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lhamp
Premium Member
join:2000-02-20
Stone Mountain, GA

lhamp

Premium Member

The Hot Line

I'm looking for anyone who remembers this. It was between 1963-1964. In the SF Valley we called it THE HOT LINE. You would dial your own telephone number and receive a busy signal. BUT in the background you could hear other people doing the same. You would get Girls or Boys numbers and arrange to meet. It's how I met my first wife. It lasted for 18 years.
I know I'm not nuts. Anyone out there remember this?
lhamp

lhamp

Premium Member

I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the Hot Line lasted for 18 years. It only lasted for less than one. My first marriage because of Hot Line lasted 18 years.

FutureMon
Dude Whats mine say?

join:2000-10-05
Marina, CA

FutureMon

I remember that; but I was doing that in the early 80's in So Cal. Busy signal in the background and everything.

I also remember you could dial 1-1-2-2-1-1-2 and it would ring your phone back after hanging up.

- FM

Waldothe3rd
Premium Member
join:2009-02-16
Sun N Sand

Waldothe3rd to lhamp

Premium Member

to lhamp
When I moved into a place in Seal Beach, my phone would occasionally do a "half-ring". When I picked it up, there would be a party-line conversation going on with 8 or 10 people. While it was fun for a day or two, those 2 AM rings got old real fast. GTE (remember them?) came out, saw it first hand and shut things down.
Now those party lines require a credit card!
lhamp
Premium Member
join:2000-02-20
Stone Mountain, GA

lhamp

Premium Member

Actually there was a party line thing going on in the 50's and early 60's. You paid less to have this type of line. It was a shared line thing. It really sucked though. When you wanted to make a call you had to wait till the other "Party" was done talking. If you were lucky you only had two or three "shared" parties. I remember yelling into the phone telling someone to "Get the @##$% off the line!"

dj12midnit
Tag You'R It
Premium Member
join:2000-07-28
98284-9568

dj12midnit to lhamp

Premium Member

to lhamp
I remember in the early 80's We would dial the number for time. 853 1212 and it would party line.

tacoma
Bleeding Dodger Blue
Premium Member
join:2001-05-18
Murrieta, CA

1 recommendation

tacoma to lhamp

Premium Member

to lhamp
The party line still works.

We call it the NSA now.

shortckt
Watchen Das Blinken Lights
Premium Member
join:2000-12-05
Tenant Hell

shortckt to lhamp

Premium Member

to lhamp
Congrats on your marriage, lhamp. How you and your wife met will be one of those quirky stories to pass down to the kids and grandkids.

A friend and I were phone phreaks back in the 70's and there were various numbers that for one reason or another had this kind of malfunction. They never lasted long since my friend would tell everyone, and once many people knew about it and started abusing it Ma Bell would fix the problem.

Back in those days one of us accidentallly ran across a number that when dialed and certain steps were taken, would allow dialing long distance and overseas no charge (at least no charge to us). Like the above it also ended when one of our acquaintances told someone else who ended up making very lengthy calls to family in Europe.

I remember a couple of neighborhoods in Simi Valley where some homes still had party line phone service (shared POTS circuit) up into the early 80's.

There was also some kind of shared line service between a residence and a small retail store a few miles apart, belonging to parents of one of our school friends. The phone number was the same at the house and store, and when you wanted to call someone at the house from the store (or vice versa) you would dial a number and hang up. That caused the phone to ring. When one picked up the ringing phone there was a silent line provided so one could have a conversation between locations without a dialtone, until all extensions at both locations hung up. My recollection is sort of vague on this, but the ring was also distinctly different from an outside call. It was a party line as in shared POTS circuit, but only between two locations and with some kind of special ring service.