I know atlases and roadmaps were a lot more common, but from my understanding those give more of a broader view of a large area like major roads and stuff. If you needed to find a small subdivision or small road, how would you do that before the internet?
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In the US at least, the phone company used to deliver a massive phone book to your door periodically. It was divided into yellow pages (which was organized by business category, e.g. you could look up plumbers in your area), white pages (businesses organized alphabetically), and residential listings (organized by last name). Residential listings gave phone numbers and sometimes addresses. Every home had a phone book, and every phone booth and gas station had one. This was how you looked up an address.
To drive to an address, if you were unfamiliar with the area, you would look it up on a road map, which included an index of street names organized on a grid system. However, most people who had lived in an area for a while would be familiar enough with the roadways to find an address without much help. Or you’d rely on word-of-mouth directions. It was common to get to your destination neighborhood and ask someone on the street for directions to a particular street or business. The attendant at a local gas station would also be a reliable source for directions.
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