# "Pennslyvania 6-5000"? **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894 **Category:** Cafe Society **Created:** [February 12, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894 "2007-02-12T18:43:47Z") **Posts on this page:** 20 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/1 "2007-02-12T18:43:47Z")
What is the significance of this phone number in that tune of that name? 😕 ---
### Author: ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/2 "2007-02-12T18:53:02Z")
Call the number and find out. (212) 736-5000 was, and still is, the phone number of the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan (Seventh Avenue at 33rd St., very near Penn Station). The ballroom hosted a lot of concerts during the big-band era, including, of course, Glenn Miller. More info [here](http://www.hotelpenn.com/thehotel.html). ---
### Author: ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/3 "2007-02-12T18:53:21Z")
You used to have to call an operator to place a call. Often, the first two numbers would be replaced by the first two letters of the word used. In this case, 7-3 for P-E, making the whole phone number 736-5000. Why Pennsylvannia instead of something else, I don’t know. ---
### Author: ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/4 "2007-02-12T18:54:13Z")
It is (or was) the phone number of a hotel in New York City. The hotel is called the Hotel Pennsylvania. I’ve stayed there. ---
### Author: ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/5 "2007-02-12T18:55:04Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] What is the significance of this phone number in that tune of that name? 😕 [/QUOTE] It’s one of the oldest continuously used phone numbers in existence. No cite handy but I’m pretty sure that’s what it is. Marc ---
### Author: ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/6 "2007-02-12T18:55:13Z")
It’s the phone number for Madison Square Gardens. Incidentally, if you’re actually trying to call the Gardens, and using that phone number to remember it, it helps to realize that it’s PE-6, not PA-6. As many members of my college band discovered one year at the NCAA tournament. ---
### Author: ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/7 "2007-02-12T18:57:20Z")
D’oh, I should have known I’d misremember that. The Hotel Pennsylvania was where we were staying that tournament; the Gardens is where we were playing. Either way, it was a worthwhile number to remember. ---
### Author: ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/8 "2007-02-12T18:59:45Z")
[QUOTE=Sean Factotum] You used to have to call an operator to place a call. Often, the first two numbers would be replaced by the first two letters of the word used. In this case, 7-3 for P-E, making the whole phone number 736-5000. Why Pennsylvannia instead of something else, I don’t know. [/QUOTE] This would make for another thread of some interest, prhaps. My memory is fuzzy on the dates of such things, but I know that in central Alabama the letter prefixes came in in the 50’s and were gone by the 70’s. Some I can remember: AMherst ALpine CHerry LExington Why those numbers and then why those letters, I haven’t a decent clue, but it would be great to get some Straight Dope on it. This is one of those things I would probably never have thought to go Googling for. ---
### Author: ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/9 "2007-02-12T19:10:02Z")
And if you call the hotel, the background music is naturally “Pennsylvania 6-5000”. ---
### Author: ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/10 "2007-02-12T19:16:40Z")
Yes, I knew about the Prefix or “exchange” bit. Hotel, eh? Interesting, thanks. ---
### Author: ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/11 "2007-02-12T19:57:56Z")
You wanna know how to get to the hotel? Take the A train. ---
### Author: ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/12 "2007-02-12T20:02:18Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] This would make for another thread of some interest, prhaps. My memory is fuzzy on the dates of such things, but I know that in central Alabama the letter prefixes came in in the 50’s and were gone by the 70’s. Some I can remember: AMherst ALpine CHerry LExington Why those numbers and then why those letters, I haven’t a decent clue, but it would be great to get some Straight Dope on it. This is one of those things I would probably never have thought to go Googling for. [/QUOTE] The vestiges of this are all over the place. SCarsdale, NY, for example, has several exchanges that begin with 72. ---
### Author: ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/13 "2007-02-12T20:08:56Z")
[Telephone exchange project](http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/TENproject.html). Interesting browsing. ---
### Author: ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/14 "2007-02-12T20:11:29Z")
Huh. I thought it was just a crappy monster movie. I guess you learn something new every day. ---
### Author: ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/15 "2007-02-12T20:38:33Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] Huh. I thought it was just a crappy monster movie. I guess you learn something new every day. [/QUOTE] That was Transylvania 6-5000, one of the worse movies ever made, and I almost succeeded in forgetting it, thanks a lot.. :mad: 🙂 Now, IIRC the movie of Glenn Miller’s life (With James Stewart) pointed out that Miller gave that number to his future wife as a contact when the New York hotel was his residence, he then made a song about it. ---
### Author: ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/16 "2007-02-12T20:40:46Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] Huh. I thought it was just a crappy monster movie. [/QUOTE] That’s _Transylvania 6-5000_. …Geena Davis… ---
### Author: ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/17 "2007-02-12T20:41:45Z")
> [@](#): > > That was Transylvania 6-5000, one of the worse movies ever made, and I almost succeeded in forgetting it, thanks a lot.. Actually, that movie has one of my favorite lines. Jeff Goldblum, after surveying the Horrible Land of Transylvania, admits: “Transylvania is…Nice!” ---
### Author: ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/18 "2007-02-12T20:46:40Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] That’s _Transylvania 6-5000_. [/QUOTE] The same pun was used for the title of a memorable Bugs Bunny cartoon. Abrakapocus! Hocuscadabra! Walla Walla, Washington! Newport News! ---
### Author: ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/19 "2007-02-12T20:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] That was Transylvania 6-5000, one of the worse movies ever made, and I almost succeeded in forgetting it, thanks a lot.. :mad: [/QUOTE] I remember Geena Davis’ outfit and it wasn’t a total bust. Uh, on the other hand I remember her outfit and an impressive bust was involved. Marc ---
### Author: ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT) #### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894/20 "2007-02-12T21:20:13Z")
T-6500 was when Geena was at her perkiest bust, er, best. Had no idea why she kept being cast with Jeff Goldblum. Wait… strike that. I have no idea why Jeff Goldblum keeps being cast, period. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennslyvania-6-5000/391894.md?page=2)