Number PULEAZE! Part Seven:

[ea56]

Tim,
When my family moved to the North Coast of Sonoma County in 1963 our phone number was Russian Gulch #3 and our ring was 1 long and 1 short and there were 4 other homes on our party line.

Once in 1969 I needed to make a call to where I worked in the evening. Every time I picked up the receiver the line was in use, so I kept trying over the course of about 45 mins. Well, each time I picked up the receiver I couldn’t help hearing a few seconds of the call before I hung up, and I was hearing what sounded like a murder being planned. I was watching “Hawaii Five-0” on TV and after about 45 mins of this back and forth I realized that what I was hearing on the phone when I picked it up sounded similar to what I was hearing on the TV.

Lo and behold the neighbor up the road must have forgotten to hang up their receiver and they were watching “Hawaii Five-0” too, I know I was slow on the uptake wasn’t I! Whew, was I ever glad since I was all ready to get in the car to drive the 6 miles down the coast to Jenner to call the sheriff on the pay phone there to report a murder plan in progress.

When I turned 13 in 1964 my Mom was in Brooklyn, NY with her MIL visiting relatives there. It took her over an hour to call me on my birthday because the Brooklyn operator thought she was outta her mind trying to call Russian Gulch #3! Mom finally got it through to her that she needed to call the operator in Santa Rosa, Calif. to connect the call. That operator must’ve been new on the job because when I was an operator in the 70’s in Santa Rosa, Calif. we all knew how to figure out connecting a call to a number like ours.

Times have sure changed!

Eddie

 

[phillymatt53]

Thank god our family never had any party line phone service.
But when I started working after high school in 1971, I had "Ma Bell" install a phone line in my bedroom, seperate from the family phone.
I wanted my own private number.
Of course my parents were furious, but got over it, besides, I paid my own phone bill, I think it was maybe around $6 a month back then.

 

[ea56]

Matt,
I got my first telephone in 1971 too, a year after I left my parents home. It cost $10.00 for the installation and $5.85 per mo for a two party line. I can only recall once where the other party was using the line when I wanted to make a call. After about a year I was able to afford a private line at approx. $10.00 per mo.

Eddie

 

[phillymatt53]

Matt,
I got my first telephone in 1971 too, a year after I left my parents home. It cost $10.00 for the installation and $5.85 per mo for a two party line. I can only recall once where the other party was using the line when I wanted to make a call. After about a year I was able to afford a private line at approx. $10.00 per mo.

Eddie

Hi Eddie,
Isn't it amazing how inflation always goes UP?
I figure that a good part of it is due to increased wages of the working person, among other things, like corporate greed.
Mom used to complain about a $7.98 gas heating bill when she caught me turning up the thermostat!
And phone service was cheap too......................back then.
She'd roll over in her grave if she saw the prices we all have to pay today!
Being the frugal person I am, I keep things simple and cheap.
And being a "Senior" too helps, with the perks they offer, of course I use them.
However, the phone-internet I pay these days runs about $45-47 a month.
$14.95 of that goes to Verizon Fios internet.... the cheap "Migration" plan, which they never talk about or tell you about.
And the phone service?, I don't need or desire all those costly add-ons, like call waiting, caller ID, etc., just plain old service.
It's bad enough these days that I get numerous and annoying "robo calls" and scam calls for crap that I'm not going to fall for.

 

[ea56]

Hi Matt,
Boy, you said it about inflation! When I first moved out on my own in 1970 I earned $50.00 a week, plus some meager tips that amounted to $10-$15 per week. My take home pay was $39.90 per week and my rent was $65.00 per mo including utilities and I had a $54.00 per mo car payment. This left me $40.60 plus my tips to pay for groceries, gas, and everything else I may have needed. But somehow I managed to make it and was NEVER behind in my rent or car payment.

I’m probably about 2 years older than you and I too appreciate and take advantage of all the senior discounts that are available just like you do.

