  Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw Post Number: 224 Registered: 07-2005 Posted From: 164.76.189.121 |
I was wondering if anyone knew any of the history of this building. Was it some kind of telephone operator building or something? I'd be interested to hear anything anyone knows about the building. | ||
Chalu64 Member Username: Chalu64 Post Number: 47 Registered: 08-2005 Posted From: 69.136.151.176 |
I'm curious, too, although i've heard it's always been a Bell/telephone building. How about the photo studio at Cadieux just east of Warren? Now that's an amazing place inside. Totally redone back to it's heyday as a movie studio. (Wilding) | ||
Odessa Member Username: Odessa Post Number: 13 Registered: 11-2005 Posted From: 68.43.115.70 |
It would be nice if u posted a photo. | ||
Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw Post Number: 225 Registered: 07-2005 Posted From: 164.76.189.121 |
I don't have a picture, and I don't know what the name of the building is. But anyone who's familiar with that corner knows what I'm talking about, it's a tall art deco building. | ||
Chalu64 Member Username: Chalu64 Post Number: 48 Registered: 08-2005 Posted From: 69.136.151.176 |
Yes, it's a beautiful building. Spent many hours during the 70s collecting (discarded) colored wires in the alley to make jewelry. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2820 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 208.54.94.33 |
The building is the "Niagara" telephone exchange office, built by Michigan Bell in 1928. Still serves in that capacity switching phone calls for the Grosse Pointes and northeast Detroit. I posted a picture of it on some other thread; do a forum search on the word Niagara. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2821 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 208.54.94.33 |
Check this thread: https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/62684/63149.html | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2776 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 4.229.81.11 |
Mikem, are you sure it's the Niagara Exchange, I've always known it as the Tuxedo Exchange ("881" thru "889" telephone numbers)? Maybe it's both?? | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 1569 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.14.122.57 |
I agree with Gistok. I grew up in that part of the city, and all the numbers in that area are/were in the Tuxedo exchange. | ||
Bongman Member Username: Bongman Post Number: 1252 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 198.111.56.128 |
My Mother worked there as an operator during the late 50's and early 60's. Walked there from Detroit St. I'll ask her what she remembers...as soon as she comes back from donating my inheritance to the Indians. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2822 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 208.54.94.97 |
Yes, it has about 10 exchanges located there but within the Bell system it has been given what is known as a common name and usually it is one of the exchange prefix names, in this case Niagara (64x-xxxx). | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2824 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.43.15.105 |
Bongman, could you ask your mother two things for me when you see her next? What year was the operator position eliminated there? Which other offices were they directly connected to, i.e., could she route a call across town without sending it though Detroit Bell? Please write down the answers before you hit the bong  OK, three questions. Does she remember where the old Plaza office was before the new one was built in the 1970's? | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 574 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 129.9.163.106 |
MikeM--thanks for the link to that phone company thread. My father worked for Michigan bell, starting in 1941, he transferred over to AT&T in 1968. He was a switch repair/trouble shooting tech. My Mom was an operator at Bell, they met there in 1955, were married two years later. One thing--Gistok and others commented on the "50's addition to the (Cass ave.) Bell building" that was known as the "8a" addition, and is where my father spent most of his career. | ||
Bongman Member Username: Bongman Post Number: 1255 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 198.111.56.128 |
My Mother worked there much earlier than I thought....1949-51. At that time, she says that building handled the Tuxedo zone only. She knows this because they moved her around, especially to "Walnut", which was over at Harper-Van Dyke area. She worked with a team of 10 switchboard operators. Each call was a wire, just like in old movies. It was not an easy job, yet fun. You were constantly connecting. Her supervisor was constantly monitoring their calls. This was accomplished by standing behind the ladies and actually plugging in a headset to their console. There was no other way to tell if someone was slacking off. (being rude, personal calls, listening in...etc.) That building was more than 50% filled with switch gear. My Mom said that when she plugged in a call, she would hear a series of manual clicking in a distinct pattern travel thru the building. She could connect a tuxedo call to anywhere in the city. Long distance calls were completed for the entire Tuxedo area by going through the Downtown office, where she also worked as an occasional long-distance operator. My Mom was only 18-19, and didn't drive until she was 30. She lived on Seyburn at the time, and took the bus to these locations. Although it didn't pay a lot, this was a prestigious job to have for her age. Most of her high school friends were working in clothes stores for less money. She would soon be married with babies on the way, and didn't work for many years after. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2829 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.43.15.105 |
56Packman, this is the "8a" addition your father worked in? And you're sure it was 8a and not 5A or 3A? (5A and 3A were short-hand designations of switching equipment.)  Here's a view of all three generations of buildings; '20s, '50s, and '70s:  Thanks Bongman. The Walnut office info is a good tidbit; I'm wondering if it was lost to freeway construction. Funny about the supervisor over her shoulder - I never see a picture of an operator without seeing a supervisor somewhere in the background. Bell had to be one of the first companies to do extensive research on workplace ergonomics, time-motion studies, productivity, etc. The clicking she heard sounds like step-by-step switching gear which I think would have been replaced by the 1940's, but maybe not, or maybe it was crossbar equipment giving her feedback. I wish both of you could drag your parents to an FSC meeting so I could pick their brain. There's a lot of technological and workplace history disappearing with each passing generation. | ||
Hamtramck_steve Member Username: Hamtramck_steve Post Number: 3256 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 136.181.195.17 |
