Old Phone


 
Rick P

Rick P

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I was on another site where a buddy was bragging about being old enough to remember having a rotary phone. We have this one in our bedroom. It's a Western Electric Model 302. It's the same model and year of the phone that was used on the set of "I Love Lucy" I bought it years ago, had it refurbished and gifted it to my wife, who is the biggest Lucy fan in the universe. It works, and sounds great.

Anyone else have or use rotary phones?
 

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Rick P said:
I was on another site where a buddy was bragging about being old enough to remember having a rotary phone. We have this one in our bedroom. It's a Western Electric Model 302. It's the same model and year of the phone that was used on the set of "I Love Lucy" I bought it years ago, had it refurbished and gifted it to my wife, who is the biggest Lucy fan in the universe. It works, and sounds great.

Anyone else have or use rotary phones?
Click to expand...
When I was a kid we had a party line phone, many calls needed "O" assistance to make, and the phone even had it's own piece of furniture and special room in the house. My sister and I used to pick up the phone and try listening in on people. Occasionally they'd hear us giggling in the background and start yelling at us. And we didn't live in some backwater place. This was in the city of Chicago
 
I have one, though not as old as yours. It was one of those "vintage reproductions" that Bell offered back in... the late 70s, I think.
This is one with the handset hanging on the disconnect hook on the side of the phone. I'll try to remember to get a pic.

It still works but since I got rid of the landline (I thought I was the last person in the US to do that LOL), it is just a wall decoration.
 
Rick P said:
We have a special piece of furniture for the phone. We actually bought it 20+ years ago in a thrift shop because we liked the way it looked..and didn't know it was. I had it refinished because the phone fits on it perfectly.
Click to expand...
Where's your phone book for the slide out on the right side? 😀 (That IS a slide out, right?)
 
The farmhouse where I grew up not only had a rotary phone, but was on a party line until I was almost through college, in the mid 80's.

When the time came to convert to a dedicated line, the telco told my folks about a 3 month window or some such. Dad came into the farm yard one afternoon, and found a crew taking down the party line. He needed the phone.... and no dial tone. Turns out the contractor who was supposed to run the new line never did. The crew had to make a temporary hang to get service back up. A few months later, same thing, crew was taking down the temporary lash-up. No dial tone. A car load of telco suits had just been spotted by Dad a few minutes early, he jumped in the pickup, chased them down, and gave them an earful. Not only had the contractor never plowed in the new line, they'd submitted it as a completed job and gotten paid for it. The new line was plowed in just a couple of days later.
 
Brenda T said:
I have one, though not as old as yours. It was one of those "vintage reproductions" that Bell offered back in... the late 70s, I think.
This is one with the handset hanging on the disconnect hook on the side of the phone. I'll try to remember to get a pic.

It still works but since I got rid of the landline (I thought I was the last person in the US to do that LOL), it is just a wall decoration.
Click to expand...
We pay for a landline just for that phone. The sound quality is superb and we love to hear it ring...
 
Rick P said:
We have a special piece of furniture for the phone. We actually bought it 20+ years ago in a thrift shop because we liked the way it looked..and didn't know it was. I had it refinished because the phone fits on it perfectly.
Click to expand...
That looks almost identical except the one we had had a chair attached to the table and a little writing area so you could jot something down while sitting and relaxing along with a smoke (there was a large ash tray as well though not attached). Oddly neither my mom or dad smoked cigarettes. My dad smoked cigars but was not allowed in the house with one. Not even in the basement :D But, people smoked cigarettes in our home when visiting. Great times :D
 
Our northern house came with a rotary phone.
The cable company tossed in the phone service as part of the bundle when we first had internet there so we had a live rotor phone for a year or two until we went with StarLink.

I’ve told the story before but I’ll do it again.
I wrote 867-5309 where the number on the phone would be displayed.
My daughter rented part of the property from us at first before she bought her own place.
She gave out that number to several places before she finally figured it out.
She wasn’t happy with me.
 
Rick P said:
Anyone else have or use rotary phones?
Click to expand...
When I entered Grown-Up World in 1985 my first apartment didn't come with a phone. I wound up buying a black desktop model for $12 (somehow that amount sticks with me yet today) and even though it hasn't been used for years, it's still on a shelf in the basement.

I was going to hit Send but decided on a whim to see if I could find it:

760765396.jpg

The grandkids are visiting this weekend so I'll see if I can clean it up and get it to work, since we still have a land line. Whether it'll still accept a "pulse" dial remains to be seen.

It's barely legible in the photo but my first phone number was 312/759-9034, and I'll bet I typed it up on my Royal portable. Who's brave enough to dial it?
;)
 
So was that 312 land before it was relegated only to the Chicago inner city? I recall them coming out with area codes and at the time 312 stretched all the way to 815 land. recalling my 1st apartment in Addison IL and had a 312 there. Then it got changed and for the life of me I don't know to what :D
 
JKalchik said:
When I was living down there, Addison was 630.
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Cool. Mine ended up being a 630 code eventually. But for the life of me I don't remember what it became right after it was 312. Maybe it went directly to 630? IDK was a lifetime ago
 
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