7 replies to this topic

[JmanA9]

I've heard mention of this before, and I randomly remembered about it just now. Check out the sign of this liquor store near Yankee Stadium.
http://maps.google.c...359.977276&z=16

I also saw an abbreviated, 5-digit phone number on a building in La Crosse, Wisconsin last year. I can only assume the town was served by a step. I'm still trying to find that one on Google Street View.

Post more if you know of them.

[dmine45]

This doesn't surprise me considering NYC and Philadelphia were the last cities in the US to completely go to All Number Calling (ANC). I think they finally did away with EXchange names around 1980. So having a sign like that (my guess is that sign is ~40 years old) is actually not out of the question.

Occasionally I still run across old material with 2L-5N nomenclature. Kinda cool when I do see it

[nyphonejacks]

i have seen an old sign or awning over a building that still has the phone number listed that way... its just an old sign...

[systems_glitch]

Most of the old storefronts in Hinton, WV have numbers from the locally switched phone network. It's an old railway town, and got automated switching before most of the towns in Southern WV. Anyone who rides the Cardinal line with Amtrak from the midwest to the east coast goes through Hinton. The old train station that the Amtrak line stops at still contains the telecom racks and some of the switching equipment from what looked to me like an old crossbar setup.

EDIT: also, as immortalized in a Glenn Miller song, you can dial PE6-5000 for the Hotel Pennsylvania!

Edited by systems_glitch, 21 February 2010 - 09:12 PM.

[JmanA9]

My friend in La Crosse went down and snapped a picture for me. He thinks he's seen another ad like this, and he'll get back to me on that. Thanks, Mark!

Attached Files

•  downsized950226001743.jpg   57.09K   7 downloads

Edited by JmanA9, 28 February 2010 - 11:25 AM.

[JmanA9]

I'd like to resurrect my thread for another picture in the exciting series of.....EXCHANGE NAME SIGHTINGS!

The bus route I rode for two weeks went through a part of Pittsburgh (Wilkinsburg) that's been on the decline since the 70's. There's lots of abandoned storefronts, many of which have been that way for 30 years. I noticed a sign with an old EXchange name, and my friend drove down with me a few days ago to take a picture with his fancy camera. This store seems empty, and all that's left is this sign. I believe the phone number is presently assigned to a lawyer's office, (412) FRemont 1-1854.

Attached Files

•  Wilkinsburg EXchange Name.jpg   73.25K   5 downloads

Edited by JmanA9, 15 July 2011 - 07:07 PM.

[dmine45]

I'd like to resurrect my thread for another picture in the exciting series of.....EXCHANGE NAME SIGHTINGS!

The bus route I rode for two weeks went through a part of Pittsburgh (Wilkinsburg) that's been on the decline since the 70's. There's lots of abandoned storefronts, many of which have been that way for 30 years. I noticed a sign with an old EXchange name, and my friend drove down with me a few days ago to take a picture with his fancy camera. This store seems empty, and all that's left is this sign. I believe the phone number is presently assigned to a lawyer's office, (412) FRemont 1-1854.

Looked it up, it's still assigned to these folks. Granted, I wonder this in this day and age who'd want to have a type setting service though. :/

Edit: Found this doing a Google Search. http://www.post-gaze.../1135899-56.stm

Edited by dmine45, 15 July 2011 - 09:07 PM.

[ThoughtPhreaker]

I saw a billboard a while back with a 2L-5N number. It didn't look all that old, though - I think the idea was to market to baby boomers.