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In case of emergency
By adamg on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 5:30pm
There's no sign like an old sign, in this case on Commercial Street near the Greenway in the North End.
Of course, it also raises the old question: How many cookies did Andrew eat?
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Andrew 8-8000
Of course.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
and...
How do you keep you carpets clean?
I will go to my grave singing Andrew 8-8000
And Dave Dinger, which I find myself chanting wayyyy too much
"On Route 128 - In Braintree!"
One thing that still puzzles me, though
How does Dinger do it?
True fact: When she was knee high to a grasshopper, the kidlet used to wonder just what happens at Lappen's. Then they closed and now we'll never know.
Thanks, now that's
STUCK IN MY HEAD!
I have to say "on Route 1, in
I have to say "on Route 1, in Saugus" every time I drive that way.
I bet most of your reading
I bet most of your reading don't remember how many cookies Andrew ate
Transylvania-6-5000
Transylvania-6-5000
Did that ever appear anywhere
Did that ever appear anywhere other than as a joke in an episode of the old Batman TV show?
I once went to some convention or show in the NY Penta Hotel (or whatever is was called at that point (about 25 years ago)) and actually phoned to confirm the times - mostly for the heck of it, because 736-5000 (PEnnsylvania-6-5000) was still their phone number.
Not from the old Batman TV show
It was the title of a Bugs Bunny short.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvania_6-5000_(1963_film)
Pardon me boy, is this the
Pardon me boy, is this the Transylvania Station?
Substations and manholes
More on some of the history and background here which I thought was interesting: http://forgotten-ny.com/2015/06/bostons-substations-and-manholes/
Some say Andrew is still
Some say Andrew is still there, waiting for your call.
Um...
It appears that 'despatcher' has the same definition as 'dispatcher'...
One might surmise that an ANdrew number might have been located in Andrew Square.
On the North Shore, Salem's numbers beginning with 74x-xxxx (PIoneer, Alexander Graham Bell first demonstrated the telephone in Salem at Lyceum Hall on Church Street), Lynn's 59x-xxxx (LYnn), Peabody is unusual, 53x-xxxx (JEfferson).
Bingo!
It was believed that people could not remember more than four or five numbers in a row so they came up with these exchange names. Malden's 321, 322, 324 were based on DAvenport, which was the name of a furniture manufacturer that made sofas, or as they were often called then, "davenports."
Also, if you lived in the same exchange, you had to dial only those last five digits.
Now, of course, no one remembers phone numbers at all.
Phonetic
I believe the phonetic words were first used before phones had rotary dials and you had to crank the phone with the handle to reach the operator who would place the call for you.
But
Even if that was the case, you'd still have to tell the operator, "Sweetheart, get me KENSINGTON-45678." Because it was olden times and everyone was openly sexist, and you STILL had to know the number of the party you were calling unless you lived in Mayberry RFD or Dogpatch.
Don't you know that it was a Bell System rule
that every small town telephone operator had to be named Sarah.