Telephone stories

[TIPandRING]

Hmmm,

Well, let's see, being born in 1980, I can't really relate toooo much to the old time stories, but I do like yesteryear.

My father worked for Central Telephone (CENTEL), at their peak, they were the 5th largest telecommunications company in the world before Sprint merged with them (as my father described, more of a corporate take-over then anything). So I grew up in a home where my father brought home product samples of phones, jacks, wires, etc. This is really the birth of my interest that would be electronics. 

Being a forward thinker, my father had a touch-tone wall phone installed in the house I grew up in where a simple Star-Lite rotary wall model was in the kitchen. So I grew up with "buttons". Boy was I embarassed when I had to call home from elementary school (roughly kindergarten) and the school office only had business line rotary phones...I had to ask for help as I wasn't sure about the rotary dial and bringing the finger wheel all the way to the finger stop!! I felt like such a "rich, spoiled kid" HA HA. 

Soon I was playing around (and taking apart) the stash of phones (both rotary and touch tone) my father had. Although he was a desk jockey and not a lineman or techy, he taught me lots of interesting things, like what company manufactured what, what tip and ring was, and what some number designations were for particular part numbers (ie. jacks, networks etc).  At about age 13, I was alreadry running new cabling for extensions in our house

I'd buy old phones at garage sales for parts, or stick their guts into my own custom projects (my very own test-sets, etc).  Learned about Western Electric's way of doing things (grew-up in a independent town--Automatic Electric territory), later found Ericofones, etc.

Now that I have a house of my own, I finally ordered phone service about 2 years ago (in a cell phone world!!!!). It's all decked out with post-war era stuff, so naturally I have rotary phone that are restored and actually get used. My retro kitchen has a Automatic Electric 90 Wall phone in white, in which I got from an estate sale of a local telephone repairman, (apparently was NEVER installed!).

RE: a previous reply; up until a few years ago, you could call your own number and quickly hang up and your phone would ring as a test. Can't do it now, a recording says the line is in use Darn technology!!!

Being apart of Gen. X, I like my techy stuff (I use my iPhone daily), but it's such sigh of relief to fall back into yesteryear and hold a heavy (but comfortable) receiver your ear and spin the dial after hearing REAL dial tone to complete a call!!!

Thank you Mr. Stevens for this site!!

-Joe

[Mark Stevens]

Thank you Mr. Stevens for this site!!

You're most welcome, Joe, but let's watch that Mr. Stevens stuff.  I know it's a sign of respect, but I was already feeling old after reading the "born in 1980" part! 

[Doug Houston]

Back into the fifties, if memory serves, you could dial (Michigan Bell) GReenwich 2-1212, to get the time, or WEather 2-1212 to get a weather report. One of the guys at work told that ANY four digits following the exchange would get the weather or the time.

I proceeded to have a lot of fun with people, by dialing WE2, or GR2,, then, looking away, twirling the dial four times to get the time or weather.

The two Detroit exchanges that served the corner of town where I lived were TUxedo and Niagara. Niagara was a 4 digit exchange, while Tuxedo was always 5 digit. Both exchanges also served all  of the Grosse Pointes. After WW II was over, Bell expanded its facilities, and changed the 4 digit  exchanges to 5 digit ones. The Niagara exchange became TUxedo5 + the four digits. For a short time, you could dial either the old 4 digit or the new TU5+4d number.

[BDM]

Doug, I remember the "TUxedo" exchange growing up on Harvard St years ago. Also, the exchange building is right on the corner of Cadieux & Greater Mack. Along with that antenna mono-pole tower that supposedly served the early mobile phone system on 151/152 MHz.

[BDM]

I was just reminded of something else. Small, but telephone related none the less. When we moved into our home in Detroit around 1972, my father re-did the basement. We were the second owners of the home which was built around 1932. Big brick colonial. Anyhoot, the basement was clean, but not much different from 1932. In fact, the furnace was a converted to NG coal burner. My dad removed a big black box that was mounted near the utility room on the edge of the rafter. I remember he opened it to remove the screws. The bells were obvious. I asked him what it was, and he said an old telephone bell box.

Into the trash can it went. Years later I realized it was a subset with a phone attached some years back, or used as an extra ringer, but a standard 534/634 metal subset none the less

[McHeath]

Yeah I agree with TipandRing about liking all the mod techie stuff, which I have lots of.  And yet, I often find myself wondering just how much of really is needed to enhance my life.  I grew up during the end of the rotary phone era, the 70s and early 80s, and recall well how we all got along just fine without cells and text messaging and mobile web access etc.  Now that I have all that modern telecom stuff I use it, but wonder if it really makes much difference?  Heck I'm not even sure that entering all our misc phone numbers into our phone's memory and just pushing one button to call has really been that great a good, my 7 digit memory sure has suffered.  What was the last phone number you recall committing to memory? 

