The Search For Meaning

     As of late when I have had time to ponder my roots I've been using an old copy of the Ridgewood Yellow Book, circa 1975 as a point of reference. It's a little more than 400 pages and contains both the Yellow and White pages of this era and includes the towns of Glen Rock, Ho-Ho-Kus, Franklin Lakes, Waldwick, Saddle River, Midland Park, and Wyckoff. I somehow doubt this same feat could be accomplished today in 400 pages, and I also think people are so programmed to use the Internet that even possessing a Yellow Pages means you like doing things the old fashioned way or don't feel comfortable using the Internet. I consider myself old fashion in some ways but I don't let phone books gather dust in my home any longer.

      While it is true most of the names in my reference have become irrelevant over time there are a surprising number of names I find that still live in the same place some 35 years later.  It makes me feel good to look again at numbers that I once knew by heart because I had dialed them so often. The Warner Theatre, by the way, is still 444-1234.

      My Yellow Book is filled with reminders of how it pays to advertise. Back in 1975 it was taken as a matter of course that a business would take out an ad in the Yellow Pages. Now this is not a certainty, and given the number of different Yellow Books available a potentially costly exercise in Marketing.

      I'd say the biggest difference, besides the overall size, is what wasn't being advertised in 1975 that we now come to expect. By this I mean there are only a hand full of restaurants, and Mama Rosa's Pizza and Renatos are the only two familiar names remaining. The other surprising thing was the number of gas stations which were located in the center of town. Now you have one or two service stations, if my memory serves, and more restaurants than you could possible patronize in a month or two. Though in the case of restaurants we live in an age of eating out so I'm sure some people could probably cover the gamut a bit faster than I'm suggesting.