Flat File Gloat/Score

In the early 1960s my family's phone number was EAst 5-893. Later it was changed to EAst 5-5893, probably 1964 or so. Your number was probably once BElmont

2-106, and was changed to BElmont 2-2106. That would date it as no earlier than mid-60s, could be any time after that until they dropped the letter prefixes. Which I don't recall as strongly. 1980s? Anyway, probably '60s or '70s.

Grant Erwin

What? Maybe a lot of people still used their old named exchange because they were used to it, but the North American Numbering Plan went into effect in 1951, requiring everybody to have a 7-digit phone number. So, the old 5- and 6-digit numbers had to be superseded pretty quickly after that, or you couldn't recieve a long-distance call directly. And, AT&T sure wanted to get rid of those HUGE rooms full of operators manually routing calls. I have a number of old documents (manuals, catalogs, etc.) and it seems to me that practically nobody (in business, anyway) was still using printed versions with the named exchanges by about 1961. There may have been a lot of business cards that were printed up with the old form and used for quite a while after.

I grew up in Washington, DC, so maybe we were a bit ahead of some other areas. We had crossbar exchanges while a lot of other areas continued to use step by step for at least another decade. We always had 7-digit phone numbers, from my earliest memory - so that would be probably 1953 for sure. I know a lot of people kept the letter form of the phone numbers in their address books for quite a while.

Jon

Phone number formats got "phased in" over a period of a couple decades, depending on where in the country you were. So, your business card could be from anywhere from the '40s to the '70s, but, most likely, from the '50s or early '60s.

Jerry

I don't recall exchange name prefixes latter than the mid '50s here in the frozen north. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

The file has crudely glued on paper for 'this side up' and 'this side down' with XX 51, does that mean 20th century 51?

The card is from Montgomery Elevator Company, Ass't. Vice President, San Diego, Calif.

BTW, I'm going to need some thin material to keep tools from sliding. Is felt really a good idea like in Kennedy tool boxes, that would be the easiest to find?

Got a 99c store about? They (and Kmart and so forth) sell a "mat" of a foamish material that looks sort of netish..works great for drawer liners, stuff wont slip and cusions the tools very well.

Similar to this..just no zig zag

?CATID=69172&PRODID=64313 Gunner

Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"

?CATID=69172&PRODID=64313>

Belmont would probably been some where in the beach area or maybe Point Loma. Those flat files are so common around San Diego now that almost all pre press work is digital. I have worked in 3 shops that went diggital and the flat file eventually got tossed. They are always up for sale on craigslist. Get that nonslip stuff used in kitchen drawers to keep stuff form slipping.

In the 50's I had (parents phone naturally :-) ) - Skyline SKY as the prefix. That was in El Paso Tx. Then the town got larger and needed more prefixes...

Martin

Mart> Sunworshipper wrote:

The Belmont 2 was in fact three numbers. Likely BM or BL for the first. That is why numbers and letters are on phones. It stems from a nicer time in numbers.

Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member

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