It was a carpet and rug cleaning place. Their TV commercials had the Hudson3-2700 tag in them until at least late 1982. I found their website here, and it still lists the HUDSON3-2700 number there, too.
Incidentally, here’s a picture with the Chicago exchange names on them, as of 1959.
Hancock. Maybe it was Handcock. Then we moved to a different state and it was Porter, but by then (64) it was hardly referred to.
Around Christmastime, when I was a kid, There was a TV ad for a company called Mission Pak, which mailed California fruit and other goodies nationwide. The commercial had a jingle:
- Say the magic word, say Mission Pak
And it’s on its merry way;
No gift so right, so gay, so bright,
Give the Mission Pak magic way!
To find your nearest Mission Pak store
Call ADams 2-5194…Now!*
I was one of those kids who got to leave in the morning, play all day (even crossing streets unaided!), coming in only when called.
The price for that was memorizing our address and phone numbers, should something happen and we could not get home unassisted.
And yes, I got the “clean underwear” bit. Mother lived in mortal fear that someone, somewhere, at some time, might think her less than perfect.
This was over 50 years ago, and we moved when I was 12.
I still remember CRestview 7 -xxxx
I use that silly address as a password now - if it is going to take up space, it had damned well earn its keep,
I see, so in those days it was important, somehow, for people to know exactly to which geographical area they were calling?
'Cause with cell phones, it’s exactly the opposite. You have no idea where that phone is, and you just have to live with that uncertainty.
Sorry. Let’s try that again.
Incidentally, I don’t know the rhyme or reason for some of those names. Some are obvious and refer to neighborhoods. Others are completely arbitrary, like my “CLiffside.”
Since I haven’t noticed anybody else mentioning the ones I vaguely recall from the 50’s and 60’s I decided to find Ma Bell’s Officially Recommended Exchange Names which may give a boost to others’ memories.
Looks pretty comprehensive and it has the ones I remember.
HO=Hollywood, as in California. Moved here when I was a baby so my dad could be a star. I spent my pre-school days at Schwabs on Sunset, hanging with out of work actors reading the trades.
[quote=“swampbear, post:4, topic:693850”]
My parents had TU2 (xxxx). TU stood for tuxedo. Apparently we lived on the classy side of town. :D[/QUOTE
Manhattan, right? Mine was Pilgrim, Glen Ridge, NJ.
MIdway.
I also remember PLaza.
CR2(xxxx) The CR was for Crestwood.
MUrrayhill 5-1894
Hialeah, FL circa 1964. Obviously just a made-up name. There’s no place nearby called anything like Murray. And as for hills – well, we learned about topography in school but the only heights we ever climbed were stairs. Hialeah is so flat, rain doesn’t run off, it sits there until eventually it soaks in. Or, in some years, it didn’t.
We had UPton 7-xxxx, then DEerfield 2-xxxx and EDgewood 7-xx, so both started with 33, except EDgewood could call across the river to Missouri toll free. Grandparents had ACademy.
I remember several St. Louis area exchanges because the Top 40 radio station contests, where only certain exchanges could call at a certain time. The smooth Operator voice would recite three or four at a time. "KLondike, Prospect etc.
If you remember an old number, they make great passwords, having caps and lower case, and numbers, and you can use a character instead of a dash and change the character from time to time. When you’re old enough to remember, you need all the help you can get in remembering passwords
Ours was SWift.
NAtional. Other parts of Pomona were LYcoming.
I had no idea The Dope had so many geezers.
KEystone.
IVy Ridge 2 - XXXX
And everyone said the letters when I was a kid, not “48.” Maybe this changed sometime around 8th grade? Not sure.
But we weren’t picky. You could say the first two letters or say the first two syllables of the exchange, it was all the same to us. 
I grew up in a town with one of the last manual exchanges in Australia. Tocumwal. It was the late 1970’s when it was converted, maybe even very early 80’s. I forget
We had old black bakelite phones with a crank handle on the front. You’d crank the handle and then pick up the handset. When the operator answered if it was a local number you’d just tell them the number.
Home was 338, the milk bar mum had that I worked in after school and on weekends was 92 and my grandparents was 90. If you wanted to get put through to anywhere else you’d say the town/city and number.
I still have one of the phones.