Phone numbers in the 1960s

[zevie]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_numbers

"From the 1920s through the 1950s, most larger U.S. cities used the Bell System standard format of two letters which began the exchange name followed by four numbers, as in DUnkirk 0799."

I don't really know what that means, but...

"...by 1965 all newly-connected phone numbers nationwide consisted of numerals only..."

I'd go with:

"...today only numbers beginning with 555–01xx are reserved for fiction..."

I love wikipedia. If this doesn't help, I'm sure mars'll pop up soon with the good stuff.

[Keira]

I asked my mom to elaborate on this, because I was still really confused - and I kinda get it now. I mean, I understand the concept, but when you get into depth with it, I get totally lost. She said it was before she could really remember very well (when she got old enough to know her phone number, they were phasing out the old way of doing things), but she said you can watch old TV shows such as I Love Lucy and they'll mention it in there.

Overall, I find it kinda fascinating. I never knew it was like that. I knew they used only be a few digits long back in the days they first came about, but I didn't know that about the letters, or that it was so recent (in the scheme of things) that it changed to how it is today.

Guess we're learning lots today! Darry water skiing and now the phone numbers, lol.

[Keira]

I read the Babysitters Club books when I was in elementary school, so I don't really remember them that well. But I can guarentee that I didn't understand the phone numbers then either. Lol. When I read something in a book that I don't understand, I tend to either skip over it or make up my own explanation for it. Down the road I'll learn what it really means and it sometimes changes an aspect of the book for me.

[latch22]

The other day I went to answer the telephone and was puzzled to see that the number on Caller ID read: 555-555-5555. Seriously.

Okay, that was kind of off-topic... But how many of *you* have been called by a supposedly-fictional telephone number? It was peculiar...