Western Electric plant, Oakland, Ca.

[flybynyte]

Click on the image to read viewer comments about misc. photo subject matter.....

http://www.shorpy.com/node/20780

[andre_janew]

There are also stories about 12 button touchtone phones from the 1960s and 1970s. 

[paul-f]

There are also stories about 12 button touchtone phones from the 1960s and 1970s.

Like this 1962 12-button set in my collection?

  http://www.paul-f.com/we568.html

[andre_janew]

Actually more like the first of the 2500 series.  This one had the * and # keys.  I think that would be 1967 or 1968 at the earliest.

[Babybearjs]

I didn't know W.E. had offices in Oakland.... when did they close that location?

[unbeldi]

I didn't know W.E. had offices in Oakland.... when did they close that location?

As an example, by 1969, Western Electric operated 36 service centers across the country.
That is in addition to at least one dozen major factories.

There is much good reading material about Western Electric, for example, somewhere on the net can be found:

Lardella, A.B. (Western Electric, 1964) ''Western Electric and The Bell System — A Survey of Service''