MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Have you ever used a phone booth?

Have you ever used a phone booth?

posted 2 months ago by MaximRecoil (4075)
59 replies | jump to latest

They were already an endangered species by the time of my earliest memories, but there was one in my hometown until I was about 7 or 8 years old (early 1980s), located downtown in an alley. I never used its payphone, but I did go inside it once when I got caught in a downpour, like this [presumably] British guy did:

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2C2CD6J/a-man-shelters-from-heavy-rain-inside-a-phone-box-in-london-as-violent-thunderstorms-swept-across-the-north-of-england-and-scotland-causing-flash-flooding-in-places-2C2CD6J.jpg

Being inside a phone booth in the pouring rain is awesome, by the way.

In the late 1990s I was living in a town that had a bowling alley with an old-fashioned indoor Western Electric wooden phone booth, like this:

https://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=13267.0

I loved that thing, and used it all the time to call my girlfriend. The owner of the bowling alley occasionally bitched about how much time I was spending in there (even when no one was waiting to use it), but the payphone allowed unlimited time for a quarter (local calls). Then the jackass burned the whole place down to collect insurance money, so that was the end of that. Well, that was never proven, but everyone believed he did it. He was shady as the day is long. I haven't encountered a phone booth since then.

[–] BrandNewPoster (6339) 2 months ago

Yes, years ago.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (71914) 2 months ago

Sure, but not in like 30 years.
On a side note I remember when diner booths had tiny jukeboxes with tinny speakers and for a buck you could play five songs as you ate. I kind of miss the 80s:)

[–] samoanjoes (51002) 2 months ago

for a buck you could play five songs

You know what band isn't even worth a buck?

[–] ShogunofYonkers (71914) 2 months ago

If you say KISS or Motley Crue I will never speak to you again!

[–] samoanjoes (51002) 2 months ago

Motley KISS.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (71914) 2 months ago

I hate you!
BLOCKED!!!

[–] samoanjoes (51002) 2 months ago

I blocked you first!

[–] ShogunofYonkers (71914) 2 months ago

Reported to the MC authorities for hating on good music!!!

[–] andersonb85 (1589) 2 months ago

"They call me Dr Love" ✋️🤣💦

[–] ShogunofYonkers (71914) 2 months ago

That weirdo samoanjoes doesn't even like Detroit Rock City!
WTH is wrong with that guy?!

[–] andersonb85 (1589) 2 months ago

Some of their songs definitely rock. I like the 70s-mid 80s era of the band's work 👍

[–] ShogunofYonkers (71914) 2 months ago

Me too.
And samoanjoes is a jerk!

[–] nyctc7 (41294) 2 months ago

I'm 64 so yes, of course. But I can't recall the last time I used one. Many years ago.

[–] MaximRecoil (4075) 2 months ago

When did phone booths start to become uncommon? The 1970s?

[–] nyctc7 (41294) 2 months ago

Late 1990s. Early 1990s cell phones were not ubiquitous yet.

Very common in the 70s and 80s.

[–] MaximRecoil (4075) 2 months ago

Are you talking about phone booths (real ones that you can walk into and close the door) or just payphones in general? By the late 1990s, and even throughout the 1980s, phone booths around here were all but non-existent, but payphones in general were still common until about the early 2010s.

[–] nyctc7 (41294) 2 months ago

Oh, I see what you mean. I meant payphones in general. As to booths, I don't really know off the top of my head:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfjTfaeXbp4

[–] MaximRecoil (4075) 2 months ago

Yeah, I remember that scene. That was 1978 and the joke is premised on the scarcity of real phone booths at the time. My earliest memories are from the summer of 1978, and they've always been rare as hen's teeth from my perspective. They must have started to become uncommon in the US in the early 1970s, or maybe the 1960s.

[–] nyctc7 (41294) 2 months ago

I saw it in NYC at the time of release and that got a big laugh from the NYC audience.

[–] MaximRecoil (4075) 2 months ago

I first saw it (and Superman II) in the early 1980s on HBO at my neighbor's house. I loved both movies, but I liked the sequel even better than the first one.

By the way, I just found an article that gives an explanation for the demise of phone booths:

In the 1970s, the booths began to disappear from the U.S., replaced by a phone stuck on a pole, its only shield those silly Plexiglas wings or a metal frame. The idea was to make phones more accessible to people using wheelchairs—but the shift coincided with the beginning of the end of privacy. In the 1978 Superman movie, Clark Kent saw one of the new phones, did a doubletake, and found a revolving door to use instead.

https://commonreader.wustl.edu/why-superman-used-a-phone-booth/

I guess that makes sense (or handicap access was just used as an excuse to go with far cheaper pedestals and wall mounts).

[–] nyctc7 (41294) 2 months ago

IIRC booths could occasionally be found through the 1980s in some bars, due to noise. Maybe some hotel lobbies and airports as well.

[–] TearofLys (2398) 2 months ago

Perhaps there were still a few actual phone booths in the 90s. I remember there were still public phones, but you had to stand in the open air to use them.

[–] nyctc7 (41294) 2 months ago

I would imagine there were some. As I mentioned, bars...booths were needed because of the noise. Now people just go outside with their cell. Or they act like a-holes and speak very loudly.

[–] parkerbot (5370) 2 months ago

Yes.

And as a kid you'd always check the coin slots for change.

