MAyfair4-0117...
That's MA4-0117 or 624-0117, the telephone number to Haegele's Bakery. Course now it has to be preceded by "215" even within the city and for many, the numbers may not even be noticed as our cell phones deal with contacts and direct dials from picture prompts and voice activation these days. But there's history in everything at Haegele's, especially as we celebrate our 86th year in business on Thursday July 7th, 2016. As an original establishment we strive to maintain our family's business with respect to that which is old, which is pretty much everything. "New" is not necessarily an improvement and modernization would be the answering machine that's connected to the MAyfair4-0117 telephone. When we opened our doors in 1930, Mayfair was on the edge of suburbia. Farmlands stretched beyond Levick Street and milk trucks drove down the dirt road of Erdrick to deliver to our "ice-box". Yes that's right, we opened our doors before the modernization of refrigeration. Richard Haegele (2nd generation owner) can recall from childhood, the blocks of ice that were acquired at the coal yard and the technique used to split them "just so". "Heat rises", and so the split blocks would be placed at the top of the box for efficiency and the optimal level of chill. No temperature settings here! We had a telephone which operated on a party line but our number belonged to us! It was important. It gave our location in the up and coming desirable "Mayfair". Letters once correlated to numbers and that's where the 624 comes in. The 62 or MA stood for the MAyfair section of the city. We were the 117th phone number distributed and that's where the 0117 comes to play. We have an old rotary style
phone still in use upstairs. Remember the sound of click-click-click as the dial returned to it's position. We no longer share a party line, unless one of the bakers picks up the phone in the back while the line is in use in the store. Course that's not really the sounds of a party line is it? You need the operator and some conversation and then the words "go ahead with your call". Add a little static for nostalgia. So there's quite a bit of history in those numbers and that's just our telephone. There's maple wood benches and art-deco cases with hand carved lettering. There's original balance scales and hand-cranked equipement. A tablet and pencil...no calculator in use. Take a step back in time and visit our store as we turn 86 years old...and remember "old" is a good thing at Haegele's. You can reach us by phone at the 117th number in Mayfair or drop by at Co. Erdrick & Barnett...that's "corner" of Erdrick and Barnett, our original address before numbers were required. Adding Up the Numbers
Posted 7/4/16