Remember Elevator Operators?

[Mr. Jelly]

Are you old enough to remember actual human beings operating an elevator for your safety and convenience? My step father's mother was an elevator operator at a local department store. I remember riding on her elevator. I was pretty young though. In the late fifties I think.

[Don Lampson]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

Are you old enough to remember actual human beings operating an elevator for your safety and convenience? My step father's mother was an elevator operator at a local department store. I remember riding on her elevator. I was pretty young though. In the late fifties I think.

I remember elevator operators wearing a uniform, and movie ushers too!

Don

[Acousticado]

Yep, I remember elevator operators in my youth, especially at department stores. The metal grates they would open and close...even an elevator was a work of art. And as Don said, I remember movie theater ushers too. I also remember that my grandmother was a telephone operator in an era where operators were handling the cable connections for calls. Those were the days.

[sayheyjeff]

My first job in high school was operating an elevator. 1966.

Jeff

[Jim Owen]

Yep. Although the tiny village of my youth had few buildings large enough to have elevators, I did see them when we moved to Raleigh in ‘61. Several downtown buildings had them, and they wore uniforms.

[godfreydaniel]

Yes, in the 70s and early 80s in NYC, not far from the entrance to the Holland Tunnel. No uniforms. The two buildings, which were next to each other, were a combination of offices and warehouse space. There were two passenger elevators and two freight elevators. All the operators were real characters who would often stop the elevators between floors to finish a conversation. One guy from South America was a huge boxing fan. One of the freight operators was a member of a Mohawk Tribe in Canada. He drove up there just about every weekend in his Cadillac. I started working there as a summer job, and over school holidays. I took a full time job there for awhile. Great memories for me.

[Kerbie]

I had to wear a uniform in my career. One afternoon on my way home from a 5-day trip, I stopped by the grocery store. I ran into one of my neighbors and I was a little self-conscious because we weren't supposed to wear the uniforms outside of work. The lady went back to my other neighbors and told them I was an elevator operator. I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that.

[TJE]

No. I’ve only seen them in pictures and movies!😔

[Mbroady]

Yep, remember them well, from when I was a youngster.

I also have vague memories of the fruit guy with his horse and cart as well as the milk man dropping off milk.

[sayheyjeff]

Didn’t have a uniform, but had to wear a sport coat and tie. The elevator was hand operated. Had a big brass handle used to make it go up and down and level it with the floor. Opening and closing it was also manual. Had a little wooden seat for me to sit on when no one was there. Held about 5 passengers. Luckily, I had some more interesting jobs later.

Jeff

[Twin Six]

In Japan in the late '80s to early '90s, the major department stores had uniformed young ladies complete with white gloves who would operate the buttons and announce the floors. That was before the bubble burst.

[ChrisE]

That seems like an interesting job but I imagine it has its ups and downs.

[Bikewer]

Definitely... But here in St. Louis we still have two venues that retain ‘em...

The ball park, Busch stadium, and the Fabulous Fox theater.

Kind of quaint.....

[Neil K Walk]

It’s funny how much life has changed in the last 100 years. This morning a post came up in my Twitter feed about how commonplace smoking in public was. Many people were incredulous that there were glass (and tin) ash trays in McDonalds and that kids were allowed to congregate outside the school and smoke cigarettes. People were particularly surprised to learn that there was an ash tray in every arm rest on airliners seats.

[brad4d8]

Yes, and in department stores they would usually have patter about what goods were offered on each floor.