Monday, October 20, 2008

It sits atop a refrigerator, battered and tired, with phone numbers no longer relevant, scribbled on the cover. Its pages curl with overuse, but it retains its unmistakable yellow.

The phone book has secured its place in American society, and although online directories and cell phone storage has reduced its crucial role, it remains within reach of millions of telephones and forces everyone to mentally review the alphabet during each search for a number or address.

Manny Ruiseco does not take its presence for granted, and recognized 30 years ago the role phone books play in retelling the life and times of a town.

As an area sales manager for AT T's Real Yellow Pages, Ruiseco works closely with the familiar book, ensuring that it is filled with useful information, maps and profit-generating advertisements. But the books that fascinate him the most are out-of-date, obsolete and not even yellow.

Ruiseco collects historic Key West phone directories that reflect simpler times on a smaller island.

The oldest book Ruiseco has is from 1949. Its dimensions are half those of the present-day yellow pages, and the book is less than a quarter of its thickness. The numbers listed are three, four or five digits long, and there are almost no addresses outside of Old Town.

The post-war construction of the New Town shopping centers were just plans on a blueprint.

Grocers, appliance stores and movie theaters abounded on Duval Street, the Santa Maria Hotel on Simonton Street proudly advertised "heated, running hot water," and there were no listings for television repair services.

Division Street had just been renamed Truman Avenue in November 1948, but most addresses did not reflect the change in time for the printing of the 1949 book.

In the same year, Mrs. Pauline Hemingway lived at 907 Whitehead St., with the simple phone number of 244.

"When I first started working here, I found these in the back of an old file cabinet," Ruiseco said. "I just think they are truly a part of Americana."

In the 11 years between 1948 and 1959, Key West changed a great deal.

The Hemingways had moved, and Airways was offering 30-minute flights from Key West to Havana. Milk was being delivered to homes from dairies on Stock Island, and the Islander Drive-In was a popular spot. Two Friends was well-established on Front Street, and Fleming Street was the only Fausto's location.

The phone book was thicker then, but still a dark green. The familiar yellow would come decades later.

mbolen@keysnews.com