Jackson Jambalaya

Engineering Service is still going strong. I've worked with them quite a bit over the last 40 years. Great guys. http://www.engservice.com/

Engineering Service. I always liked Buster Parker. Great guy. I guess he still works for them some. Maybe he is semi-retired.

I remember the old barn across from Main Harbor. I think I went inside when I was a little kid. It was a neat looking building. I hate that it has to go, but I doubt it was savable.

When the wife and I were dating (A long time ago) we saw Bus Stop at The Barn Dinner Theater. Was a good night. Would do those kinds of things again if there were options in the area. Saw Avery Schriever do a Night at the Forum at a dinner theater in Chicago. was a good night.

How does a 6 digit phone number work?

@2:57 - how young are you?

A 6 digit phone number worked fine when you had operaters - before dial phones were available. Hell, my home phone number was three digits, and my dad's office number was a two digit. Another business of his had a single digit #7.

How did it work. You picked up the phone and the operator asked "number please?" Worked fine - in fact, sometimes the operator would say - your mother isn't at home, she's at xyz's. Would you like me to connect you to there?

"How does a 6 digit phone number work?"

Same as a 5-digit one like I used to have and the same as the 10-digit one I have now. Each digit is dialed one after the other on the phone. But you have to use a rotary phone. ;)

To answer your question about phone numbers...this is before digital technology. Every call you made was local unless you told the operator otherwise. Later, every call was local, unless you entered a "1" first which told the automated switch that the call would be going outside of town.

You might have a 3, 4 or 5 digit phone number depending on how big your town or area was. Didn't matter as long as the call was local.

I'm laughing over the question about how the phone number worked. I remember that our home phone number in Jackson when I was 4 to 6 years old started with "Fleetwood" but I can't recall the following couple of numbers.

The Barn theater was fun; went there several times back in the day.

Just a couple of days ago I threw away a box that must have been 100 new old paper matchbooks from the old Fishermans Wharf on Highway 80. I also found her day pass ticket to the 1991 Grand Prix Du Mardi Gras with both Jim and Will Pace's autographs. That was a keeper.

What is a phone number?

Snook's!!

Love it !

I remember when that venue tried to "rebrand" as more posh.

"Le Barn Rouge" was their new name.

A Dinner Theatre they called it.

Cool place, but about 20 years before what was to come . . .
"The Dock" "Main Harbor" & "Cock of the Walk" were not even in the planning phase.

Fleetwood numbers started with FL. Drake numbers started with DR. Emerson started with EM. Can't remember if there was a 4th exchange. Don't think so!

I remember as a kid(early 70's) our next door neighbors would sometimes host the traveling actors from the Barn Dinner. I remember this one particular character a very boisterous Italian guy named Danny from New York. One day Danny made this big pot of some Italian stuff called chicken cacciatore. That stuff was so delicious my mom got the recipe and almost fifty years later our family still makes that same chicken cacciatore.

" when I was 4 to 6 years old started with 'Fleetwood' "

Gawd yes ! I won't even begin to explain "party lines" to these kids.

To simplify for them, the entire town could/would listen to your private conversations.
It was actually fun to listen-in.

LOL.

We all listened to everyones's personal conversations.
It was fun !

Most people were too smart to discuss personal stuff.
But dumbasses have always existed.

Some of you geezers had phone numbers like IV, III, and XVII.

Love when you do these. Good memories. Thanks.

"the entire town could/would listen to your private conversations"

The entire town, or just others sharing your party line? Or maybe it was a really small town with only one line?

Now explain for the children how the party line ring codes worked... lol. Oh wait, it's just like your cell phone ring tones today. Except everyone's phone rang simultaneously with the same call.

My aunt and uncle living out in the sticks outside of Hernando, MS still had a party line until the mid ‘70’s.

" Now explain for the children how the party line ring codes worked... lol."

Gawd that's too complicated,

LOL.

But I will try.

One ring for this person.
Two rings for another down the road.

Three short rings for the new phone owner.
Two long rings, followed by four short rings for the first telephone owner.

Gawd knows what the sequence was for my Grandmother's phone.

All I remember, is she knew everyone's "ring" and we would always "listen-in". She always raised Hell about us doing that . . . but she did it too.

We never heard anything "juicy", usually mundane stuff about someone's sore back, toe nail problem, or some issue within a church committee.

LOL !

The children can't believe any of that.

Party lines. Yep, it was a lot like Mayberry. My grandma used to hear her phone and say something like "That's Bessie's number and she's out of town. I'd better go see who it is and let them know." Or, if you were Bessie and heard your ring while you were at your neighbor's, you could answer your call from their phone. We have not progressed.