# When phone numbers had names?



## fuzzybuddy (Dec 4, 2022)

Do you remember when phone numbers had names? It wasn't 273-4851, It was Crestwood 4851. Everyplace had a cool name.

2=c
7=r
3=e       273=CREstwood


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## Pepper (Dec 4, 2022)

*NI*ghtingale


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## ohioboy (Dec 4, 2022)

Beechwood 4 - 5789.


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## hollydolly (Dec 4, 2022)

*KNI*tscliffe 9212


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## Pepper (Dec 4, 2022)

Pepper said:


> *NI*ghtingale


I didn't add the numbers as this phone is Still in Use 70 years after it was issued!


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## Pink Biz (Dec 4, 2022)

ohioboy said:


> Beechwood 4 - 5789.


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## 1955 (Dec 4, 2022)

I do, EDGewood XXXX. Don’t know why this was done.
Maybe it was just a memory aid to help remember the prefix?
Nowadays I prefer just saying “Call Santa Clause”.
Why do we even need numbers anymore?


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## Alligatorob (Dec 4, 2022)

I don't remember ours ever having a name, but on TV most did, when I was a kid.
Telephone exchange names​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange_names


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## win231 (Dec 4, 2022)

I get a chuckle when I'm watching an old movie & see that.  Also when they use a rotary dial.


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## Lewkat (Dec 4, 2022)

ARmory
SHerwood
TEhrhune
LAmbert


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## Kika (Dec 4, 2022)

*So*uth 8
*HY*acinth 9
*GI*bralter 8


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## BC Flash (Dec 4, 2022)

I remember giving the telephone operator a letter and number (eg van 818)


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## ohioboy (Dec 4, 2022)

Just thought of another one: BUtterfield 8


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## HoneyNut (Dec 4, 2022)

When I was a kid our number was Fleming xxxx.  Weird that I can remember that.


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## Pepper (Dec 4, 2022)

ohioboy said:


> Just thought of another one: BUtterfield 8


Loved that movie.


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## RadishRose (Dec 4, 2022)

ohioboy said:


> Beechwood 4 - 5789.


....any old time.


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## RadishRose (Dec 4, 2022)

PLaza61007


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## ohioboy (Dec 4, 2022)

On TV they sometimes use KL5- exchange, (555) since the U.S. has no such exchange, so no person watching can dial it.


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## win231 (Dec 4, 2022)

"Call Northside777"
Based on a true story, "Call _Northside 777_" follows P.J. McNeal, a newspaper reporter played by James Stewart, as he investigates a decade old murder case.


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## Pepper (Dec 4, 2022)

LOngacre1-0010
LOngacre1-0011

My father's business phone.  The 11 was for family use more than business.  Oh, I wish I could call him.


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## ohioboy (Dec 4, 2022)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_(telephone_number)#Fictional_usage


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## Jace (Dec 4, 2022)

HEmlock..(Pa.)


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## RadishRose (Dec 4, 2022)

ohioboy said:


> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_(telephone_number)#Fictional_usage


This is interesting.
Excerpt:

"In 1994, cartoonist Gary Larson's _The Far Side_ included a panel with graffiti of a 555 number by which prank calls could be made to Satan. In Australia, 555 was at the time a standard exchange, and the Australian owner of the number became the subject of harassment, launching an unsuccessful lawsuit against Larson and his syndicate for defamation.[3]"


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## ohioboy (Dec 4, 2022)

RR, call me baby. KL5 - love.


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## debodun (Dec 4, 2022)

Morris 664


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## dobielvr (Dec 4, 2022)

Clinton 8965
AMherst..


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## LadyEmeraude (Dec 4, 2022)

Broadway 24376.


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## StarSong (Dec 4, 2022)

I incorporate my childhood telephone number (including the name) as part of one of my passwords.  Nobody else would remember it except a couple of my siblings...


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## Llynn (Dec 4, 2022)

Yukon


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## Nathan (Dec 4, 2022)

Our home phone number in Westchester,Ca in the late 50s:  *OR*chard 41197.


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## Buckeye (Dec 4, 2022)

EMerson >EM7-7324


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## hawkdon (Dec 4, 2022)

359-J......old home number indiana....


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## Ken N Tx (Dec 4, 2022)

Also paid long distance to call the next state!! Sure would stop spammers!!