And I watch my mother's life, which she still lives, telecom wise, as if it were about 1980 and notice that she is not suffering for not having a cell, texting ability, no web access on her phone and cords on her phones, etc.  Yeah yeah, this gets close to being Luddite, and even this very forum is possible with the transformations that have happened, so maybe I'm just pining for the old days.

And I'm not even that old.

[Shovelhead]

In '68 I bought a new BSA motor cycle. After the third day of ownership and getting completely p.o.'d at the selling dealer I had to find someplace to feed it's voracious  appetite for assorted parts. Like wiring harnesses, throttle cables, headlight bulbs, throttle cables, assorted fasteners, and throttle cables. Did I mention throttle cables?
Well, the parts book listed the wrong cable. It took a afternoon of calling a fifty mile radius of Farmington Township to find ONE bike shop that knew what I was talking about.
I called NO2-1748, a Ann Arbor number. The gentleman answered "Innnndia (drawn out British sort of accent) Motor--- cycle sales BSA". (He drew the name out like that.
After his assurances that he had the correct cables, I took a ride there. I rode past it on my 305 Honda a couple of times, missing it. And there it was, a little place tucked in the bottom of a
two story building next to the Fleetwood Diner.
The original dark old time cycle shop. Dark, damp, smell of ancient lubricants. Lit by single light bulbs hung from a wire in the ceiling. Posters of BSA's touting their racing wins in the 1950's, all yellowed with age. And between the roll up garage door and the entrance door was a metal desk with a Western Electric 202 on it. Still in use. The first time I heard it ring was a surprise, to me not as harsh as the 500 sets still in common use. The whole place was like stepping back in time.
The number card on the dial was not 662, but NOrmandy 2-1748.
I used the phone from there a few times as that was my hang out in Ann Arbor in my late teen years. At times I would help with small tasks like looking for parts in the bins and cabinets. In about 1971 or 2 he had me looking for a factory bulletin. Didn't find that, but found gasoline receipts from the corner gas station from 1949.
As I started riding Japanese and later Harley Davidsons, and moving out of Michigan I went there fewer times. In '94, I acquired another BSA and went back there looking for parts. Ali was still in business, but definitely getting up in years. He passed in '95, what happened to the parts and bikes was kind of unclear, many different stories of where it all went.
I would have liked to have gotten the telephone, no telling where it ended up.

[BDM]

See, some of those old D1 mounts were still in use until the 60s/70s. I'd bet many went on to be used into the 80s. But, we'll never know. I've often wondered if any CS phones made it into the 60s in use. I'd bet more than one in very rural areas.

[Mark Stevens]

And yet, I often find myself wondering just how much of really is needed to enhance my life.  I grew up during the end of the rotary phone era, the 70s and early 80s, and recall well how we all got along just fine without cells and text messaging and mobile web access etc.  Now that I have all that modern telecom stuff I use it, but wonder if it really makes much difference?

I think you're onto something, Heath.  There were happy people 100 years ago, just like now.  It's not about the "stuff" you have!  I've always thought how odd it is that in the past 15 years especially, everyone seems to have to be talking on the phone 24/7.  Why?  Are they trying to look like big shots or what?  Are they so insecure that they need the constant affirmation of their friends voices?  I've got too much to do for all that talking!  And multi-tasking?  Forget it.  If I had one of those tiny phones stuck in my ear and tried to walk at the same time... why, I'd fall right over!   

[Mark Stevens]

The original dark old time cycle shop. Dark, damp, smell of ancient lubricants. Lit by single light bulbs hung from a wire in the ceiling. Posters of BSA's touting their racing wins in the 1950's, all yellowed with age. And between the roll up garage door and the entrance door was a metal desk with a Western Electric 202 on it. Still in use. The first time I heard it ring was a surprise, to me not as harsh as the 500 sets still in common use. The whole place was like stepping back in time.
The number card on the dial was not 662, but NOrmandy 2-1748.

I'll apologize in advance for straying from the focus of this thread, but your BSA shop description brings back a lot of memories!  The brit-bike shops in particular were always rat-holes.  Our Triumph dealer, oh man...you'd get dirty just walking in there!  I was into dirt bikes in the early '70s, and all the import bikes had shops that were pretty "rugged".  (and this was before all the imports were from Japan)  The shops that sold/repaired Bultaco, Hodaka, Puch, Maico...all just like you described. One of the early Honda shops was even like that!  I'll now return this topic back to phones...

