I made two bus trips to upstate New York this year. On those trips I noticed billboards with phone numbers using the old Telephone Exchange Name format. The signs passed by so fast I was unable to get photos of them, and I did not think to write them down, but I seem to remember the phone numbers belonged to real estate agents in the area. It seemed like a deliberate attempt to revive Telephone Exchange Names, an old practice of making phone calls in a way that included the name of the neighborhood in which the person being called lived.

The Exchange Name system fell out of general use long ago, but I wonder if its revival upstate is inspired by the Telephone Exchange Name Project web site, a long-time favorite of mine that I check in on once in a while if only to make sure it still exists. If you do not know what a Telephone Exchange Name is or why I think it is special to see them then give the above-mentioned link a quick read. The TEN Project collects exchange names from old phone books, personal recollection, and other sources, and encourages a common sense revival of Exchange Names today. I referred to the TEN Project today after getting together these photos of telephone exchange names I have seen around NYC. Some years ago I considered making a single project of this and assembling as many of these sightings as possible, but it seemed cliché. Public signage bearing exchange name numbers from generations ago are not common but they endure, often quite visibly at companies very much still in business. This first photo shows the giant Steinway Storage Warehouse in Long Island City, seen by thousands of daily commuters from the Queens-bound side of the Queensboro/59th Street Bridge.

AS8-9090, AStoria 8-9090, Steinway Storage Warehouse

I spotted this fine specimen in Astoria, and marveled not so much at how this company still has its Exchange Name number over its front door but at how it is practically the only forward-facing telephone number they have on their place of business. (They have their modern phone numbers in the lower right of the front window). Millionaire Realty appears to have been in Astoria for a very, very long time, and has the confidence to show it. Looking for a place in Astoria? Dial zero and ask the operator for Astoria 4-5500, or AS4-5500.

AS4-5500, AStoria 4-5500

The MU in True Value Lumber Boys’ old-format phone number stands for Murray Hill. The Lumber boys have their modern phone number posted above their exchange name number, but I noticed that they still don’t have an area code.

MU3-0410, MUrray Hill 3-0410

The next sighting is from the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where a locksmith still uses its TRafalgar exchange name to advertise its business phone number of TR9-2740.

TR9-2740, TRafalgar 9-2740

The Sutton Clock Shop on 61st Street at Lexington Avenue added the 212 area code but kept its exchange-name-formatted number of PL8-2260. PL stands for “PLaza”: PLaza 8-2260.

PLaza 8-2260, Sutton Clock Shop

Even if it did not contain a Telephone Exchange Name this next picture would be pretty amazing anyway. This shot of Times Square in 1942 comes from my gigormous collection of amateur slides and found photos, and appears to have been taken by a Colorado family visiting Manhattan in 1942. Print and film media of the day make it tempting to think that the 1940s literally existed in black and white, but Kodachrome slides like this give the lie to that assumption. Full color steps from the past, in this case showing the PEnnsylvania Telephone Exchange Name advertising empty billboard space over a Ruppert Beer sign. There is a lot of other amazing detail in this picture, but for the purposes of this discussion the Pennsylvania 6-5300 phone number that towers over Times Square is today assigned to the Block, O’Toole, & Murphy law firm under the modern formatting of (212) 736-5300. I wonder if that law firm is aware that its phone number once soared over the crossroads of the world, and what they would have to pay for the privilege today?

Times Square, 1942. PEnnsylvania 6-5300

The San Remo Tailor Shop on Steinway Street in Astoria still invites you to call them at AStoria8-7979. I first posted this Exchange Name Number a few years ago. You can see a fuller picture of this sign here. It is from my series of pictures of signage which, for one reason or another, caught my eye.

AStoria-8-7979, San Remo Tailor Shop

This sign showing the Adams Real Estate Company’s old-format number is also from my signage series, and was first posted there a few years ago. The Adams Real Estate company still exists  and uses the same number as they did generations ago. No longer ORegon 9-5500 you can dial the Adams company directly — without operator assistance! — by dialing (212) 679-5500.

ORegon 9-5500, Adams Real Estate

I borrowed the next Exchange Name sighting from my Faded Signs series, which is another photo set I add to once in a while. ALgonquin 4-1817 was the number for a real estate company at 450 Sixth Avenue. If you look closely at some of my other Faded Sign pictures maybe you’ll be able to make out other Exchange Name numbers in the barely-readable text that still survives from decades ago. The modern version of this old phone number — 212-244-1817 — belongs to Guess Handbags, located at 320 5th Avenue.

ALgonquin 4-1817

According to the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce web site: “Billharz Plumbing, Inc. has been family-owned and operated for three generations since 1927 – Henri X. Billharz, Robert H. Billharz and Henri J. Billharz are licensed and certified.”

One of the signs on the Billharz Plumbing building still shows its exchange name number of STillwell 4-2468, but in these modern times the number is (718) 784-2468.

