This is my mom at age 15 in her family home in **St. Louis Park, MN (1959)**.
She was likely trying to stretch that long, coiled cord as far as it would go to get some privacy from the rest of the house! Back then, the length of your phone cord dictated exactly how much ‘freedom’ you had to gossip. She was just outside her pink bedroom here—the ultimate mid-century teen sanctuary.
You can also see a stack of **Dayton’s** shoe boxes behind her on the steps. My grandma worked in the ladies’ shoe department at the **Southdale Dayton’s** in **Edina**. Since Southdale had just opened in 1956 as the first fully enclosed mall in the world, those iconic boxes were a constant fixture in her hallway!
tlm11110 on
I remember this well. When we finally got one of those super long chords it was almost like Christmas. I remember laying on the floor behind my mother’s recliner whispering to my girlfriend hoping mom wouldn’t hear. I was stupid, I’m confident she heard every word. Our phone was wall mounted so the length of the receiver chord was the limitation. There was no option. And then the constant, “Get off the phone, your sister needs to use it!”
poolbitch1 on
In the 90’s ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ we still had one of those plastic reel-cord cases with a handle that you could unwind across the main floor of our (1920’s lol) house. Later like 1998 or so we got a standalone cordless with a big ass antenna. But I still remember winding and unwinding, and carrying the phone, and also the cord by the handle.Â
StupidizeMe on
That’s an awesome photo!
I became an expert at stretching the tightly coiled phone cord so I could make it flat enough to go under the door, despite the carpet.
Those coiled cords gave you something to do with your hands while you talked – you could play with them, pulling the coils straight then letting them bounce back, or you could wrap them around your hand… It was one of the simple joys of life.
wetwater on
We just had a standard length cord for our wall mounted phone, so it was just the limits of the kitchen. I don’t think it even reached the kitchen table once we moved it, so any extended conversation (which was rare and discouraged in the days before call waiting) you either got a chair from the table to sit on, or you were leaning against the fridge.
starfleetdropout6 on
This makes me think of Bye Bye, Birdie!
Key-Significance3753 on
What a great photo! I used to carefully stretch the cord out into the garage.
7 Comments
This is my mom at age 15 in her family home in **St. Louis Park, MN (1959)**.
She was likely trying to stretch that long, coiled cord as far as it would go to get some privacy from the rest of the house! Back then, the length of your phone cord dictated exactly how much ‘freedom’ you had to gossip. She was just outside her pink bedroom here—the ultimate mid-century teen sanctuary.
You can also see a stack of **Dayton’s** shoe boxes behind her on the steps. My grandma worked in the ladies’ shoe department at the **Southdale Dayton’s** in **Edina**. Since Southdale had just opened in 1956 as the first fully enclosed mall in the world, those iconic boxes were a constant fixture in her hallway!
I remember this well. When we finally got one of those super long chords it was almost like Christmas. I remember laying on the floor behind my mother’s recliner whispering to my girlfriend hoping mom wouldn’t hear. I was stupid, I’m confident she heard every word. Our phone was wall mounted so the length of the receiver chord was the limitation. There was no option. And then the constant, “Get off the phone, your sister needs to use it!”
In the 90’s ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ we still had one of those plastic reel-cord cases with a handle that you could unwind across the main floor of our (1920’s lol) house. Later like 1998 or so we got a standalone cordless with a big ass antenna. But I still remember winding and unwinding, and carrying the phone, and also the cord by the handle.Â
That’s an awesome photo!
I became an expert at stretching the tightly coiled phone cord so I could make it flat enough to go under the door, despite the carpet.
Those coiled cords gave you something to do with your hands while you talked – you could play with them, pulling the coils straight then letting them bounce back, or you could wrap them around your hand… It was one of the simple joys of life.
We just had a standard length cord for our wall mounted phone, so it was just the limits of the kitchen. I don’t think it even reached the kitchen table once we moved it, so any extended conversation (which was rare and discouraged in the days before call waiting) you either got a chair from the table to sit on, or you were leaning against the fridge.
This makes me think of Bye Bye, Birdie!
What a great photo! I used to carefully stretch the cord out into the garage.