My wife just had her wedding dress made from scratch by a seamstress, last year. They’re definitely out there.
I would dispute the inclusion of pinball machines on this list. Video games hasn’t rendered them obsolete; they’re just an alternate form of entertainment that easily coexists; like TV didn’t render movies obsolete.
If TV had reduced the number of major movie studios from dozens to one, I might see the comparison. Most of the pinball machines being played today were produced 20 years ago, or more.
There are a bunch of them around here although they tend to be older and/or foreign. Massachusetts used to have a thriving textile industry up until the fairly recent past that employed lots of professional seamstresses. Most of those jobs have moved on but many of the women that did them are still around and will pick up jobs like making custom wedding dresses or other special items if you pay them enough.
There are also a few tailors around that can make custom men’s suits from scratch. They are a little expensive but not prohibitively so and the quality and fitting cannot be beat. The main drawback is that you have to go in for multiple fittings as your suit is being made and most men don’t want to do that.
A high-end $2k pair of dress shoes can last 20 or more years if properly maintained and cared for. So… over the 20 year life of the shoes it works out to being equivalent to spending $100 per year on the purchase of shoes.
People for whom dress appearance is an important part of their job - lawyers, CEO’s, politicians - might view such footwear as an investment and part of their work “uniform”.
You dont need to spend that much.
Aldens, mephisto, etc, run $300 or so, and last for decades.
The large electricity generator plants still uses steam power. They don’t use piston engines, instead they use turbines, but still they boil water and use the result to drive the generator.
Many people would say steam power is obsolete to most people, and not obsolete in others.
(The source of heat ignored in this respect… You can boil water with solar power.)
We’ve had the digital vs. analog watch discussion. How about battery powered vs. mechanical watches and the folks who repair them.
I have two vintage Bulova mechanical watches that I like to wear when I dress in business or semi formal wear and have to take them to a town about1 1.5 hours away to have them repaired when needed. Even the local jewellers send vintage timepieces there.
Still makes honest to goodness trolleycars (as opposed to light rail vehicles)…
-MMM-
^I object to the word still. Gomaco didn’t start building replica streetcars until they heard about an agency (the National Park Service, as I recall, for Lowell NHS) looking for someone to, essentially, build a theatrical prop. For enough money, I’m sure you could find a company that would build you a clipper ship, too.
We have these people come around to your house and tell you about Jehova, outdated service if you ask me
Moderator Note
Let’s not derail the conversation with remarks like this, please.
Only on the dope would you find people that thing the analog clock/watch is obsolete…:facepalm:
Reading this thread amazes me. In the last year I have used the following services mentioned here
Shoe Repair…several times
Chimney Sweep
Barber
Blacksmith………………….my cousin’s part time job/hobby
Tailor
Butcher Shop
Shoe Shine man (not sure of the term to use here)
Not even here, at least seriously. You need to know his posting history.
But that’s because almost every arcade went belly up more than a decade ago. Ergo, there are thousands of lightly used pinball machines out there up for grabs. Why buy new when you don’t have to?
Doesn’t that rather suggest that the game arcade is itself an obsolete service?
Bingo. Aside from a few holdouts like Dave & Buster’s, arcade games and pinball machines are only still standing at bowling alleys, movie theaters, and burger joints.
So, then not* obsolete*, but obsolescent.
I knew that I had seen a LOTR-themed pinball machine (movies released 2000-2002), so therefore they aren’t all moldering relics. You just have to go to a bowling alley to find one.
Many of us no longer use punched card readers–or even floppy disks. But I expect both are still available today.