<VV> You Are Old and Phones (no Corvair)

[J R Read]

I could tell you about phones that you had to crank at grandma's house, but 
I'll tell you about 1952 (I was 10) when we moved to Tinley Park, IL.  The 
phone number was 205.  The phone had no dial - so I guess the term "dial a 
number" had not been invented?  You picked up the BELL (on a circle in the 
middle) phone and the operator said "number please"?  If you didn't know the 
number, you just told her who you wanted because she knew every number in 
town.

About a year later, the numbers went over 1,000 and we got new phones with 
dials.  We also got an additional digit at the front of our number and we 
became 2205.

Like Model T Fords - all phones were black in those days.  No more pleasant 
operator when dial phones came into the picture - just a dial tone when you 
picked up.  Well, if you were on a party line you might have gotten into 
someone else's conversation and you would hang up and wait a few minutes 
(unless the conversation was juicy).

At some point - 2 or 3 years later - the Chicagoland area went to the 
"Exchange" system.  The exchange was like a word, but you only used the 
first 2 letters when dialing.  By then, letters had been associated with 
numbers - like your cell phone - 2=abc.  Our Exchange was Kellogg which 
translated to KE - 2205 - OR 532205.

About the time all of that was going on, you could now get phones in colors 
(some lighted) and also have more than one in your house.  Really long 
"coil" cords became the rage.  Mom could cook WHILE talking on the phone - 
even the one in the living room would stretch to the kitchen!  It was a 
trick to untangle THAT cord.

I'm guessing all this happened in 7 or 8 years.  So now we are up to the 
birth of the Corvair and you all know the "rest of the story".

Later, JR


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charles Fregeau" <n5hsr at sprynet.com>
To: <Wrsssatty at aol.com>; <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2011 10:21 PM
Subject: Re: <VV> You Know You Are Old When (no Corvair)


> I've got four different versions of that round disk with holes thingy here
> with me.  The first phone I remember was a big black WE 554 wall phone by
> the pantry.  I remember when telephone numbers had words in them.  I
> remember having relatives with numbers that couldn't be dialed like
> Chauncey 11F13.
>
> I remember a time before
> Cell phones
> Answering machines
> Portable computers
> Transistorized radios
> Japanese imports
>
> I also remember a time we had to put new plates on every year, if not in
> December then January here in Illinois.  That was my responsibility with 
> the
> Corvair we owned.
>
> Charles Fregeau
>
> -----Original Message-----