Phone in Cloverdale

A recent discussion about the old operator's phone system sparked memories of the phone we had in the house. An old black rotary dialer phone that was provided by BC Tel who supplied all the phones across the province.

The phone number in Cloverdale started with 574 or 576 which continues today with a couple of other exchanges thrown in due to the growing population in our community. But back in the 60's and early 70's if we were phoning someone else in Cloverdale we only had to dial 5 numbers. The first number depended on the last number in the first three numbers in the exchange, being either 574 or 576. All we had to do was dial the 4 or the 6 and then the last four numbers. For example growing up our phone number was 574-5059. If I was over at a friend's house and needed to call home, I would dial 45059.

Back then only local calls were free. We could phone everywhere else in Cloverdale, Langley, White Rock, and some other parts of Surrey. Whalley was a long distance call. Vancouver was long distance.

Sometime in the 70's some of the regions around the Greater Vancouver area became toll free and as a result we were no longer able to use five numbers to phone around Cloverdale and had to dial all seven numbers. A small price for now being able to phone everywhere in Surrey, New Westminster, and Vancouver for free. However it was still long distance to call North or West Vancouver and for some reason, Tsawwassen. It was also long distance to phone the other side of the Fraser River to Maple Ridge and Coquitlam.

It was kind of annoying by the early 80's because my farrier lived in Tsawwassen and if I needed my horse's hooves done I either had to phone long distance or go to a friend's house in White Rock or North Delta where it was toll free to call and make an appointment.

We still had party lines in the area up until the late 80's. My family always had a private phone, but several of my friend's houses were on party lines. You never knew who was picking up a phone and listening in to your conversation.

Finally in the 90's most of the Greater Vancouver Area became toll free calls. I no longer had to visit someone in a toll free zone to call friends in North Vancouver or Maple Ridge.

Rememer the BC Tel store that was in Guildford Mall selling phones? I still have a Mickey Mouse phone with the BC Tel logo on it.