[McHeath]

I can't comment on the state of motorcycle shops back in the day, other to note that my dad and his friends liked to hand build their own dirt bikes in the backyard then take them out and wreak them on the weekends.  (also wreaking themselves a lot)

My wife has a Bluetooth thingie, and it seems okay as I've tried it a few times.  But I agree on how many folks are on the phone all the time, and I too wonder what that means.  I recall that once upon a time talking on the phone meant you were important, and in the early cell phone days it was only the big shots and well to do who had them, so there was a status thing going on then.  Of course people like to chat with their "homie krewe" as my students say, but how many times have you seen young people out together in a group or couple and they are talking on their phones to someone unseen while kinda ignoring the people around them?  When I first got a cell phone I burned up a lot of minutes and money talking all the time, not sure why now that I look back on it.  Perhaps the sheer novelty of being able to talk on the phone from anyplace after a life lived tied to the phone at home in some way. 

On a related note my wife has commented on the tendency we are seeing in our neck of the woods for people to even stop using the phone and just send text messages to check in, set up something or whatever.  Is that happening everywhere?  I guess so, and it's interesting too from a human psychology perspective. 

We seem to really be living in a transitional phone era, we've left the old world that many of us grew up in of Ma Bell, corded phones, pricey long distance and pay phones on the corners.  Phones are now morphing into computers and media machines, what will the final result be is anybodies guess I suppose.  My dad used to run down my latest high tech gizmos with his famous line, "So how does that make my life better than it was before?"  He tended to see a lot of the personal entertainment and communication technology advancements such as cable TV, the internet, touch tone phones and such as just things to milk money out of us.  Perhaps that's a bit cynical but still I often wonder.

[BDM]

Point well taken. I agree as I'm also sick of seeing phones stuck to peoples heads all the time. Even at work. I can have 5 co-workers standing around me, all talking on cell phones. Me just sitting there, looking around like a monkey in a banana factory   I mean does anyone want to talk face to face anymore? I rarely use mine. When I do, it's usually the 2-way feature.

[Bill]

See, some of those old D1 mounts were still in use until the 60s/70s. I'd bet many went on to be used into the 80s. But, we'll never know. I've often wondered if any CS phones made it into the 60s in use. I'd bet more than one in very rural areas.

Oh, that triggers a sad story. My Dad was born in 1921, and for various reasons got bounced around among various relatives during the depression. One of the places he stayed was with an aunt and uncle in the bustling metropolis of Gretna, Virginia. The uncle was, as Dad said, a big frog in that tiny pond, and one of the things he owned was the local phone company. My Dad told the story of the time that the phone company switched over to "a new kind of phone", after which he saw a barn full of old phones, operator switchboards, and equipment of all sorts. This would have been in the late 30's/early 40's, so I bet that barn was full of candlesticks, 202s, and stuff I would kill for today.

I tried to follow up on this once, but of course there was no way ...

Bill

[Mark Stevens]

My Dad told the story of the time that the phone company switched over to "a new kind of phone", after which he saw a barn full of old phones, operator switchboards, and equipment of all sorts. This would have been in the late 30's/early 40's, so I bet that barn was full of candlesticks, 202s, and stuff I would kill for today.

I recall a recent story in the monthly publication of either ATCA or TCI that was about a barn find. Someone involved in an independent phone company had stashed a whole gaggle of payphones in a barn.  It was truckloads of stuff.  All I know is, those things never happen to me! 

[Dan/Panther]

Ringback for my area for years was 1158, dial it, and hang up, your own phone would ring.

Remember UL3-1212, at the tone the time will be 11.32 exactly bbbbbeeeeepppp..
No more they don't provide time check anymore, at least not in my area.

PARTY LINES:
"Come on Mary, hang up for gosh sakes we need to use our phone", or, "Mary, I can hear you breathing hang up your phone".
Party lines were not necessarily close to you, but in our case, it was our next door neighbor. If you went on bad terms with your neighbor, leaving their phone off the hook was a very real possibility.

"Operator, please connect me to R-235...."

"Operator, I'd like to place a long distance call to New York please. Person to person."

If that particular person was not there you didn't pay for the call.
Or station to station,  no matter who answers you pay.

OR, make a long distance person to person call to yourself, to let friends and family know you got home safely, long distance call for free...


Dan/Panther