TRafalgar 5-6400. Boro Sign.
JUdson-6-0800. Riker & Co. Real Estate. Seen on Canal Street.
Looking to rent loft space in Chinatown? You probably won't have much luck calling the Riker & Co. Real Estate firm at the barely readable Exchange Name Number of JUdson 6-0800. In today's numbering that phone number -- 212-588-0800 -- would ring up the folks at Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP. According to an advertisement on this page at Fultonhistory.com, Riker & Co. also had a Brooklyn office where their Exchange Name Number was TRiangle 5-1234. The only other JUdson Exchange Name I've seen lately was in retro-chic usage on the receipt from Frank Music Company in midtown. It might be interesting to explore connections between this Riker company and the famous Riker family whose name graces the Riker's Island prison complex. The Riker family had a long history in New York, where to this day the Lent-Riker-Smith House with its Riker Family Cemetery in the back yard is believed to be the oldest continuously-inhabited dwelling in the United States.
LOngacre 3-6540, Amabassador Terrace
I must have walked past this Ambassador Terrace sign a thousand times without noticing the LOngacre telephone exchange number hiding at the bottom. D. spotted this sign, which also shows a street address in the format used before the USPS introduced ZIP codes.
OLympia 9-4444. Typhoon Fence Company.
Some kind of truck. I don't know what this is.
STillwell 6-6300. Don Liebermann Realty.
STillwell 6-6300. Don Liebermann Realty.
EMpire 1-9240. Able Steel Equipment
This is the first EMpire exchange name I spotted. The Able Steel Equipment Company is alive and well. Their old-school telephone exchange name phone number of EM 1-9240 is today dialable at (718) 361-9240. UPDATE: Spotted another barely-visible EMpire exchange number a few months later.
Chevy Impala in L.I.C.
STillwell 6-0640. Metro Systems Corp.
AStoria 8-7979. Steinway Street.
STillwell 4-2468. Henri Billharz Inc. Plumbing & Heating
According to the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce web site (link no longer works): “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. You can also reach Billharz Plumbing at billharzplumbing.com.
RAvenswood-1-2089. Astoria Finast Windows
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.
Chevrolet on Greenpoint Avenue
181 Everywhere
181 Everywhere
181 Everywhere
181 Everywhere
181 Everywhere
181 Everywhere
181 Everywhere
181 Everywhere
181 Everywhere
181 Everywhere
181 Everywhere
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Trash Transport
On the Trash Cans
At a Parking Meter
Second Hand Store
Chained to a Streetsign
By a Fire Hydrant
Sidewalk
Curbside
Curbside
In the Trash Can
With the Trashbags
Trash
On Top of the Trash
Fly the Friendly Sky of Laos T-Shirt, Front
Vientiane Flying Club T-Shirt, Front
Vientiane Flying Club T-Shirt, Back
Vientiane Flying Club T-Shirt, Front
Fly the Driendly Sky of Laos T-Shirt, Front
Fly the Driendly Sky of Laos T-Shirt, Back
American School of Vientiane T-Shirt, Back
American School of Vientiane T-Shirt, Front
American School of Vientiane T-Shirt, Back
American School of Vientiane T-Shirt, Front
Sidewalk
Curbside Trash
Curbside Trash
Central Park
On the 59th Street Bridge
On the 59th Street Bridge
Outside a 99¢ Shop
With the Trash Bags
