[jockm]

Anyone could pay to have an unlisted number, it wasn’t crazy expensive in the US at least

[donatj]

My mom worked in corrections and after an incident with one of her coworkers getting attacked at home, we got an unlisted number.

I remember as a teen being very irritated that people could no longer find me in the phone book.

[cgriswald]

You weren't alone. After my parents divorced I lived with mom and she went back to her maiden name.

[anjel]

IIR it was $1.50 month for NY Tel in the mid 80s, about the same cost as a hamburger for this times.