May 11, 1962: All-Number Phone Calling Begins

May 11, 1962, 60 years ago: All-number phone calling begins. No more letters.

In the beginning of wide telephone use, you used to just speak into the receiver, and say, "Operator, get me (Name of Person)." Eventually, there were so many telephones in use that phone numbers were created, and asking the operator to connect you with a specific name, or "person-to-person calling," came with an extra charge.

So "exchanges" were created by the Bell System in 1919. For example, the oldest telephone number still in use in New York City today is that of the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan, across 7th Avenue from Penn Station (for which the hotel was named) and, since 1968, the current Madison Square Garden. The number was PEnnsylvania 6-5000. So if you had a phone with a dial, you would find the number 7, which was for the letters P, R and S (Q was bypassed); and then the 3, for D, E and F; and then 6, 5, and the zero three times.

The Glenn Miller Orchestra often played the Hotel's ballroom, and a song was composed for them, with the title of "PEnnsylvania 6-5000." To this day, if you call the number, you first get the 1940 recording of the Orchestra speaking the number.

In 1935, John O'Hara wrote a novel titled BUtterfield 8, which was made into a movie in 1960, which got Elizabeth Taylor her Oscar. One of the "Classic 39" episodes of The Honeymooners featured the Kramdens getting a telephone -- yes, up until 1956, they still didn't have one -- and their number became the title of the episode: "BEnsonhurst 0-7741."

Eventually, the mentioning of phone numbers in movies, and later also television, caused the people who really had those numbers to object. So a fake exchange began to be used for fictional numbers: "KLondike 5."

In October 1947, anticipating the growth of post-World War II housing, the Bell System created the North American Numbering Plan, with American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) and Bell Canada working together to create Area Codes. On May 11, 1962, the Area Codes went into use. PEnnsylvania 6-5000 became (212) 736-5000. And KLondike 5-xxxx became 555-xxxx.

This did not make everyone happy. Everybody now had to remember a new version of their old phone number. And if they had to call someone from outside their Area Code, they had to dial 10 digits instead of 7. This led to the rise of push-button phones, and the phasing out of rotary-dial phones.

And some people liked the old exchanges. Comedian Allan Sherman wrote "The Let's All Call Up A.T.&T. and Protest to the President March."

Timing is everything. Marvin Gaye, Mickey Stevenson, and George Gordy, brother of Motown Records boss Berry Gordy Jr., wrote "BEechwood 4-5789," but, for reasons unknown, it wasn't recorded by The Marvelettes until May 19, 1962, 8 days after the switchover, and wasn't released until July 11, 2 months later. With Detroit's Area Code, this number would now be (313) 234-5789.

Contrast that with a song that was a hit for Wilson Pickett in 1966: "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)," which is one digit off the number in the Marvelettes song. Since then, only one song with a phone number in the title has become a hit: "867-5309/Jenny" by Tommy Tutone.

So, in order to get the Pennsylvania Hotel's recording, you have to dial (212) 736-5000; to call Liz Taylor's call girl character, you'd start with the Area Code and 288; and to call the Kramdens, or whoever would have that number today, (718) 230-7741.

Later films and TV shows occasionally reference the old numbers. A 1974 episode of M*A*S*H, titled "Adam's Ribs," had Hawkeye (Alan Alda) trying to call a barbecue restaurant in Chicago, whose number was DEarborn 5-6798 -- now, (312) 335-6798. And a 1994 episode of Mad About You, "The Last Scampi," had Sylvia Buchman (Cynthia Harris), mother of Paul (Paul Reiser), leaving a message with her number, which she still gives with the old KLondike 5 exchange.

Eventually, the earliest area codes ran out of numbers, and the regions they covered had to be split. For example, in New York City: 212 now serves only about half of Manhattan Island. 718 was created on September 1, 1984, 917 on February 4, 1992 (for mobile phones), 347 on October 1, 1999, and 929 on April 16, 2011.

In New Jersey, 201 originally covered the entire State, starting in 1947. In 1958, Mercer County and South Jersey were split off into 609. In 1991, Central Jersey was split off from 201, and given 908. In 1997, much of North Jersey was split off into 973, so that only Bergen and Hudson Counties still used 201; and some of 908 was split into 732. In 1999, the western half of South Jersey was split off into 856. In 2001, 551 became an overlay of 201, 862 of 973, and 848 of 732. In 2018, 640 became an overlay of 609.

So something that athletes and music personalities sometimes do, shouting out to their Area Code, doesn't work, because you never know when it will be changed. I was born in 201, but where we lived at the time would now be 973 -- or 862. Where I lived from age 3 onward was 201 until I was 21, then it became 908, then 732 when I was 27. And when I got my first mobile phone in 2002, I was once again 908, and still am. Do I really want to "represent the 908"? Not really: I'm still a 201 at heart, even though I have never lived in Bergen or Hudson County.

Of all the changes that happened in America in the 1960s, and particularly during the Administration of President John F. Kennedy, two that were huge parts of our culture, but are rarely talked about now, are the institutions of Area and ZIP Codes.