My family wasn’t well off during my childhood from the age of 11 when my Dad died in an auto accident. I really believe that this financial hardship early in my life prepared me for adulthood and made me acutely aware of the cost of everything and as a result no matter what I was earning during my life I was always able to make ends meet. Mom grew up during the Depression and saw many people become dispossessed of their worldly goods and thrown out on the street for non payment. Because of this she constantly drilled it into my and my siblings heads that you NEVER let your rent get behind and find yourself out on the street. She said, “no one starves in America!” so pay your housing expenses before you buy food, because if you end up out on the street due to eviction you’ll be in a world of hurt.

My personal feeling is that people need to learn to live within their means, even if it means denying yourself other things that you may want. And always save whatever you can for the rainy days that are bound to come from time to time.

That being said though we are now living is times that boggle the mind. That same tiny, one room cottage in Petaluma, Calif. that I paid $65.00 a mo for in 1970 would cost at least $1500.00 a mo now! I really feel for young kids these days trying to get started. Especially if they’ve been raised with the idea that they can have anything they want. Teach kids about handling money as soon as they are old enough to know what a dollar is and give them an allowance that they are expected to budget to buy all the little things they may want, don’t just open your wallet and buy them everything their hearts desire. A parent that does this will give their kids the best gift they can, the ability to take care of theemselves.

Eddie

 

[phillymatt53]

Hi Matt,
Boy, you said it about inflation! When I first moved out on my own in 1970 I earned $50.00 a week, plus some meager tips that amounted to $10-$15 per week. My take home pay was $39.90 per week and my rent was $65.00 per mo including utilities and I had a $54.00 per mo car payment. This left me $40.60 plus my tips to pay for groceries, gas, and everything else I may have needed. But somehow I managed to make it and was NEVER behind in my rent or car payment.

I’m probably about 2 years older than you and I too appreciate and take advantage of all the senior discounts that are available just like you do.

My family wasn’t well off during my childhood from the age of 11 when my Dad died in an auto accident. I really believe that this financial hardship early in my life prepared me for adulthood and made me acutely aware of the cost of everything and as a result no matter what I was earning during my life I was always able to make ends meet. Mom grew up during the Depression and saw many people become dispossessed of their worldly goods and thrown out on the street for non payment. Because of this she constantly drilled it into my and my siblings heads that you NEVER let your rent get behind and find yourself out on the street. She said, “no one starves in America!” so pay your housing expenses before you buy food, because if you end up out on the street due to eviction you’ll be in a world of hurt.

My personal feeling is that people need to learn to live within their means, even if it means denying yourself other things that you may want. And always save whatever you can for the rainy days that are bound to come from time to time.

That being said though we are now living is times that boggle the mind. That same tiny, one room cottage in Petaluma, Calif. that I paid $65.00 a mo for in 1970 would cost at least $1500.00 a mo now! I really feel for young kids these days trying to get started. Especially if they’ve been raised with the idea that they can have anything they want. Teach kids about handling money as soon as they are old enough to know what a dollar is and give them an allowance that they are expected to budget to buy all the little things they may want, don’t just open your wallet and buy them everything their hearts desire. A parent that does this will give their kids the best gift they can, the ability to take care of theemselves.

Eddie

Wow Eddie!
Excellent post!
Sorry to hear about your struggled growing up, for sure I've had my own obsticles to deal with too.
I could write a book, it would be as thick as an old phone book!
And yes, I'm always telling people to "live within your means".
Particuarly the younger crowd.

My first apartment in 1980 was $180 a month, a one bedroom 2nd floor duplex. - heat, water included.
My only other bills there was my phone and electric.
I managed ok, and only purchased what I really needed, or I saved up for something.
My car at that time was a 1971 1/2 Ford Falcon - basically a stripped down Torino body with a 6 cylinder klunker engine.
But I had a decent job to make ends meet..... barely.

Ya gotta use your brains, focus, and look past your nose at what the future would possibly bring, or else you'll be in trouble.