PEnnsylvania 6-5000 is claimed by its owner, the Hotel Pennsylvania, to be the oldest continuing phone number in New York City.[1] The telephone number is based on the old telephone exchange name system. The first two letters "PE" in PE6-5000 stand for the rotary dial numbers 7 and 3, making the number (with Manhattan's area code) +1 (212) 736-5000. The exact age of the phone number, and the veracity of the Pennsylvania's claim, is unknown. The earliest it could have existed is around 1930, when seven-digit telephone numbers were first adopted in New York City.
When seven-digit telephone numbers came to New York (along with Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago) the 3L-4N (3 letter-4 number) system was first used. Thus originally, the Hotel Pennsylvania would have written its telephone number as "PENnsylvania 5000". A few years later, this was replaced by the so-called "2–5 numbers" or 2L-5D, two letters and five digits (for example a number on the Pennsylvania exchange would be shown as PEnnsylvania 6-5000). [2][3]
In 1969, the PE6 telephone exchange was the first in Manhattan to be transferred from panel switch to 1ESS switch, temporarily making it a significant part of New York Telephone's service crisis.
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Many big band names played in the Hotel Pennsylvania's Cafe Rouge Ballroom, including the Glenn Miller Orchestra;[4] the phone number became the inspiration for the Glenn Miller 1940 Top 5 Billboard hit song of the same name, written by Jerry Gray and Carl Sigman, and released as RCA Bluebird 78 B-10754-A backed with "Rug Cutter's Swing". In turn, the song was tributed by synthpop duo Erasure on their little-known song 'Sixty-Five Thousand' from The Innocents. It also inspired the pun title Transylvania 6-5000, used separately by a Bugs Bunny cartoon and a full-length live-action film. The number was requested in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's, and was also referenced in a mix of the Milli Vanilli song "Baby Don't Forget My Number".