PHILADELPHIA "CLASSIFIED" [I.E., YELLOW PAGES], MAY 1919 TELEPHONE DIRECTORY.
Apartments often listed by name of landlord only, unless "Bancroft Apartments, 927 Walnut"
Phone numbers are in this style: "Filbert 5376" for the Bancroft Apartments. The Rittenhouse was Locust 3800.
Army and Navy Goods: 3 different Goldbergs, Aaron S. and E. at 708 Market (Market 4274) and Edward at 631 Market (Market 4568). [none on Chestnut Street where I. Goldberg ended up for so long]
Pages and pages of car dealers, mechanics, tires, parts, vulcanizing, etc.. Full-page Ford ad--13 dealers. Cabs, limos also advertised. "Motor Trucks," "Motor Truck Hauling."
Many dealers in cast-off clothing.
Coal frequently advertised. Could be delivered; example Frank Prentzel, Locust 1083, "coal and wood," 27th and Lombard.
Pages of electrical stuff, too.
Museum listings: Commercial Museum and Philadelphia Museum, both at 34th and Spruce; Memorial Hall in West Fairmount Park; University Museum at Penn, of course; Wistar Institute.
"Rag-Time Playing Taught in 10 to 20 Lessons" at the Christensen School of Popular Music, main address 1520 Chestnut. Spruce 967. Musicians listed separately by name under heading "Musicians and Musical Directors."
"Salesroom and Exchange for the Blind--Piano Tuning and Repairs" Walnut 1210, at 204 South 13th Street. "We Tune Pianos for the Leading Music Schools, Churches, and Public Schools."
Typewriters: Columbia Supply and Equipment Company, 808 Chestnut Street, Walnut 5534.
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oracne- oracne - Victoria Janssen
- Victoria Janssen
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I'm sorry. I'll shut up now.
I was looking at this back in 1996, so my memory may be faulty, but it looked like a lot of people had phones--perhaps because it was in a city and not out in a small resort town like in HHC. Something to check on next time I'm at the Free Library.
Would Rosalind's aunts have a phone? And how would they work things out with the boarders? How were phones billed?
They might have a phone. Especially if there's a plot reason! I'm betting they'd have only one, and they'd just go over the bill and split it that way. I don't know how phone calls were billed--it might say in the front of the phone book. I was going to have to go back anyway at some point, to check and see if there were any masseurs listed as opposed to piano tuners...
When did "phone" become common for "telephone" anyway?
The slang book I was looking at earlier this week gave a date, and it was before 1900, as was to "call" someone.