Then and now: Telephone numbers once had letters
Pages of an old phone book.
To the left is a page from the 1954 Pacific Telephone Book for Lake Tahoe (California) when calls still were placed verbally through the operator. (Think of Andy Griffith in Mayberry).
Emerald Bay is on the cover of this old phone book.
Notice the intriguing phone numbers like Homewood 2-Y-5 or Tallac 31.
All the phone listings, A-to-Z, occupied only 18 pages. Self-dialed local calling didn’t arrive until the later 1950s. Long-distance calling required operator assistance into the 1960s.
Did you know Kimball and Ludlow? Prior to today’s all-digit phone listings, KImball (54) and LUdlow (58) were the word prefixes for South Shore California and Nevada, respectively.
For example, KImball 4-6474 today is 544-6474, and LUdlow 8-6611 today is 588-6611. The change from word prefixes to all-digit occurred in the early 1960s.
Telephone book courtesy of Theresa and Darrell Eymann.
— Bill Kingman
Thanks Bill
When We first moved to South Lake Tahoe we all had Crank phones, 2 long and 1 short or 3 short and 2 long etc,etc.That was just after the war in the early 40s,at that time there were about 15 or 20 people on the same line and anyone could listen in on your phone calls then we got real modern and got the dial phones. I remember that our number was KI-43613 and a private line.
Thanks Bill for the memories
Thanks Bill
When We first moved to South Lake Tahoe we all had Crank phones, 2 long and 1 short or 3 short and 2 long etc,etc.That was just after the war in the early 40s,at that time there were about 15 or 20 people on the same line and anyone could listen in on your phone calls then we got real modern and got the dial phones. I remember that our number was KI-43613 and a private line.
Thanks Bill for the memories
I still remember when my Uncle lived in Crockett, Ca and you picked up the phone and asked the operator,(who you knew by name ), to connect you to the person you were calling. And at that time in San Jose , Ca. , we had a prefix of two letters . I still remember mine CY57112. Had not thought about that till I saw this post today. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.