[–] MaximRecoil (4075) 2 months ago

Yeah, that applies to payphones in general, which were still common up until about 15 years ago. The last two payphones in my hometown were removed in 2012 or so, but the last phone booth was removed in about 1983. The indoor one in the town I was living in during the late 1990s was very much an anomaly.

I always used to check the coin return slots on soda machines too, and press the buttons. I got a free soda that way a whopping 2 times, out of countless tries when I was a kid.

[–] Roguemail (1565) 2 months ago

Yep...grew up in 60s and 70s UK.

I remember one type of payphone had two huge buttons marked A and B...could never figure out what they were for.

When I was old enough to use a payphone by myself, they were coin operated so you needed to have a stack if coins to hand, and you would hear beeps indicating you need to put another coin in.

One problem I had when I was young was adults trying to drag me out of the box, because they assumed as a kid I was just messing about. That was annoying.

But I also remember as an adult using the box, and someone would be banging on the door asking how long you were going to be. Standard answer was 'As long as it takes!'...and then take even longer...

[–] MaximRecoil (4075) 2 months ago

"Yep...grew up in 60s and 70s UK."

You guys had the best, and most iconic, phone booths ever, especially the K2: 9' 3" tall, made of cast iron, and weighing in at 1.25 tons. They exemplified the term "overbuilt." Our typical outdoor phone booths (like the one that was in my hometown until about 1983) were pathetic by comparison; a generic aluminum boxy frame that probably only weighed a couple hundred pounds:

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/herald-dispatch.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/57/05779c9f-0cb5-554a-ac57-c7c4fdcb6927/5621242b3d046.image.jpg

[–] AndyKing1967 (33924) 2 months ago

Same here.

[–] Roguemail (1565) 2 months ago

We had those here, they started introducing them in the 80s. And worse still, they started getting rid of the old red ones.

But after a while they realised how iconic they were, and started putting them back. Some if them didn't even have a phone, but tourists loved to take pics standing next to them.

One thing I have not mentioned so far...with those old phone boxes being enclosed, it was common for some people to use them as a toilet. Many of them could be quite disgusting. I had even known people to fornicate in them.

In londons Soho back in the day, they were full of cards advertising prostitute services.

[–] AndyKing1967 (33924) 2 months ago

“In londons Soho back in the day, they were full of cards advertising prostitute services.”

Every time I’m in London, there’s always loads of cards scattered about.

[–] Roguemail (1565) 2 months ago

I thought they were a thing of the past. But I don't go into central London very often these days.

But in 80s I worked around Leicester Square, Oxford Street area and I often had to pass through soho. That was the days where ladies of the night would approach you...and there were lots of lights in doorways with 'model' written on them.

On my odd visit to Soho these days, I see none or very little of that. It has become more of a cafe society, lots of bars and restaurants and expensive shops.

[–] MaximRecoil (4075) 2 months ago

"I remember one type of payphone had two huge buttons marked A and B...could never figure out what they were for."

I just happened across an explanation in the comments section of a YouTube video about British phone booths:

The original coin box phones were black and had the A and B push buttons. To make a call you inserted a coin and then pushed the A button, dialled the number and when the called party answered you pushed the B button and the call was connected. If the called party did not answer you could push the A button and the coin would be returned. The timing equipment at the central office timed the call and calculated the toll cost depending on the distance between the callers. The timer would pause the call and beep the calling party to tell them to insert more money so the call could continue. 999 calls could be made as well as 0 operator calls without having to put money in the box. The equipment at the central office to control these call boxes was very complicated using mechanical relays as well as a number of vacuum tubes for timing and tone generation.

[–] andersonb85 (1589) 2 months ago

I vaguely remember using a booth in the 80s but I remember payphones on the side of walls were more common in the 90s. Most were so grimey from everyone touching them that it was better to wear gloves before you handled one. Similar to handling gas pumps in today's world.

[–] sslssg (27985) 2 months ago

I didn't get a cell phone until 2001. I used to have to call and check in with my mom as a teen so I used them all the time in the 90s. I also remember in Jr high seeing how many of us could fit in an actual phone booth.

[–] Kowalski (58548) 2 months ago

I HAVE NO MEMORY OF EVER HAVING BEEN IN ONE...USED PLENTY OF PAY PHONES...IF I WAS EVER IN AN ACTUAL PHONE BOOTH THOUGH...THE MEMORY HAS LEFT ME.

[–] mikethemartian (6072) 2 months ago

I remember when it used to be a dime for a pay phone call then in the lates 70s it went to a quarter.

[–] MaximRecoil (4075) 2 months ago

Around here it was 20 cents from my earliest memories in the late 1970s and during 1980s. It went to 25 cents either in the late 1980s or early 1990s. I actually liked it better when it was 25 cents, because it was just a single coin.

Around here in the 1980s, the payphones were the kind where you had to put in the money after the person you called answered the phone, so you had to hurriedly insert at least 2 coins while the person you called doesn't know what's going on because they aren't hearing anything, and sometimes they would hang up before you could get the money in (especially if all you had was 4 nickels). It would accept a quarter but you'd be screwed out of 5 cents because typical payphones can't make change.

At some point in the 1990s "smart" payphones started becoming more common. Those would let you dial the number, which just went into memory rather than actually making the call, then a "lady" (speech synthesis) would tell you how much money to insert, then it would auto-dial the number from memory. That eliminated the race to put in the money before the other person hung up.