The 1949-1950 Albany Telephone Directory (Albany, New York) that I discussed yesterday showed my father, my uncle, and my uncle’s service station in the white pages. My uncle’s service station was also listed in the yellow pages of the same directory.
John Danko Service Station in the 1949-1950 Albany Yellow Pages
SOURCE: New York Telephone Company . Albany telephone directory 1949-1950 (Albany, N.Y.: New York Telephone), yellow pages 19.
Click on the link for a PDF copy of the John Danko Service Station in the 1949-1950 Albany Yellow Pages.
The yellow pages included only a small line listing for the service station that simply read:
Danko John Service Sta 90 Northern blvd..5-9428
The service station was a Socony Mobil station and I remember it well. My father worked there for many years until he was offered a position working directly for Socony Mobil Oil Company. The station was on the corner of Northern Boulevard and Sheridan Avenue, just a few blocks from where my grandmother lived on Colonie Street. As a youth, I always liked the red flying horse logo of Socony Mobil. Socony is an acronym for Standard Oil Company of New York.
In November 1991, a section of Northern Boulevard was renamed Henry Johnson Boulevard in honor of Henry Lincoln Johnson, a highly decorated member of the all black 369th Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard .
The building that housed the station is still there, but has been vacant for many years, the perimeter of the property surrounded by a chain-link fence.
In the 1949-1950 Albany Telephone Directory, the phone numbers included only 5 digits. Later, telephone exchanges, including HObart, HEmlock, and IVanhoe were added at the beginning of the phone numbers . From the mid 1950’s until the late 1980’s, my family’s phone number was IV2-9139.
Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko
