Classic Telephones

Vintage phone from On Sources

This morning got off to a monstrously bad start, leaving me exhausted, frustrated and ready to climb back into bed and sleep until 2012 – and it wasn't even 11 o'clock!! I wanted so badly to be able to pick up the phone and scream, "HELP!" Being my own boss has so many wonderful attributes, but sometimes I would love to be able to ask a superior, "WHAT SHOULD I DO?" Alas, I could not, but it's ok, it all worked out. However, my desire to call for help got me thinking about making calls, literally. Remember when we all had phones that plugged permanently into a wall? Remember when dialing took, like, ten minutes, and if you made a mistake, you had to start ALL OVER? Remember when you had to switch from a phone in one room to a phone in another, and you invariably got caught up in the squiggly cord? (Don't tell me I'm the only one.) Remember when the words "phone" and "cancer" never appeared in the same sentence?

So, inspired by my desire to call for help today, let's take a look at some fantastic, high-style phones from yesteryear.

This, pulled from a 1960s version of "Stars: They're Just Like Us," The King on the phone from Vintage Rotary Phones

Check out this outstanding collection of phone ephemera from America's Classic Rotary Phones:

These vintage-inspired calling cards are available from Annacote's Etsy shop:

Some fun Bakelite phones from Retro Telephones:

Classic 200 Series

Clear 746 from 1967

Interior design by Elizabeth Bailey

Interior design by Nate Turner

Interior design by Lindsay Harper via My Home Ideas

Via House and Home

So, these "Donut" phones from the 1970s aren't rotary, but you can't deny their retro chicness!

Interior design by David Jimenez

Actress Ione Skye sports a snazzy Donut phone

Remember when crackheads weren't the only people using pay phones? In high school, the pay phones at the 86th Street 1/9 subway stop outside The Gap was the place to BE. I made all kinds of important calls from those phones. You know, "beeping" friends with urgent messages about meeting me, calling back after getting "beeped." Pretty cool, right?

The King, again. He sure did a lot of chatting on the phone!

Via Vintage Rotary Phones

This is the sa-WEET phone I was lucky enough to have in my room as a teen:

For posterity, let's toss in a nifty phone of today, used for Skype. I use Skype for my business phone, but I have a headset, which allows me to roam around or type or thumb through paperwork as I chat so as to always multi-task. I usually feel pretty silly. This phone would be a nice addition to the home-office setup:

Available from Hulger

A few more great sources for vintage phones:

Sweet Bella.com

Oldphones.com

RedHotPhones.com