Community Chat

[shoekitty]

We didn't have a party line as the only option..in many towns it was. I remember my mom talking about it as an option to the high phone bills. Lol I remember until not too long ago the telephone could get expensive, as they charged toll calls, long distance. And add taxes on toll calls. Then along came one price for the month. Yes!!!!   Saved our life. When we moved to this town in 1988, it was smaller town, EVERYTHING WAS TOLL CALL outside our town. We weren't used to it. It was a toll call 6 miles away.  Everyone we knew, and my parents were out of town.  It was awful

[Desertdi]

In high school, my girlfriend who lived ACROSS THE STREET was in a different area code.   Back then, that was a long distance call...

[rms1954]

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@mormel20 wrote:
I was just thinking today how crazy it was we were on a party line until the mid 1970s. There was one other family on it. I remember wanting to use the phone and would pick up only to hear it in use by the neighbor. I lived in a rural area. Were you ever on a party line?

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I remember it ... people would listen in on conversations.

[JoyFilled Warrior]

I remember Party Lines too.  And everything already mentioned above.  But, I dont remember knowing ever knowing who the other people were that we shared the Party Line with.  Strangers.

I also remember that kewl Doris Day, Rock Hudson movie ("Pillow Talk (1959)!" .. abt their struggles with their shared Party Line.  Saw it over & over. 

[monicakm]

@mormel20 

No, my family didn't have a party line.

If someone needed to make a really important or an emergency call, could you tell the other person you had an emergency and could you please make a call?

[monicakm]

Since I've been married, 44 years, I can remember picking up the phone and hearing a two-way conversation.  We had a private line but every once in a while lines would get crossed and you could hear other people's conversations.

[monicakm]

@JoyFilled Warrior 

Pillow talk! So that's where Charlotte Tilbury got it.

[PhilaLady1]

Similar to @monicakm

Grew up in a big city.  My parents did not have a party line.  But still every now and then I could hear other people's conversation.  We would say that the lines got crossed but really never knew how it actually happened. 

[jubilant]

My grandma and grandpa had a party line in the country. We didn't. If we had to make a call grandpa limited us to 10 minutes. A couple times when we went to make a call other people were talking and I thought it fun to "listen in" till grandpa caught me one time!

[We rescue cats]

My mom and I didn't have a phone but my grandma had one, she lived 2 blocks away-it was a party line. So frustrating if I ran 2 blocks to make a call and there was someone on the line!