# Remember Thomas Guides?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 5, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906 "2015-02-05T17:48:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/21 "2015-02-05T22:03:01Z")
One thing I found interesting is how they actually got their data. They based it off of [land plats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plat) filed at the county courthouses. The funny thing is that the plats are often files LONG before anything physical is constructed. One summer in college, while working for a civil engineering firm, I noticed a development on the Key Map that hadn’t even broken ground yet (we were still working on it), and for which I’d filed the plat during spring break the previous year. (I worked for the same firm most of college- summers & holidays).
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### Author:  [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/22 "2015-02-06T07:48:30Z")
I still have mine although its about 15 years old now. It comes in handy since
I don’t own a smart phone. After living in the same area for 50 years I know
where just about everything is but will sometimes I still need to look at the old
Thomas Brothers map book.
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### Author:  [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/23 "2015-02-06T07:56:37Z")
When I was living in Palms I had my old VW broken into one night. You can guess what was taken. Yeah, my Thomas Brothers, and nothing else. I was working then as a process server and the pages for the South Bay cities were worn to shreds, and the pages for the San Fernando Valley and The San Gabriel Valley were as good as new.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/24 "2015-02-06T13:40:00Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#):
>
> Whattttya kiddin’ me!? Mark and Brian were the vortex of comedy! Not sure if I can get them here at work; right now I’m streaming KROQ.
You can’t, unless your radio at work has a time machine. They broke up their act in 2012.
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/25 "2015-02-06T13:52:54Z")
We were cleaning a few days ago and found ours from 1997 behind the file cabinate
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/26 "2015-02-06T14:10:22Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> You can’t, unless your radio at work has a time machine. They broke up their act in 2012.
I did not know that :smack: Of course, I hadn’t thought of them in who knows how long until you reminded me.
Now I’m getting all verklempt and nostalgic.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/27 "2015-02-06T14:46:23Z")
> [@movingfinger](#):
>
> When I was living in Palms
My apartment was on Clarington at Palms.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/28 "2015-02-06T15:41:40Z")
I _lived_ in that book. One in the car and one in the house. In college my roomie and I splurged and got the laminated LA + OC wall map. About 5x6 glorious \*feet \*of copyrighted Thomas goodness.
That and a full stack of yellow & white pages from Ventura to San Diego. Invaluable for chasing down all those odd little shops we had to go visit for weird parts for some job, hobby, or whatever obsession-du-jour we had. I probably averaged 30K miles a year while living on campus and going to school full time. LA is just not like other places.
I’ve used similar products in other metro areas, but none compare to Thomas in utility, durability, and accuracy. As an old(er) fart now I bet Thomas’ printing has mysteriously shrunk & lost contrast over the years and reading the map pages at night is now difficult.
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/29 "2015-02-06T16:46:35Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Speaking of maps and obsolescence, **Asimovian** , and since you have an interest in aviation, expired sectionals make nifty gift wrap.
I like the way you think…
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### Author:  [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/30 "2015-02-06T19:15:12Z")
Thomas Guides, where I first learned about confirmation bias. My biggest complaint was that _everyplace_ I needed to go was _always_ on the split between two pages. Dodger Stadium, UCLA, Forum, Disneyland. Of course, I never noticed all the times that didn’t happen.
I remember trying to visit a park up in Palos Verdes I didn’t recognize and had never been to. Turned out to be a copyright trap, as the turnoff into the park didn’t exist.
I still have the 2000 edition in my car. I never use it, but it seems wrong to toss it. I like keeping it around for historical reasons. “Remember when this was open space?” Now days I tend to use the free AAA maps for trip planning and GPS for drive-time reminders.
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### Author:  [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/31 "2015-02-07T02:42:29Z")
Still publishing them, but why?
> **[Thomas Guide Streetguide Los Angeles & Orange County: Southern California's...](https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Guide-Angeles-Counties-English/dp/0528007513)**
>
> Thomas Guide Streetguide Los Angeles & Orange County: Southern California's Iconic Page and Grid System/ con guia usuaria y leyenda en espanol (English and Spanish Edition) \[Rand McNally\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Thomas...
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/32 "2015-02-07T02:53:18Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#):
>
> right now I’m streaming KROQ.
Sorry to hear that. You might want to get it looked at by a medical professional.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/33 "2015-02-07T02:56:38Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#):
>
> I still have the 2000 edition in my car. I never use it, but it seems wrong to toss it. I like keeping it around for historical reasons.
I suggest storing it with your Merriam-Webster College Dictionary.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/34 "2015-02-07T03:05:25Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> Sorry to hear that. You might want to get it looked at by a medical professional.
Yes, but what if they say its an inoperable sub-orbital issue & recommend cleaning the infection by a large-scale EMP pulse…?
…not that that would ever be a bad thing…
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/35 "2015-02-07T06:50:47Z")
I always had one, yet never bought one, and never used it. 😕 Where did it come from and why?
> [@picunurse](#):
>
> We were cleaning a few days ago and found ours from 1997 behind the file cabinate
I’m sure I saw one in my old desk in the garage the other day. Probably circa 1990. That’s when I moved out of that shithole.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2015, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/36 "2015-02-07T07:26:31Z")
> [@bump](#):
>
> One thing I found interesting is how they actually got their data. They based it off of [land plats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plat) filed at the county courthouses.
Thomas guides also deliberately put in little errors–or will leave little things out–in order to catch people violating their copyright.
Before I could lease a cab from L.A. Taxi, we had to take a “test” in using the Thomas Guide, and the test “administrator” mentioned this. I didn’t really believe him until one time I planned on making a U-turn on San Vicente based on a cut through on the median that appeared on the Thomas guide. But it wasn’t there.
The great thing about Thomas guides is that they show all kinds of other information that you never get with Google maps, etc.–things like political boundaries, or where unincorporated areas are.
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### Author:  [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2015, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/37 "2015-02-07T07:27:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> My apartment was on Clarington at Palms.
Yeah, Palms wasn’t a bad place to live. “Freeway Close”, as they say. I lived on Keystone, and later on Westwood.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2015, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/38 "2015-02-07T14:37:44Z")
> [@movingfinger](#):
>
> Yeah, Palms wasn’t a bad place to live.
Well, except for the nearby gunfire that kept waking me up. 😛
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### Author:  [@pipperroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pipperroo)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/39 "2015-02-07T23:24:44Z")
I had a Thomas guide when I lived in California. I then moved to Houston Texas. I asked a local where I could buy a thomas guide and got funny looks. After showing my book I got directed to Key Maps. Very useful before internet maps and GPS took off.
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### Author:  [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2015, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-thomas-guides/711906/40 "2015-02-08T07:50:03Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Well, except for the nearby gunfire that kept waking me up. 😛
Gunfire? Apparently the neighborhood has changed. I moved to Manhattan Beach when I got married in '71.
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