I have either not been keeping my eyes open, or I simply am not making new discoveries of Telephone Exchange Names in the wild. One old phone number I see all over the place is the HAVemeyer 4-9436 number for Charles Hoelzer Iron Works. That old number shows up on countless metal doors that open from sidewalks into basements of buildings.
Last week’s sighting of an ULster number in Carroll Gardens caught me by surprise. At the rapid pace at which I was walking and the relative tininess of the sign I am surprised I even saw this number and recognized it as old phone number code. I spotted it for but a millisecond out of the corner of my eye.
ULster 5. Adams Fence Company.
Another number from a few months ago (which I thought I had posted already) is from Philadelphia, where a Cannuli Bros. sign shows 2 telephone exchange name numbers: WA2-2988 & WA5-4376. I would have thought that WA stood for WAshington but it’s possible it means WAlnut. No easy way for me to know but if you are familiar with Philadelphia and its old telephone exchange names maybe you could drop me a line and set me straight on this important matter.
Cannuli Bros. sign in Philadelphia: WA2-2988 & WA5-4376
