in/y
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 117
- Location
- Hightstown, N.J.
I’m trying to find someone who repairs umbrellas.
I have an umbrella that originally belonged to my grandfather. It’s a European umbrella likely from the 1910’s or 20's according to an umbrella repair person who once worked on it. I have had it repaired and recovered over the years and have used it regularly in foul weather. The umbrella hasn’t needed any repair work for quite some time.
A while ago, a strong gust of wind broke my umbrella. The thing turned inside out with the covering flying off when the wire that holds the center parts together snapped.
I went to Frankford Umbrellas in Philadelphia to see about having my umbrella repaired. They had done the recovering in the past as well as the other repairs. I was impressed when I took the umbrella there for repair once a good 4 years or more after I had had it recovered and when after opening it up to see what needed fixing the person noted that it had previously been recovered by them (that’s the kind of service I appreciate).
Anyway, when I went there last, I was told that the family member who had done the repair work had retired a year or so ago (he was 92 years old!) and that they no longer did any repairs. They also did not know of anyone else who did umbrella repair but thought that there was “some guy up in New York City” that did repair work but he didn’t know anything more about him than that.
Doing a bit of web searching I found that there appears to be a person named Gilbert Center who does/did this kind of work but I didn’t see anything later than about 2005 that mentioned him. From a NY Times article from 1999 I found about him, he’d be in his mid 80’s now. Is he still active?
Any suggestions on someone who does good umbrella repair work. Perhaps there are still some folks in the UK who do this kind of work. I would certainly be willing to ship it there if needed.
I have an umbrella that originally belonged to my grandfather. It’s a European umbrella likely from the 1910’s or 20's according to an umbrella repair person who once worked on it. I have had it repaired and recovered over the years and have used it regularly in foul weather. The umbrella hasn’t needed any repair work for quite some time.
A while ago, a strong gust of wind broke my umbrella. The thing turned inside out with the covering flying off when the wire that holds the center parts together snapped.
I went to Frankford Umbrellas in Philadelphia to see about having my umbrella repaired. They had done the recovering in the past as well as the other repairs. I was impressed when I took the umbrella there for repair once a good 4 years or more after I had had it recovered and when after opening it up to see what needed fixing the person noted that it had previously been recovered by them (that’s the kind of service I appreciate).
Anyway, when I went there last, I was told that the family member who had done the repair work had retired a year or so ago (he was 92 years old!) and that they no longer did any repairs. They also did not know of anyone else who did umbrella repair but thought that there was “some guy up in New York City” that did repair work but he didn’t know anything more about him than that.
Doing a bit of web searching I found that there appears to be a person named Gilbert Center who does/did this kind of work but I didn’t see anything later than about 2005 that mentioned him. From a NY Times article from 1999 I found about him, he’d be in his mid 80’s now. Is he still active?
Any suggestions on someone who does good umbrella repair work. Perhaps there are still some folks in the UK who do this kind of work. I would certainly be willing to ship it there if needed.
