EXchange names for phone numbers

[The Wolf]

What, no love for my KRakatoa prefix?
Come on, try it out loud. Krakatoa3-****. I think it has a nice flow.
Then again maybe KRakatoa will be California and KRamer will be New York.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[filmnoirphotos]

I grew up with a party-line....

Yeah, pretty acient....

Our phone number was JEfferson 7-1751. I grew up in Castro Valley, in the San Francisco east bay hills.

Was recently given a late '40s / early '50s telephone. It's a beauty, and weighs several pounds. You could definitely cold-cock someone with the receiver....literally kill someone if you hit them with the entire phone. And it still works.... Talk about 'take a lick'n and keep on tick'n'.

 

[Rosie]

What, no love for my KRakatoa prefix?
Come on, try it out loud. Krakatoa3-****. I think it has a nice flow.
Then again maybe KRakatoa will be California and KRamer will be New York.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

Krakatoa sounds rough coming from my mouth lol. Actually, I kept think Kratoa, which isn't the same word. Plus folks will alreaduy think I'm a nut with the KRamer3, I'm not sure what looks/thoughts Krakatoa will get.

 

[Rosie]

I LOVE that phone. I have my eye on one at this very moment. (Fingers crossed)

 

[The Reno Kid]

When I was a kid, our exchange was PArkway 6. I didn't really understand the meaning of the whole exchange name thing then, but I thought it was cool. My WE 202 and 653H both have number cards with my current ORchard 7 exchange on them.

 

[scotrace]

"Fairfield 9, may I help you?"

 

[GallatinHatMan]

My first phone number growing up in Indianapolis was MElrose5-2423 and my mother's work number was MElrose7-7777.

 

[skyvue]

Our exchange in Oklahoma City back in the 1960s was MUtual.

My current number in NYC was in the YUkon exchange. I tried for a while, a few years back, to use my exchange when giving out my number -- I even had it printed on my personal "business" card -- but too many people had no idea what I was talking out.

Now, one has to use an area code when dialing even local numbers in NYC, so that sort of sours it.

 

[High Pockets]

Our exchange in Oklahoma City back in the 1960s was MUtual.

My current number in NYC was in the YUkon exchange. I tried for a while, a few years back, to use my exchange when giving out my number -- I even had it printed on my personal "business" card -- but too many people had no idea what I was talking out.

Now, one has to use an area code when dialing even local numbers in NYC, so that sort of sours it.

I was sitting here trying to remember all the OKC prefixes,.....I forgot about Mutual. In MWC ours was Pershing. On Long Island back in the '50s ours was Ivanhoe. How come I can remember every telephone number we ever had back then, but for the life of me yesterday I couldn't remember why I walked out to the garage.

 

[dhermann1]

When I was on the upper west side on Manhattan, in the early 1950's, we lived near Grant's Tomb and Columbia University. So our number was MOnument 3 3470 (I remember it from age 4!), and many neighbors had UNiversity.
My new place in the Bronx has a number that starts with 231, which I determined was BElmont, since I'm near the Belmont section (where Dion and the Belmonts started.)
A friend has an office in Hamilton Heights, which is basically West Harlem, and his number is WAshington (for Washington Heights).

 

[LizzieMaine]

LYric 6 here -- we were a BIG CITY, since we had two exchanges, LYric 4, which was downtown, and LYric 6 which is the surrounding neighborhoods. No other town within a 50 mile radius had more than one exchange, and many of them were still on manual operator/non-dial systems well into the sixties. The last town around here to convert from manual to dial service did so in 1970.

KIngswood 8 where I grew up. Next town over was LOgan 7.

 

[campy]

LYric 6 here -- we were a BIG CITY,

The town where I now live was LYric 6 also!

I remember using the exchange name instead of the digits when I was growing up. It was PYramid 1 where I lived then.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Yeh, I used to call Richard Starkey at Parson-6922,
to ask him to get the band to play Beechwood 4-5789
http://www.lyricsreg.com/lyrics/marvelettes/Beachwood+4-5789/
Then he moved to London and wouldn't take me phone calls! [huh]

-dixon cannon

 

[Prairie Dog]

No one mentioned "Beechwood 4-5789", the 1962 song released by The Marvelettes. Written by Marvin Gaye, William "Mickey" Stevenson and George Gordy, the song reached number 17 on the pop singles chart.

In 1981, The Carpenters recorded it and did a retro music video in a 1950's style diner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmChOTOgfO8

It's interesting to observe this number would have become 234-5789.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

fftopic: ....but interesting!

Did you know that when Alex Gramble invented
the telephonic communications device - he thought that
the best salutation should be, "Ahoy! Ahoy!".

It was Tom Edson that first answered, "Hello!"

And it stuck. Now you know the rest of the story.

Carry on.

-dixon cannon

 

[Flivver]

In the city I grew up in we had PLeasant, SWift and VIking. Ours was PLeasant2.

My grandparents' exchange, several towns away, was TUxedo.

In this area, I seem to remember the exchange names disappearing around 1963.

 

[Jay]

I just realized the number at my folks house (where I'm currently staying) has a number starting with 714. Can I even make an exchange name for that? There's none on that site.

 

[Widebrim]

fftopic: ....but interesting!

Did you know that when Alex Gramble invented
the telephonic communications device - he thought that
the best salutation should be, "Ahoy! Ahoy!".

-dixon cannon

Well, it was actually Antonio Meucci who invented the telephone; he just didn't get a patent for it. (No, it wasn't Don Ameche...)

I remember exchange names quite well in the 1960s Los Angeles area. Our Glendale exchange was CItrus (appropriate for an area once associated with oranges).

 

[John in Covina]

I just realized the number at my folks house (where I'm currently staying) has a number starting with 714. Can I even make an exchange name for that? There's none on that site.

No- there are no letters for the number one

1= ?
2= ABC
3=DEF
4=GHI
5=JKL
6=MNO
7=PRS
8=TUV
9=WXY

Not sure where the Z goes.

264-5555 AMityville4-5555
586-6300 JUtson6-6300 (The number for Gimbels reupolstering in NY! )

 

[miss_elise]

according to the database australia has 1's...

but they're not very exciting...