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John Leyden, Electrical/Mechanical
Cafes: Cortlandt/Croton, Ossining, Peekskill, Rivertowns, Yorktown
Repair Coach John Leyden is what we would call an ‘electrical/mechanical’ coach for simplicity’s sake but he fine-tunes the designation by explaining: “I consider myself to be a generalist in that I work on a little bit of everything except electronics. I tend to gravitate to mechanical items because they are usually fixable and more tolerant of “creative” solutions, and lamps because they’re quick and easy.” And abundant! Lamps are the number one item brought to repair cafes in the U.S.--whereas in Europe, the number one item brought in is coffee machines.
John began only two years ago with RCHV but has quickly become a fixture at many a Westchester County repair cafe. He first happened upon an advertisement in a local paper for the Yorktown cafe and like almost all things repair cafe, his list has grown to also include Cortlandt, Croton, Ossining, the Rivertowns and the Peekskill cafe which is returning this November.
A semi-retired IT guy, John says he “started out as an OS internals software developer and when mainframes finally died out I switched to Windows. The first half of my career was spent writing software at many of the big name Wall Street banks. The second half was spent as the IT Director for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. I also taught software development at NYU’s School of Continuing Education for most of my mainstream career.”
Like many of our repair coaches, John still keeps busy. VERY busy, in fact. He now works part-time with a few local high schools on their spring and fall musicals through BOCES. He builds scenery and props and instructs students who are interested in learning the craft how to do the work safely. “Additionally, when time permits, I take on the odd custom woodworking/scenic/art framing project in my home workshop for this or that community theater, church, artist or individual.”
He also keeps a veggie garden in his backyard and restores and uses antique woodworking hand and power tools. But even with all his interests, he makes sure to carve out time for repair cafes. “The creative solutions and these cafe environments generally play to my background in community theater, where shoestring budgets, hard deadlines, and impromptu yet safe solutions are the norm. And I enjoy the conversations that I have with people at the cafes, clientele and fixers alike. It’s a convivial environment and the clients are sincerely grateful.”
If you want to reach John, you can do so at leydenjl@gmail.com. Or come see him at a cafe!
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