A view this afternoon of Abetta Boiler & Welding Service at 66 First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue... been here since 1949, and their sign still features an old NYC telephone exchange — GR 3-2390...
8 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Im older and did not know that was a phone number, very cool.
@6:44pm: You're not THAT old, if you don't remember when NYC phone numbers began with letters! My childhood phone number in an outer borough was a "VIrginia" exchange.
My current landline is a CAnal exchange—and I kept my roommate's 677 number (is that ORegon?) connected when he died—but I used to have a GRamercy number when I lived on St. Mark's.
Those exchanges were associated with specific neighborhoods and had "personalities" that now are just memories. Who can forget Elizabeth Taylor in "Butterfield 8" where BU was the exchange in the high rent Upper East Side neighborhood in that film.
8 comments:
Im older and did not know that was a phone number, very cool.
GR stands for Gramercy.
Both my home and work phone numbers are YU—Yukon!
Those prefixes were called exchanges and GR stood for the Gramercy exchange
let me in, and also get a rooster, feel like that would be a nice extra to this already perfect place
My phone number starts with OTtendorfer 4.
@6:44pm: You're not THAT old, if you don't remember when NYC phone numbers began with letters! My childhood phone number in an outer borough was a "VIrginia" exchange.
My current landline is a CAnal exchange—and I kept my roommate's 677 number (is that ORegon?) connected when he died—but I used to have a GRamercy number when I lived on St. Mark's.
Those exchanges were associated with specific neighborhoods and had "personalities" that now are just memories. Who can forget Elizabeth Taylor in "Butterfield 8" where BU was the exchange in the high rent Upper East Side neighborhood in that film.
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