11 responses to “Map of Los Angeles telephone exchange”

1. jim lewis says:

   October 2, 2018 at 12:16 pm

   Before the prefix was HOllywood, it was GLadstone. When I was very young our phone number in Hollywood was GL-7324!

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   • Martin Turnbull says:

     October 2, 2018 at 12:22 pm

     INTERESTING! I didn’t know where the “GL” came from. Thanks Jim!

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2. Dan Bottoms says:

   June 14, 2021 at 8:22 am

   When they converted from 6 digit to 7 digit numbers between the late 1930’s and the mid 1950’s they reorganized and combined prefixes. For instance in south Los Angeles, the “PLeasant” central office had The PLeasant, THornwall and TWinoaks prefixes. In the late 1930’s PL-XXXX became PL2-XXXX; about 1950 TH-XXXX became PL8-XXXX and about 1956 TW-XXXX became PL9-XXXX. This was happening everywhere in the Los Angeles area.

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   • Martin Turnbull says:

     June 14, 2021 at 8:30 am

     Thanks for that info, Dan. I wouldn’t have thought the transition from 6 to 7 digits would have taken so long.

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3. Mona says:

   September 16, 2021 at 4:43 pm

   I found an old newspaper article from Illustrated Daily News, Los Angeles, California. “New ‘Hello’ Service Plan Explained”
   Los Angeles and surrounding exchanges under C.R.C Decision #26716.
   It’s a “sketched map illustrating the workings of the new telephone service plan that will go into effect July 29…”
   I believe this article is from the 1930s

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   • Martin Turnbull says:

     September 16, 2021 at 6:15 pm

     “‘Hello’ Service Plan” – I love that!

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4. Terence Gris says:

   July 19, 2022 at 2:35 pm

   My father covered Hollywood for the United Press from 1945 until 1969, though his contacts with Hollywood went back to 1932. Recently found his old address book from the 1940s that I didn’t remember as he updated with new books from time to time and I was more familiar with later ones. Just opened to the “B” section at random and almost fell over to find Humphrey Bogart’s phone number pencilled in. Not something I can be nonchalant about since I’m a major Bogart fan. It’s around here somewhere — I’ll have to get you some numbers…

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   • Martin Turnbull says:

     July 19, 2022 at 4:31 pm

     Hey Terence, and thanks for stopping by. Your dad’s address book sounds like a gem!

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5. brian hollins says:

   July 20, 2024 at 9:49 pm

   I came across a reference in a 1925 article to “the new Whitney telephone exchange of the Southern California Telephone and Telegraph Company”. Can anyone recall where it was and what its address was?

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6. Los Angeles Telco History Buff says:

   October 8, 2024 at 12:30 am

   The Los Angeles telephone exchange has 14 district areas. Here is a partial recap of the conversion from 6-pull to 7-pull dialing.
   Old New
   =======================
   FAirfax xxxx DUnkirk 2 xxxx
   FEderal xxxx DUnkirk 3 xxxx
   FItzroy xxxx DUnkirk 4 xxxx
   DRexel xxxx DUnkirk 7 xxxx
   EXposition xxxx DUnkirk 9 xxxx
   =======================
   HEmpsted xxxx HOllywood 3 xxxx
   HIllside xxxx HOllywood 4 xxxx
   GLadstone xxxx HOllywood 5 xxxx
   GRanite xxxx HOllywood 7 xxxx
   =======================
   WAlnut xxxx WEbster 2 xxxx
   WEbster xxxx WEbster 3 xxxx
   WHitney xxxx WEbster 4 xxxx
   YOrk xxxx WEbster 6 xxxx
   WYoming xxxx WEbster 9 xxxx
   =======================
   VAn dyke xxxx MAdison 2 xxxx
   TUcker xxxx MAdison 3 xxxx
   MIchigan xxxx MAdison 4 xxxx
   TRinity xxxx MAdison 7 xxxx
   MUtual xxxx MAdison 8 xxxx
   ========================

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   • Martin Turnbull says:

     October 8, 2024 at 10:56 am

     Hi there and thanks for this interesting list.

     Reply