20th Century Phone Directories - Part 2

The last post looked at some of the 20th Century Phone Directories I found on the Library of Congress website for Colorado Springs, Colorado. This post will look at some of the 20th Century Phone Directories for San Francisco, California.

We will begin by looking at the phone directories for Berenice Newitt. After her retirement from the Army Nurse Corps in 1937, she lived in San Francisco. Below are the phone directories for Berenice Newitt for 1937 and 1938:

She lived at 2200 Francisco and her phone number was WEst-5908. As a side note, immediately below is the phone directory listing for her brother, Clarence Keith Newitt. In 1940, Berenice moved to Glendale, California. However, I did not find her in the phone directories for the Los Angeles area until 1951, which is shown below. This listing for Berenice remained the same through the 1950's. Her address was 820 S Maryland in Glendale, and her phone number was CItrus 3-7663.

In 1959, her phone number was shortened to CI 3-7663. In 1963, her phone number changed to 243-7663. Below are the phone directories for 1950 and 1963:

Berenice moved to 328 North Louise in Glendale. She was listed there in the available phone directories from 1967 through 1975. Below is the phone directory for Berenice from 1967.

As mentioned earlier, her brother Clarence Keith Newitt also lived in San Francisco. Below is the earliest phone directory I found for him in 1927. His address was 440 Masonic and his phone number was West-9254.

During the 1930's, Keith lived on Cotter Street; first on 245 Cotter Street, and then on 43 Cotter Street. Below are the phone directories for Keith from 1931 and 1937. Even though he moved down the street, he kept the same phone number: ELkridge-0201.

In 1945, he moved to 2965 24th Avenue in San Francisco, and his phone number changed to LOmbard-6-7543. He had this phone number until 1965, when it was updated to 566-7543. He would move from San Francisco after 1965, so that was the last phone directory entry I found for him. Below are the phone directories for Keith Newitt from 1945 and 1965.

Finally, we will look at Frances Nemetzky and Fogalsang's Pru-Nut Creams. Fogalsang's Pru-Nut Creams is first found in the 1927 phone directory, with the phone number of Franklin-369. This was updated to Franklin-0369. In 1937, the phone number was changed to TUxedo-0369. Fogalsang's Pru-Nut Creams was list listed in the phone directories in November of 1943. Below are the 1927 and 1937 phone directories for Fogalsang's Pru-Nut Creams.

As a side note, the Fogalsang candy box that I have has the TUxedo-0369 phone number listed on it, which means that the candy box was made between 1937 and 1943.

The residence at 59 Collins Street is listed under the name of David Nemetzky. The 1931 phone directory lists their phone number as WAlnut-2341. By 1936, their residence phone number changed to WEst-5281. Below are the 1931 and 1936 phone directories:

In 1946, they moved to 1234 39th Avenue. Their phone number changed to MOntrose-7499. The following year, their phone number was updated to MOntrose 4-7499. Frances is last listed in the San Francisco phone directories in 1953, when she moved to Broderick, California to live with her sister. Below are the 1946 and 1953 phone directories for David and Frances Nemetzky.

It is interesting to look through these old phone directories. They not only list their addresses and phone numbers, but also help pinpoint when my family lived at specific addresses and when they would have moved. It is also interesting to see how their phone numbers have evolved over the years, going from the word prefix to the seven digit phone numbers that we know and use.