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## OneEyedDiva (Dec 4, 2022)

Yes I do. What @Lewkat posted (post #10).


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## Lewkat (Dec 4, 2022)

OneEyedDiva said:


> Yes I do. What @Lewkat posted (post #10).


I also remember many more, Diva, but just kept it to a few that quickly came to mind.


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## Mrs. Robinson (Dec 4, 2022)

JUno 8-62XX

JUno 9-6000


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## hearlady (Dec 4, 2022)

Yes, Fleetwood 8139.


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## jujube (Dec 4, 2022)

My first one started with ME (MElrose) then 4 numbers. Then it changed to BE (BElmont) with the same 4 numbers.  When I was 10, the 5th number was added and the exchange was called CH (CHapel).

Let's talk about "party lines".......


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## OneEyedDiva (Dec 4, 2022)

Lewkat said:


> I also remember many more, Diva, but just kept it to a few that quickly came to mind.


Actually, I was just skimming when I saw your post. Going back and looking at it again, I realized, I didn't notice TErhune was there. I don't remember that one, nor any more than the others you mentioned.


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## fuzzybuddy (Dec 5, 2022)

In Mass. USA, we were *POR*ter -7321.  Nope, it isn't mine. After 70 years, it stopped being my mom & dad's number.


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## Chet (Dec 5, 2022)

Glenwood 7- XXXX


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## Ruthanne (Dec 5, 2022)

Shadyside 1 1272


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## Fyrefox (Dec 5, 2022)

And, of course, this Glenn Miller big band standard…


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## Sassycakes (Dec 20, 2022)

My phone number was Fulton 9-4763 You had to put in FU-94763 My Brothers was Sunset 9-4763


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## Been There (Dec 20, 2022)

In my day, the phone number everyone sang about was 867-5309 by Tommy Tutone in 1981. I never knew of any phone numbers with names in front of them. I did hear the song mentioned earlier, Beachwood 4-5789.


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## Tommy (Dec 21, 2022)

Llynn said:


> Yukon


Mine in Michigan was *YU*kon as well. It occurs to me that this wouldn't work if the numbers were 1 or 0. There are no letters associated with those. Possible had something to do with the decision to use 0s and 1s at the beginning of national and international dialing schemes, maybe?


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## Lewkat (Dec 21, 2022)

OneEyedDiva said:


> Actually, I was just skimming when I saw your post. Going back and looking at it again, I realized, I didn't notice TErhune was there. I don't remember that one, nor any more than the others you mentioned.


Terhune was formerly a Pompton Lakes exchange, Devi.  I believe parts of Wayne used the Terhune exhange as well.  It was named after Albert Payson Terhune who was an author of many dog books.  His estate is in Wayne, and he's buried in the Pompton Reformed Cemetary on Hamburg Tpke and Ringwood Ave. in Pompton Lakes.


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## ronaldj (Dec 21, 2022)

VI king, 35...


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## Been There (Dec 21, 2022)

Fyrefox said:


> And, of course, this Glenn Miller big band standard…
> 
> View attachment 254168


My parents played a lot of the big bands’ albums. I remember this album as one of my mom’s favorites, especially the song “String of Pearls” that Glenn played for his wife on their anniversary when he gave her pearls for a gift. I don’t know if that story is true or legend. My mom and dad would dance when they played some of these old albums. My dad liked the trumpet player Harry James.


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## charry (Dec 21, 2022)

Pink Biz said:


>


Brilliant


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## Paladin1950 (Dec 21, 2022)

ohioboy said:


> Beechwood 4 - 5789.




I saw the Marvelettes at an oldies show. That was one of the songs that they sang.


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## ohioboy (Dec 21, 2022)

I do not know how I forgot Chuck Berry's "Promised Land" Elvis did a cover.

"Los Angeles give me Norfolk, Virginia,  Tidewater four ten O nine".


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## ArnoldC (Dec 22, 2022)

Kenwood aka *KE* exchange early on for us.  Later it changed to Prospect aka *PR*.

1950s-1960s era.  For me, remember an alpha-numeric was easier than remembering a full numeric.


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## Tempsontime65 (Dec 23, 2022)

Oh yeah...Ra[Randolfh]- Ta[Taylor]...I miss em.


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## mrstime (Dec 23, 2022)

Frontier
 Don't remember the number.


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