Telephone Number Cards

[LizzieMaine]

I find this site strangely fascinating:

http://www.telephonearchive.com/numbercards/

People really do collect some remarkable things...

Best thing about the site is that many of the cards can be printed out for your own antique phone. While I don't see one on display for my own exchange (LYric 6), there's a blank version I was able to fill in with Photoshop -- Copperplate Bold is a good approximation of the standard font, and Geneva bold is a good match for the numerals -- and it looks quite period-correct on my WE 202.

 

[DancingSweetie]

Thanks Lizzie, I love stuff like that. My fiance has an Automatic Electric and was looking for those!

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I haven't looked at that site in a while, looks like he's improved it quite a bit! Now that I have a digital camera I ought to send him pictures of a few of mine.

My last vintage phone purchase, before I went nuts with the hats, was an AE 40 with a Hawaiian Telephone number card.

 

[Rosie]

I find this site strangely fascinating:

http://www.telephonearchive.com/numbercards/

People really do collect some remarkable things...

Best thing about the site is that many of the cards can be printed out for your own antique phone. While I don't see one on display for my own exchange (LYric 6), there's a blank version I was able to fill in with Photoshop -- Copperplate Bold is a good approximation of the standard font, and Geneva bold is a good match for the numerals -- and it looks quite period-correct on my WE 202.

Wow, that WE 202 is a great phone. Love it!

 

[Sefton]

Thanks for the link. I'm trying to get a W.E.302 right now and this site has some great cards! I was beat out on one(302) tonight...it went much higher than I thought. Ah,well...I live to bid another day!

 

[FedoraGent]

Isn't this great!

I saw that site quite some time ago and it's great isn't it?

Jon

 

[LizzieMaine]

I fear that some night when I'm really really bored, I might just start dialing away randomly at some of these numbers and see if anyone answers. "Yes, hi, is this ORchard 3-2908? I'm calling from 1938, and...."

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

If you're bored late at night, give that 4H clickety-clack dial a spin to 1-212-PEnnsylvania 6-5000.

 

[Paisley]

I heard that the hotel still has a phone number that is based on the old number of Pennsylvania 6-5000.

 

[The Wolf]

The number card on my old phone reads: LAkehurst2- 1956. I'm not sure where, geographically, the number would have existed.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I heard that the hotel still has a phone number that is based on the old number of Pennsylvania 6-5000.

Yes they do. Dial it, late at night when the rates are low. Trust me.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

The number card on my old phone reads: LAkehurst2- 1956. I'm not sure where, geographically, the number would have existed.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

Check this site for clues: http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/TENproject.html

 

[Paisley]

I looked at the officially recommended list of exchanges. You can pick out your own an use it as a mnemonic device.

I wouldn't go as far as handing out copies on the street corner, though, as the site suggests.

 

[The Reno Kid]

Great site Lizzie. Thanks. I hadn't seen it before. I have a WE 202 (1931) and a WE 653 apartment wall phone (1940). Both are all-original daily drivers and I use them all the time. I use Type II cards. I scanned an original into Corel Draw to create a duplicate template. I filled in the exchange (ORchard 7) and the numbers and printed them out on card stock. They look great. Interestingly, I think I ended up using the same typefaces you did. They were almost a perfect match for the originals.

 

[Fletch]

This was a party line number in my area here in Westchester County, NY.

I don't know that DObbs Ferry 3 was ever an exchange (prefix = we do not now have any numbers starting with 363 in this area). This makes me think it was probably a pre-dial service number. Ie, you asked the operator for it, and if you looked up the person in the local book the number would have been 3-5385-M.

IIRC, we didn't get 7 digit numbers around here till the 50s. In the building I live in in Irvington we have numbers from what used to be GReenleaf 8 (Hastings), LYric 1 (Irvington), and OWens 3 (Dobbs Ferry).

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Parson 6922. That's Ringo's Liverpool telephone number from the early 60's!

I can hardly remember my own phone number, but I somehow can't forget this one!

-dixon cannon

 

[Flivver]

Lizzie...thanks for posting the site from which to download telephone number cards. I just got a Western Electric 202 that needs one.

When I was a kid, our exchange was PLeasant 2-

Then it changed to SWift 3-

Another one in our local area was VIking

But my favorite exchange was the one my grandparents had...TUxedo.

 

[Josephine]

I looked at the officially recommended list of exchanges. You can pick out your own an use it as a mnemonic device.

So if my phone number is say, 998-1234, then it would have been something like WYman 81234?

 

[JimInSoCalif]

Correct.

My phone number is 273-XXXX but when I first got it 45 years ago it was CRestview 3-XXXX

Cheers, Jim.

 

[DeaconKC]

Excellent YUkon and OXford will both work for me!