Sunday, January 16, 2022

EXchange sightings by the yard

I've been using these old yard sticks from long gone Toronto hardware stores to mark out the streets on the layout. They're of the era when telephone numbers still had exchange names. Over at Orange Crate Art, Michael has an ongoing series where he notes sightings of exchange names in movies (here's one). Duly inspired I thought that after staring at these old sticks for such a long time, I felt I should make note of the stores and EXchanges.

Gray's Hardware
471 Sammon Ave.
Phone: GE 4060
Coxwell Hardware
1628 Danforth Avenue
Phone: RI 7300
Eglinton Wallpaper & Paint
2032 Eglinton Ave. West
Phone: RU 3-6135

Wikipedia tells me beginning in March 1966, the Toronto telephone directory no longer contained exchange names.

Bonus EXchange:
Smith & Sons Dry Cleaners
(location unknown; somewhere in Toronto)
Phone: OX 1-1141

2 comments:

  1. I loved seeing these, esp. with the sans serif font (Futura)?

    I’ll have to check to see if the old yardstick in our garage has an exchange name. I think the yardstick was already there when we bought our house.

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    Replies
    1. I'm not sure what font that is. Vince, if you're out there, do you know the font?

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