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Pictures of Old Telephone signs

Started by Sargeguy, September 23, 2014, 06:55:55 PM

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Western Bell

Quote from: 19and41 on March 29, 2019, 01:35:02 PM
There was color film, but it was more expensive and could only be processed by mail order.  My mother was quite the photographer and took color slides in the late '40s and '50s and '60s.

Maybe then it was that those who took the snap shots in which vintage signs appear could not afford to do color. I stopped looking at anything color, they never have vintage signs. And, by the time color became affordable, the telephone signs were mostly gone. After looking at thousands of photos, I began to see a relationship between B&W and color, date the photo was taken and the availability of phone service at that time (none, some, everywhere).

19and41

There are a number of period slide show videos on You Tube of color scenes from the '30s and '40s.  A good black and white picture is a pleasant sight as well.  Keep posting them all.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

Western Bell

Getting hard to find new ones. Here are 3 more.

Western Bell

#138
Another 6 I stumbled upon.

Western Bell


Western Bell

Found a vault stuffed full of thousands of Kodachrome images. I didn't get through all of them but did get 24 so far, most in color, which are attached here and in 3 more replies. Most are Bell signs, a few phone booths. I found it interesting in that looking at B&W or color photos, the bell signs stood out like a sore thumb. WE did a fine job at designing a sign that was easy to spot int he clutter of all the other signs and stuff around it. No other sign comes close to looking like a WE phone sign.

Yes, Kodachrome slide did produce very good images and all of these images date from late 40s to early 60s.


Western Bell

Third set of 6 of 24.

Western Bell

Fourth set of 6 of 24.

KaiserFrazer67

I have one to share with you:

This photo was taken, at best guess, around 1970-ish.  This is in my hometown (and still my current location), Oakfield, Wisconsin.  This is the old fire department building on North Main Street, and to the left is the old phone booth complete with the large lighted sign it had at the time.  We had General Telephone/GTE, but IIRC the blue diamond-shaped sign simply read "PUBLIC TELEPHONE BOOTH".  (I have seen lighted "General System" signs online, but they are round.)  The phone booth is actually situated in front of the old telephone company building next door to the left (out of the picture), which at the time of the photo housed a barber shop.  The firehouse has since been replaced with a much larger and spacious village hall/firehouse/public library complex.  The phone booth, I am told, was taken out by a drunk driver sometime in the 1980's.
-Tom from Oakfield, Wisconsin --  My CO CLLI & switch: OKFDWIXADS0--GTD-5 EAX

"Problems are merely opportunities in workclothes." -Henry J. Kaiser

Western Bell

Last set from the vault, 4 more and that's it.

19and41

Quote from: KaiserFrazer67 on April 02, 2019, 12:23:47 AM
I have one to share with you:

This photo was taken, at best guess, around 1970-ish.  This is in my hometown (and still my current location), Oakfield, Wisconsin.  This is the old fire department building on North Main Street, and to the left is the old phone booth complete with the large lighted sign it had at the time.  We had General Telephone/GTE, but IIRC the blue diamond-shaped sign simply read "PUBLIC TELEPHONE BOOTH".  (I have seen lighted "General System" signs online, but they are round.)  The phone booth is actually situated in front of the old telephone company building next door to the left (out of the picture), which at the time of the photo housed a barber shop.  The firehouse has since been replaced with a much larger and spacious village hall/firehouse/public library complex.  The phone booth, I am told, was taken out by a drunk driver sometime in the 1980's.

I remember those diamond shaped phone booth signs as being only on booths in GTE country.  The region I grew up in had a patchwork of telephone companies covering various areas.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

19and41

One other note, There were 2 color processes,  dye transfer (Kodachrome)  and image reversal (Ektachrome)  Time has been vicious to Ektachrome type images, Having what is known as "red shift" where the image fades to red before dissapearing completely.  This is one reason so few prints and their negatives from that period survive.  You can see this effect in some filmed images from the early '60s on YouTube.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

ReneRondeau


FABphones

Image from above link.
'Circa 1909. Central Station, Saranac Lake, Adirondack Mountains, N.Y.'
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
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