance for businesses in them, most likely a cute young girl. 

Minimum wage laws, increasing Social Security and other withholding/employer-contribution taxes, and the Fair Labor Standards Act pretty much killed off any kind of low-level jobs like that and any of those nice wood-paneled elevators would have been replaced by semi-modern stainless-steel/pastel-green-or-brown self-service push-buton elevators in the 60s.
Title: Re: primitive wants to know about taking care of old office buildings
Post by: JakeStyle on January 12, 2012, 10:48:17 PM
Which reminds me. No updates from nutcase nadin on the Brinks truck dropping off her latest load of essay royalties.

Funny....if you look for it in the Kindle store, it ain't there.

Maybe orders for her blockbuster overloaded them servers.

Her latest opus is available here (http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/8370).
Title: Re: primitive wants to know about taking care of old office buildings
Post by: GOBUCKS on January 12, 2012, 11:48:57 PM
In the 20s, any quality office building would have had an elevator operator for passenger traffic as a necessary part of presenting a desirably-professional public appearance for businesses in them, most likely a cute young girl.
That continued to be the case into the 70s.
Title: Re: primitive wants to know about taking care of old office buildings
Post by: diesel driver on January 13, 2012, 04:09:38 AM
Which reminds me. No updates from nutcase nadin on the Brinks truck dropping off her latest load of essay royalties.

Funny....if you look for it in the Kindle store, it ain't there.

Maybe orders for her blockbuster overloaded them servers.

The only money nads will be getting is the nickels mailed out in the "Feed The Children" fliers.  :lmao: