I’ve walked by entrance to Gene’s restaurant on 11th Street and Sixth Avenue many, many times and just recently noticed the painted window sign sporting the pre-1960s OR phone exchange.
OR was for Orchard, later Oregon, according to this old phone exchange chart.
Gene’s is serious old-timey Village French-Italian, open since 1919. Their website includes a link to a 1958 Village Voice review featuring fantastic vintage ads for other restaurants and cafes of the era, such as El Charro and Chumley’s.
Tags: Chumley's West Village, El Charro restaurant, Gene's Restaurant 11th Street, Greenwich Village old restaurants, Greenwich Village phone exchanges, old phone exchanges, old restaurant ads, Village Voice
Ephemeral New York 
December 12, 2012 at 3:53 am |
Love these. Just saw an old phone exchanges the other day, while visiting Montreal: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rleong101/8265845880/
December 18, 2012 at 7:31 pm |
the Oregon exchange for a lot of the village was often called Oregano
by wags because of the many Italian residents
May 22, 2013 at 11:29 pm |
[…] while back, Ephemeral New York put up a link to a 1958 Village Voice review of Gene’s restaurant, citing “fantastic […]