What was your first phone number?
 

Mine was UNion 7 oh oh 78. This was before zero had a name and your area was as far as you could see.

BTW, did you ever pick up your phone back then and hear 2 people talking and wonder how this could be? I did. We only owned one phone.

This was back in the 1940's. Our family's had five digits which I remember clearly. We had a two party line. The parties had different rings so you knew when to pick up and when to pass. We had a rotary dial on our heavy single black telephone. Long distance cost a fortune and was operator assisted either station to station or person to person (even more costly).

Sometimes we used telegrams.

8-3804

CLearwater 9 2867

ANdrew 5-3938. Just one phone in the kitchen, a rotary with a big long cord that always knotted up.

BR-549

http://goinglikesixty.com/wp-content...-haw-br549.jpg

My mother and father's 253 6108

OXford 7-3150

In perry, fl.
5033-K

271-2575

LYric2-6249 Elmsford NY

GReenwood 3-3789

LYric2-6249

2-4035. Same number as on the family car license plate. The number "2" stood for the county, ranked according to population, "1" being the most populous.

Good on all of you for remembering those!

I have a dim recollection of my grandmother's number being CYpress something in San Diego.

I do remember "long distance" being mentioned by the adults in the house in hushed tones, because of the expense. It was mostly saved for brief calls to relatives on Christmas.

Ma Bell also used to gouge us for "message units" on calls that were out of the immediate area (like, 10 miles) but weren't officially long distance.


How did you manage that? Was it a small town that let you choose your phone number?