Anyone grow up with a party line phone? I hated ours. Damn old lady down the road was always on the SOB. We had our own ring, two short rings I think.

Removed a bunch of inadvertent party lines caused by mistakes from telephone installers. Just a matter of playing 'follow the meter'.

The owner of the deer camp in Sherman Mills Maine had one years ago.

My grandmother had one (1970s')
(Fúck,that was 50 years ago !!)

When I was growing up in west central Ks, in the 50s/early 60s, we had one, two longs and two shorts.

Had one growing up in the Adirondacks. Was in the Navy in Northern Ca and stopped in the tiny town of Hayfork, Ca (near Peanut) to make a call on the payphone. That payphone was on a party line.

A 9-party line as a kid in St James, Tenn. Mid 1950's

Remember the crank phones to the switchboard in Burkesgarden, Va. Early 1950's

I know exactly what you are talking about.

kwg

probably ran across you back then. I still have relatives there.

Back when I was a kid, a good friend of ours had one. Always thought it was fun to listen in. When you are a kid in the country, simple things amuse you....

Thanks to the NSA, FBI, etc., we all be on a party line now. Maybe multiple.

Yep, I grew up with a party line. My aunt and her friend had to rehash the soap opera's every afternoon about 4 pm. For an hour, there was no getting on the phone.

We started out with 3 shorts when there were 7-8 parties on the line. Then it went to a long and a short, when they changed it to 4 parties to the line.

53 years ago, was Junior in high school then

Mabel! Mabel Crabtree, you hang up that receiver now. I got important business to do with this feller and I don't need the whole county knowin' bout it before the deal is done.

3 room schoolhouse I attended 1st through 4th grade before they bused us to town had one.

Not far behind in elementary school.
We're closer to 2070, than 1970 !!
WTF

Rural West Virginia that was all we had thru the 60's and 70's. We were so poor we had a listed number but dad got laid off and couldn't afford a phone when it went through, got our first phone in maybe 1970, color tv in 1976.

I remember that in 1960 we moved to Minot, ND and the first house we lived in had a party line. If I got real bored I'd listen in.

Is your name Mabel?

I was only 8, give me a break.

OK.

We didn't have them where we lived.

If I was bored I had to read something. Or play cowboys and injuns, or break out the little rubber army men and tanks.

You kids better hang up the phone and stop listening.. few minutes later phone rings, mom hangs up phone you little chits..

We had a party line up until around the early ‘80s.
The girl out the road was a couple years ahead of me, and you know the cliche about teen girls and telephones.
She was on there every evening for at least an hour.
I never could figure out how you spend the day with someone at school, and still have so much to talk about that evening!
Finally around 81 or 82 we got a private line and cable TV..
We only had CBS and NBC as broadcast channels. I didn’t know who the hell Fonzi was until I was a junior in high school!
7mm

Both grandparents had them. During the 70’s a family of Vietnamese boat people got housed by the Mennonites in a farm house down the road. They’d listen in 24/7 and repeat what you were saying trying to learn Engrish, LOL. My uncles would cuss them religiously, to no avail.

We didn’t but had a good friend that did , every time I would try and call my parents to tell them I was staying for dinner it always took me a few try’s before it was open.

We had one until the late 70's IIRC.

Hey, it was mid 60's when we got the indoor chitter, We were in high cotton with any phone!

We had one in rural PA back in the 60's and 70's. The mother of other family on the line would always be listening in. You could be talking away and suddenly say "hi, Marylin" and she'd say hi back to you before she remembered that she hadn't been invited to the call.

I do remember.
Ours was three shorts.

Osky

We had one in rural NY in the 50’s. Prior to that we lived in town 2 years where there were no dial phones, you just picked up the phone and when the operator answered you gave them the number you wanted.

Long distance calls were an event in those days too. Sometimes took a few minutes to get connected and they were EXPENSIVE! Usually planned ahead for them by mail… made arrangements to call next Thursday night at 7:30 or whatever so everyone involved would be home and ready. No such thing as “long distance “ anymore.

Yep, our ring was 2 longs and a short, but when it rang you could bet all the neighbors were listening.

Had a party line at my hunting camp Catskills NY forever. We just got rid of it a few years ago when the cel phones became popular and all members had their own phone.

-Ken

Dang, my eyes must be getting bad, I thought the title of this thread was panty lines.

And with hanco as the OP, it looked promising.

Yep, we had one until my dad became township supervisor, then the phone company put us on a private line.

Yeah, but it's them yoga pants with no panty lines I wanna see.

On a nice 20 something, shapely azz of course.

Not one of hanco's gals.