Yes this is a cool thread. you can tell the real old ones, phone numbers have no area codes.

Here's mine on the DT400E from Hale's Yamaha in Mansfield Ohio...still in business

Rick C. What was International Yamaha like? They were kind of a "Celebrity shop" many magazine articles referred to them. I think Larry Shoemaker was involved there too, he did a lot of Magazine hop up articles for the Enduro models.

I thought about that with the Cycles Inc. sticker I posted at the beginning. Back in the 70s and earlier from Maryland you could dial 7 numbers and get anywhere in Maryland, DC, or Virginia! Now I can't call next door without including the area code.

Here’s the best one on my first tool box...

I remember my parents first phone number, we lived in the LA area (Bellflower) 50's . They used words as a prefix.
Torry-66804, or TO-66804.

Fraser's still have 3 of those 4 shops .. not bad.

The sticker I posted from Yamaha City in Redondo Beach circa 1964 lists the phone number as "FR-43918" or FRontier-43918. That was about the time they started phasing out the "exchange name" system.

I remember in Kindergarten we had to memorize our home phone number... I remember being confused because my teacher insisted the number was 7 numbers long and our phone only had 5 numbers on the dial label. Our phone had "REdwood" on the label inside the dial in front of the number... I learned that RE = 73... She made me memorize the "73" prefix as numbers and I thought "REdwood" was a lot easier. Also, where we lived, if you called within your exchange you only had to dial the last five numbers, not all 7.

If you called within your exchange (i.e. REdwood), it was a local call... which still cost money to make but was a "flat rate" for each call no matter how many minutes you talked. If you called a number in a different exchange it was "long distance" and call was charged by the minute. My uncle lived on a border of one of the exchanges and it was "long distance" to call his neighbor across the street!

I don't remember the details because I was too young... but I remember my parents having to call the operator to make some long distance calls. And if you dialed a wrong number, you could call the operator and they'd give you a refund.

I remember when I was a little kid they started allowing local calls within your exchange to be free... and then expanded free local calling to other nearby exchange offices.

Then when I was older, the "exchange name" was gone. You had to dial at least 7 numbers. Making a long distance call was strictly verboten in our house so in the front of the phone book was a chart that showed which prefixes within your area code and which area code + prefix outside your area code was still considered local.

My parents also set up "codes" with relatives when I was little... There weren't a lot of freeways and cars weren't as reliable as they are now... so to let them know we got home okay after a visit we'd call and let it ring twice and hang up. Saved having to pay for a toll call.

And locally here you need to dial an area code now even for numbers in your area code... but it's awesome how you can call all the way across the country so cheap... pretty much free if you have an unlimited minute cell phone plan... years ago long distance calls were very expensive and were charged by the minute... very rare to get "spam" calls as it was too expensive... business numbers often had to pay more than residence numbers.

Oh well... just a bunch more useless trivia... things sure have changed.


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I think this little "Use Yamalube" sticker might have been put on at the dealership to remind the owner to use only Yamalube. I never saw this sticker back in the day. A quick search on ebay turned up reproductions.