ST4-2468, STillwell 4-2468

The front windows of the Astoria Finast Window Company were the scene of a memorable exchange between the owners of Finast and an anonymous telephone caller who left unkind messages on the store’s answering machine. The message began with “To The Gargage That Spit And Put Stickers On My Window”. The rest of the message can be read here. It is part of my Typos, Engrish, and Other Public Grammar Gaffes section to which I add pictures once in a while.

Today the signage at the Astoria Finast Window shop is notable for its Telephone Exchange Name phone number, though the company seems to have tried to gloss over this relic of its past. I would expect any company to be proud of this tell-tale sign of its longevity. Nevertheless, Like Astoria Finast, many long-time companies sanded over or obliterated their Exchange Name numbers, replacing them with modern phone numbers.

Pick up your rotary dial phone and dial 0, then ask for RAvenswood 1-2089 to talk to someone at Astoria Finast Window Company.

RAvenswood 1-2089

The penultimate sighting in this set is from a company called Metro Systems Corp. Their number is most likely STillwell 6-0640. I say “most likely” because I want so much to believe that there was once a STeinway telephone exchange name in this part of Queens. I doubt there was, as the Telephone Exchange Name Project web site has no mention of it, but I allow myself to imagine what might have been within a field of knowledge known to be incomplete.

ST6-0640, STillwell 6-0640, Metro Systems Corp.

Like my first sighting, this last one shows another highly visible Telephone Exchange Name specimen. This one is located on Astoria Boulevard, at the highly-trafficked crossroads connecting the Grand Central Parkway, Triborough Bridge, and BQE. This number uses the RAvenswood exchange, which happens to be the exchange of my land line phone.

RA8-5660, RAvenswood 8-5660

I do not know what company used to own the RA8-5660 number. Today, however, this phone number so visible to passers-by would translate to 718-728-5660. That number belongs to a place called “Acupuncture & Acupressure”, a small shop located on Broadway in Astoria. I wonder if that company is aware that its phone number is blasted across the side of a nearby building, albeit in Telephone Exchange Number format.

A text message arrived earlier, alerting me that my bank card starting with 511182 had been deactivated. I should call 888-950-5553 to reactivate.

888-950-5553

I knew this was bogus, though I might not have been so immediately sure of its bogosity had the same thing not happened to D several months ago, and also on a Saturday. She received a text message alerting her that her account had been compromised, and to call a toll-free number to restore access. The wording, as I remember it, was virtually identical to the message I got, and she quickly found that it was just another type of spoofing scam.

Other clues about the text message seemed to point to its sketchiness. The random capitalizations of first letters did not seem right, and the way it tried to identify my card number with its first 6 numbers and not the last 4 or 5 numbers seemed uncharacteristic of a legitimate bank communication. Nevertheless I checked my card and of course found that I have no account number or bank card that begins with 511182. I then looked up the toll-free number on some search engines and found nothing of any substance, though I would not consider search engine presence as proof of anything conclusive.

I knew it was fake but I decided to call the number anyway, just to see what it sounded like, and to see how the scam was supposed to unfold. I did not call from my cell phone or land line. I called from a payphone. I did not want Caller ID phishing (if that was a part of the scam) to deliver any personally identifiable information of mine to the fraudsters.

The first time I dialed the number I got a message saying all circuits were busy. I called again and when it rang I was immediately tipped off by something that might be considered pretty subtle: The phone rang once, and then quickly rang a second time. To me this suggested that the call was being forwarded to somewhere else. The guttersnipes must have hijacked a dormant or unused toll-free number and used its voicemail software to forward calls to their Call Center of Iniquity. If this was true then it answered my only real question about this scam, which was how an outlaw operation was allowed to get a toll-free number. I am sure it happens but my guess is that they did not own the 8889505553 number, but likely used common phone phreaking or social engineering techniques to take it over from someone else. I could be wrong about this but it made sense as it passed through my stream of consciousness.

I notice that this alert came on a Saturday, as did the similar alert D received some months ago. Our two incidents do not a valid sample make but if it represents a broader pattern then it might suggest that the voicemail system and toll-free number — if they were in fact being hijacked — were being used while its owners are out of the office or otherwise unawares.

A pathetic sounding robot voice answered and announced that I had reached “Chase 24-hour Card Activation.” To enter my credit card number I should press 1, to hang up press pound, and I think there was another option. To me it sounded crass and phony but I could see where someone in a panic might not listen to the nuances of the automated voice attendant and instead simply head straight to the escape route of re-activating their allegedly dead card. I would also guess that people enter their credit card number without comparing the first six digits of their card to the 6 digits in the text message, either because they don’t have the card with them or because people are more inclined to believe that their bank account information will get stolen then they are inclined to believe that it will not get stolen.

A real bank would not simply send you a text message. They would more likely call you, leave a communication in your online banking, or even mail you a letter. Nevertheless people do choose to get urgent alerts from their financial institutions sent to their cell phones. My identity theft insurance claims I will get a text message if anyone tries to open an account using my personal information. This has not happened — and I doubt it ever will because I have more confidence in the crooks’ ability to bypass these systems than in the banks’ abilities to maintain them — but something in me did perk up in the first instant that I saw this message.

I am sure this scam works.