We could have ourselves a mini-Ma Bell retiree forum. My dad retired from SBC two years ago. For most of his career, he was in the Centerline office. I remember the miles of wires and constant clicking of the switches, how the duties were split between the sexes: the men handled the switches themselves, while the women took care of the wiring, I think. It was amazing when they switched to digital, seeing the three floors of wiring and switches condensed to one floor of computers. | ||
Detourdetroit Member Username: Detourdetroit Post Number: 246 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 152.163.100.8 |
My dad worked at Michigan Bell too and did training workshops for employees. He utilized multimedia technology, including taking slides of young me standing in for the kid of a "working mother at Michigan Bell"...a presentation about the additional responsibilities women executives faced. I poured a lot of Cheerios that day. | ||
Bongman Member Username: Bongman Post Number: 1256 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 198.111.56.128 |
The clicking she heard sounds like step-by-step switching gear which I think would have been replaced by the 1940's, but maybe not, or maybe it was crossbar equipment giving her feedback ------------------------------ ----------------- She mentioned an overhead switching "broom". I'm guessing this was the electrical connections bunched up above her head that came off the console and headed to the switchroom. By her description, it sounded kind of like the key bars inside of an old typewriter. | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 576 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 129.9.163.233 |
MikeM--that is what my dad still calls "the 8a addition" (he started in 1941, when it was just the 1920's building). I'll be seeing my folks Thursday night, I'll ask him about that name/designation | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 577 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 129.9.163.233 |
MikeM--if you want to host a "Ma Bell old timers" get together, You'd be better off inviting them to a restaurant for an early bird dinner. (Although at 84 my pops can still handle his beer like the old days) | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2830 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.43.15.105 |
Bongman, I wasn't sure if she meant clicking sounds over her headset ( http://www.dmine.com/phworld/sounds/vintage/xbar/1xbarloc.ram ) or the external noise of the physical movement of electro-mechanical switching gear. Sounds like the latter. Were there only two floors when she worked there, or had it already been expanded?  Packman, if you could, find out what the meaning of "8a" is, and when the building opened. Were they simply running out of room on Cass or was the building built as a result of new switching technology which couldn't fit inside the old building? | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2780 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 4.229.105.64 |
To most non-switching employees that 1950's addition to the HQ was known as the "Bell Annex". | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 578 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 129.9.163.233 |
MikeM--my Dad has been a camera buff for decades. He photographed the construction of the 70's (Bell bldg.) addition, and the MacNamara building across the street. He has slides of those projects. | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 590 Registered: 12-2005 |
MikeM, Gistok-had a visit with my folks last night. Turns out I must have imagined the whole "8a" thing (or my Dad's memory is drifting!) He only remembers the building as "the Bell addition. We talked about how the building was added on to in the 1920's, and he told me that when they did that addition there was a weird "half floor" ala "being John Malkovitch" between the eighth floor (the original top floor) and the ninth. That "half floor" was a massive chase for cable, and there were hundreds of troughs that ran all over, and any new lines that had to connected from one point to another were run through there. He recalled that in the 70's and 80's the younger guys would go there to smoke dope (it is very out of the way). As I said earlier, my Mom was an operator, and later a supervisor. She confirmed the business of walking behind the consoles of the other operators that wored for her and plugging her headset into their console. Here's a cople of shots of my Dad at work (Cass ave) circa 1963   | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2862 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thanks PackMan! I don't know how I missed your post earlier. More pictures please! Looks like your dad was a "frame man". Love the blue and gray office and the dim lighting. Reminds me of the blue color of my old office, decorated in the mid-1960s: | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1614 Registered: 04-2005 |
OK, that's the right seat of a ... hmmm... ... a DC-9? (I noticed you avoided showing center console & the the yoke to make it difficult) | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2863 Registered: 10-2003 |
Oh I didn't avoid it; the cockpit is so damned cramped you can't back up far enough to fit the rest in the view finder. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2864 Registered: 10-2003 |
Steam gauges...no way to make a living  | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1615 Registered: 04-2005 |
I don't recognize that blue paint, unless it's one of those Fokkers. (I just like typing that word.) Here's a panel that I'm more familiar with, cropped a lot, due to security restrictions, and yes, that is a real sign hung up when she's in port. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2865 Registered: 10-2003 |
Does this look familiar?  | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1617 Registered: 04-2005 |
Central Control, nice ready room chairs (I need one of those in Hornwrecker Central), sound powered phones and bitch boxes, load-toad panel, and lots of status charts... Brings back all sorts of memories, but I'm not familiar with the class of ship; all my time was on a CVN where the motto was "Eight Under the Gate." | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2866 Registered: 10-2003 |
CV-41, and they done a great job turning it into a floating museum. | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1619 Registered: 04-2005 |
They used to be tied up, alternating with CV-43, at a pier at NAS Alameda, with us. When they were mothballed the Carl Vinson took their place. I've got some slides of all three in the North Pacific that I'll have to scan sometime. I probably was in their CC on some supply borrowing expedition in past. During those maneuvers, one of them had to trap one of our Tomcats, due to weather conditions. That was the first and last time that it occurred on a Midway class carrier. (Message edited by Hornwrecker on September 19, 2006) | ||
Zephyrprocess Member Username: Zephyrprocess Post Number: 34 Registered: 08-2006 |
"Thread-jacking complete, Cap'n! Shall we dock at Cadieux and Mack?" |
