My first job… when I came to France… in 2003 was delivering those…
Couple of years later… I collected 44 tons of paper from a factory in Blois… delivered it to a printer in Trafford Park Industrial Estate, Manchester… where they printed l’Annuaire… and brought them back to France…
Remember when those companies that wanted to be first in the phone book, would add letters to their name to put them at the beginning alphabetically!? Like AA Automotive Repair… or sump’n similar. FIRST!
I had a fake name for my phone book listing. It was something silly, but I still got junk mail and solicitous phone calls asking for that “person”. A few of those person search “services” still have that name – showing that old phone number.
in June ‘59, I was 16 and too stupid to get a girl’s name and number, but told my pal to write down her address. Found the address in the phone book (last name in the ‘Ts’, married in ’63, she passed in ’17.
Liverlips McCracken Premium Member over 1 year ago
Loved those old things, especially the yellow pages.
seanfear over 1 year ago
ah … the sweet old days
jfd71 over 1 year ago
Stop being a jerk, Ralph! :-D
blunebottle over 1 year ago
And you had to PAY if you wanted to be unlisted! Kind of a form of extortion, now that I think about it.
A Common 'tator over 1 year ago
My first job… when I came to France… in 2003 was delivering those…
Couple of years later… I collected 44 tons of paper from a factory in Blois… delivered it to a printer in Trafford Park Industrial Estate, Manchester… where they printed l’Annuaire… and brought them back to France…
Dobie Premium Member over 1 year ago
Remember when those companies that wanted to be first in the phone book, would add letters to their name to put them at the beginning alphabetically!? Like AA Automotive Repair… or sump’n similar. FIRST!
pathamil over 1 year ago
We got a Yellow Pages book in the mail last week. It was about 8″ × 10″ and only a half inch thick. Hard to use that as a booster seat…
ladykat over 1 year ago
I miss phone books. They made great booster seats for kids.
drycurt over 1 year ago
I had a fake name for my phone book listing. It was something silly, but I still got junk mail and solicitous phone calls asking for that “person”. A few of those person search “services” still have that name – showing that old phone number.
Cerabooge over 1 year ago
Ah, those halcon days of yore, before computers were used to make billions of robocalls.
goboboyd over 1 year ago
Worse, the reverse directory.
Lee26 Premium Member over 1 year ago
We used to get THREE of them a year.
wrloftis over 1 year ago
“Johnson, Navin R! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity – your name in print – that MAKES people!”
Totalloser Premium Member over 1 year ago
The new phone books are here! the ne phone books are here! I am Somebody
Zebrastripes over 1 year ago
I just got a local book….I remember sitting my kids on them to reach the table! LOL
formathe over 1 year ago
The Toronto white pages were 4 1/2" thick.
elvisgirl3 over 1 year ago
Even Nathan?
Howard'sMyHero over 1 year ago
Hmmm … makes one wonder
if “password hell” is really worth it ….
Roscoe over 1 year ago
He hates these cans!
halvincobbes Premium Member over 1 year ago
My employee ID had my SSN right below my picture
The Brooklyn Accent Premium Member over 1 year ago
“You know the name…look up the number!”
—slogan on the cover of a British telephone book that inspired the Beatles (and some friends) to get silly in the studio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMhKWOP6EZQ
zeexenon over 1 year ago
And, unlike the internet’s, it worked.
in June ‘59, I was 16 and too stupid to get a girl’s name and number, but told my pal to write down her address. Found the address in the phone book (last name in the ‘Ts’, married in ’63, she passed in ’17.
cosman over 1 year ago
Nowadays, if you still get them, the pages are great for windows & mirrors..
T... over 1 year ago
And you had to pay to keep your name & number & address out of the book, just like DeleteMe & others for the internet “book”…
christelisbetty over 1 year ago
Waaaaaay before 1987
listmom over 1 year ago
City directories were old even when the white pages first came out. I’ve done some genealogy using a “business directory” from the 1800s.
ekke over 1 year ago
And now they SELL you the same information. “They” not being the phone companies.
Frank Burns Eats Worms over 1 year ago
That looks much more like a book than a phone.
paullp Premium Member over 1 year ago
For me, the timing was perfect — those things went by the wayside around the same time that I began to need my reading glasses to read them.
PaulGoes over 1 year ago
Rush it to the outhouse and put it next to the Sears catalog
dcp9142 over 1 year ago
Before 1950 they printed occupation, spouses name in the city directory. Even if you didn’t have a phone. City directories go back before the 1840’s