It's an ad for the Lorain Telephone Company with a Thanksgiving theme that ran in the Lorain Journal back on November 23, 1953. The ad suggests giving loved ones a call on the holiday, and provides a handy out-of-town rate chart for calls from Lorain, Amherst, Avon and Vermilion to variety of cities in Ohio and other states.
Calling from Lorain to Elyria during the day would cost 10 cents; Cleveland, 25 cents; Columbus, 65 cents; Chicago, a buck; Washington D. C., a dollar and five cents; and San Francisco, two dollars and thirty-five cents.
Of course, nowadays, people don't have to wait until a major holiday to call a loved one or friend. With cell phones, you make the call without any sort of thought about the cost, whether it's during the day or evening. But you pay dearly for it; I cringe whenever I make my monthly Verizon payment, but at least Verizon's customer service and coverage is much better than my old Trashphone Tracfone.
Lastly, seeing the little illustration of an operator makes me feel wistful. It's been a long time – probably the 1980s – since I've spoken to an actual operator while trying to get a phone number of someone. I remember how several old Ohio State dorm-mates tracked me down a few years after I graduated, since my number was listed. Now, no one's cell phone is part of a massive listing, so you're pretty much out of luck if you don't know someone's number.
I'm having a hard time getting used to not having a land line. I still get home from work, looking for the answering machine that isn't there, wondering if anyone called, or if my virus protection expired, etc.
