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...
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
8 comments:
Your remarks and lively debates are welcome, whether supportive or critical of the views herein. Your articulate, well-informed remarks that are relevant to an article are welcome.
However, commentary that is intended to "flame" or attack, that contains violence, racist comments and potential libel will not be published. Facts are helpful.
If you'd like to make personal attacks and libelous claims against people and businesses, then you may do so on your own social media accounts. Also, comments predicting when a new business will close ("I give it six weeks") will not be approved.
Im older and did not know that was a phone number, very cool.
ReplyDeleteGR stands for Gramercy.
ReplyDeleteBoth my home and work phone numbers are YU—Yukon!
Those prefixes were called exchanges and GR stood for the Gramercy exchange
ReplyDeletelet me in, and also get a rooster, feel like that would be a nice extra to this already perfect place
ReplyDeleteMy phone number starts with OTtendorfer 4.
ReplyDelete@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.
ReplyDeleteMy 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.
ReplyDeleteThose 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.
ReplyDelete