I think it is pretty amazing how some city and town centers in the West still had some rather impressive (like this one!) telephone open-wire lines through at least the 1960s! Here in the East most open-wire that remained until then generally were shorter-length subscriber and toll circuits. In the rural areas of New England and neighboring states telephone open wire "lived" the longest. Everywhere else it was paired aerial cable or outright underground. I strongly assume that the severity of each of our four seasons has a lot to do with this opposed to the dry, more tranquil weather prevalent in western US states.