Remembering the New Bedford ‘Party Line’

The "party line" phone chatting service out of New Bedford was the free dating service of a generation.

Let's go back to the days of getting your Nokia phone and waiting until after 7 p.m. every night to use it because of those free nights and weekends. Brings back some interesting memories, doesn't it?

I can't be the only one that was curious about this phone number that you could call and chat with people in different chat rooms, depending on what you were looking for. I can only imagine that infamous phone number is now is out of commission since it was such a sketchy way to meet people.

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You started out by joining chat rooms with a group of people, but you could then jump into a one-on-one conversation. I was an interesting maze to navigate but some people were on the line for hours – sort of like scrolling aimlessly on Amazon and putting things in your cart.

It was sort of the equivalent to the dating apps we have now, except you couldn't see the person you were talking to, leading to a lot more in-person meet ups that were really unsafe. Imagine having this line during "cuffing season?"

I won't deny, I did meet up with one person I started chatting with on the "line" and quickly learned that this wasn't the best way to meet people. Don't judge me; I was fresh out of high school.

Did anyone actually meet someone using the free phone line and can credit an actual relationship to it? Did anyone get married after initially chatting on the "party line?"