This one is for us old farts. Back in the day we had something called telephone exchange names that identified what part of town we were calling from. For instance, my old number was TR6-(XXXX), and when you said it aloud you would say, “TRIANGLE 6” followed by the next four numbers.
So, does anyone else remember their old exchange names?
Crestwood. My grandparent’s was Glenview, but then it changed to Park.
First two letters for each one?
My parents had TU2 (xxxx). TU stood for tuxedo. Apparently we lived on the classy side of town. 
Fairfax. There was also a Broadway exchange, among others.
Ours was YEllowstone 8 for 938-XXXX
VAnderbilt-7
Ours were TRinity, CHerry 4 and 6, and ROckwell.
Yes. CR, GL, and PA.
There were several:
Alpine
Amherst
Cherry
and perhaps a couple more that I’ve forgotten.
TEmple was the exchange where I grew up.
The other day my wife and I were driving past some old apartment buildings that probably date back to sometime in the 60s. I said “Vikingtown Apartments… that’s an odd name. There really isn’t anything Viking-related in this area.” My wife informed me that Viking was the old telephone exchange. I never knew that!
Neptune 7-xxxx
(Good thing we didn’t live one neighborhood over. Then we would have been Uranus.)
AMerican 7.
57 years later, my father still has the same number (not just exchange, all 7 digits).
STerling for me.
Other exchanges in our general area:
KEllogg
RIverside
OLympia
PLaza
…and my favorite:
SWeetbriar
I’m old, but I’m not that old! :mad:
In Lancaster, CA (that’s ‘LAN-caster’; not ‘LANK-aster’) in the mid-to-late-'70s nobody used the exchange name; but you could still see old ads in the phone book and signs here and there that had WH – for ‘Whitehall’.
An interesting thing (to me, anyway) was that into the '80s you only had to dial five numerals to call someone in Lancaster or Quartz Hill. Palmdale, which I think was seven miles away (no distance at all) was a long-distance call. So if I wanted to call Lancaster or Quartz Hill, I only had to dial 35583 or 56789 or 86112. But if I wanted to call Palmdale I’d have to dial 1-947-5150 – and be charged long-distance for it.
Ours was 5-2, and though it certainly wasn’t common in the early 80s, I remember my Mom referring to ‘JAckson’
Exchange names were before my time, but a local window company turned their exchange number into a catchy ad ditty that’s still in use today:
GArfield 1 - 2323
GArfield 1 - 2323!
JEfferson 4-1385
I don’t remember if our exchange had a name. I was born in 1957 and by the time I learned to use the telephone, I learned our number in the seven-digit format, 266-xxxx.
Were you required to say TRiangle for TR, or could you use any word you liked, such as TRiumph or TRepidation.
Sadly, I am not old enough to know these things…