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.