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Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,401
Registered: ‎07-15-2016

Re: 55th birthday Zip Code System

Gee ... it doesn't seem like 55 years ago!   

 

They inserted 3 numbers in front of the 2 numbers you were using and moved it to after the state. 

 

For instance, we went from Richmond Hill 18, NY to Richmond Hill, New York 11418.

 

Wasn't it shortly thereafter that they changed all our phone numbers to 7 numbers rather than an exchange and 5 numbers?  

 

Remember the song PEnnsylvania 6-5000?  We had an OLympia exchange growing up ... then around 1963 when I got married - first phone number was a VIrginia exchange.  My mother had an IVanhoe exchange when they moved to Long Island in about 1965.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,875
Registered: ‎04-27-2015

Re: 55th birthday Zip Code System


@Shanus wrote:

I was born & lived my first years in such a small town in upstate NY that we didn’t have dial phones...a switch board operator. She knew everyone in town, so I could pick up the phone and say, “This is Shanus. Can I speak to Aunt Bertye”?


@Shanus What town was that? I am from Ithaca.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,140
Registered: ‎07-01-2012

Re: 55th birthday Zip Code System

Yes

Phone number exchange was Evergreen and had 5 numbers that I still remember.  Zip was 03.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,060
Registered: ‎05-17-2010

Re: 55th birthday Zip Code System


@panda1234 wrote:

@Shanus wrote:

I was born & lived my first years in such a small town in upstate NY that we didn’t have dial phones...a switch board operator. She knew everyone in town, so I could pick up the phone and say, “This is Shanus. Can I speak to Aunt Bertye”?


@Shanus What town was that? I am from Ithaca.


 

 

@panda1234  Not as far as Ithaca. It’s Ellenville in Catskill Mts.

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,078
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: 55th birthday Zip Code System

I remember party lines.

When you lose some one you L~O~V~E, that Memory of them, becomes a TREASURE.
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,341
Registered: ‎04-19-2010

Re: 55th birthday Zip Code System

55?  I am 58 and remember the adults talking about this when I was a kid.  I could not have remembered that from age 3..  I wonder if it was a slow roll out and did not hit my area until some years later.  Or if I am not remembering correctly . . .


-- pro-aging --


Rochester, New York
Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,284
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: 55th birthday Zip Code System


@IMW wrote:

In NYC we have the 5 digit zip plus an additional 4.

All calls need 3 digit area code- that’s 10 digits.

The security code on credit cards, all logins and pws.

 

I remember phone exchanges when they had names, the postal code was 2 numbers, etc, etc.

 

Its enough to make my head spin! We adapt and go on.


In NJ where I live, we have to dial a 1 then the area code, then number - even if I'm calling my next door neighbor!

Regular Contributor
Posts: 153
Registered: ‎10-13-2016

Re: 55th birthday Zip Code System


@mimomof4 wrote:

I remember dialing only 4 numbers to call someone on a rotary phone.  These days I don't even have a home phone.

 

I also remember people being up in arms when we had an area code change but now they are more common place.


This reminds me of the opening scene of the film "Move Over Darling" when Doris Day's character is trying to call her home (in California) from a pay phone after being on a desert island for 7 years.

 

She doesn't know about the area code and the operator tries to explain it to her with much confusion... Well it made me laugh Woman LOL

 

 

MoveOverDarling_GBQ.jpg

PS: What I really love in the movie is James Garner Woman Wink

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,875
Registered: ‎04-27-2015

Catskill Mts. are beautiful.


@Shanus wrote:

@panda1234 wrote:

@Shanus wrote:

I was born & lived my first years in such a small town in upstate NY that we didn’t have dial phones...a switch board operator. She knew everyone in town, so I could pick up the phone and say, “This is Shanus. Can I speak to Aunt Bertye”?


@Shanus What town was that? I am from Ithaca.


 

 

@panda1234  Not as far as Ithaca. It’s Ellenville in Catskill Mts.

 


@ShanusCatskill Mts. are beautiful.

 

 

 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,645
Registered: ‎03-28-2015

Re: 55th birthday Zip Code System

I remember helping my Mother address Christmas cards when I was little...She just wrote "City" on the bottom for the people that lived in our area.......