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Posted: 8/24/2022 8:51:21 PM EDT
[#1]
I used to use them all the time, I worked on a tugboat in New York Harbor and the docks all had the telephone booths on the end. As soon as I got a cell phone I didn't need to do that anymore. About 30 years ago
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Posted: 8/24/2022 8:52:24 PM EDT
[#2]
Late 90s. If you hang up and it immediately starts ringing don't answer it. The operator will say you talked too long and want you to deposit some more coins.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 8:52:54 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Threads like this make me sad. My knee jerk response is "of course who the fuck hasn't?". Then I realize there are people alive now who probably haven't. This is new territory for me.  I'm from South Dakota, and I never saw a phone booth. I saw payphones on walls (outside and inside). It didn't matter of it was the middle of January and 40 below, if you really needed to call, you'd get out of your car and use the phone outside the convenience store. Someone built a house on a nearby lake within the past year. The garage has a payphone hanging on an outside wall. Every time I've driven by, I've looked to see if someone is outside there. I've wanted to ask them why there's a payphone there. I do know they redid the campgrounds, so that house may be the new caretaker's house. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 8:53:45 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Of course. Both ways, plus the wall ones that have the little bubble box. Last time? At least a decade or more. Maybe two. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 8:54:20 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted: grew up in the 80's so yes many times and not just in Germany but other Countries as well I can't tell you how many rolls of 5 Mark coins I used to call home back in the early 80s. Used to take a rack of Pilsner to the phone booth and talk to everybody, had a hole in the booth that went downhill by the MP barracks. That phone booth reeked like hell. But, it was warm and out of the snow. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 8:55:42 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Early 90s maybe? I'm sure I called from payphones later in the 90s. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 8:57:49 PM EDT
[#7]
of course
Mr Scrotum, Why do you give a fuck? ETA had a pager to |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 8:58:37 PM EDT
[#8]
Quoted: Have you ever used a phone booth with a door? If so, how long ago was that? Yes, normally with the door closed. I can't even guess when the last time was, at least two decades. I can't even remember the last time I used an exposed pay-phone. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:02:18 PM EDT
[#9]
Probably early 2000's was the last time I used one with a door.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:04:00 PM EDT
[#10]
At a science museum and they had one and 12 year old granddaughter asked what it was.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:05:24 PM EDT
[#11]
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:13:06 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I definitely used pay phones in the 90s for work calling from court. I had an AT&T card the firm paid for. I'm sure I called from payphones later in the 90s. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Early 90s maybe? I'm sure I called from payphones later in the 90s. I got my first cell phone in 1996 when my wife was very pregnant with our first child and I wanted her to be able to contact me wherever I was. Never used a pay phone after that. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:15:17 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Didn't they take out the last pay phone in Manhattan last year? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Of course. Both ways, plus the wall ones that have the little bubble box. Last time? At least a decade or more. Maybe two. Think it was this year. A couple months or so ago. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:16:01 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'm from South Dakota, and I never saw a phone booth. I saw payphones on walls (outside and inside). It didn't matter of it was the middle of January and 40 below, if you really needed to call, you'd get out of your car and use the phone outside the convenience store. Someone built a house on a nearby lake within the past year. The garage has a payphone hanging on an outside wall. Every time I've driven by, I've looked to see if someone is outside there. I've wanted to ask them why there's a payphone there. I do know they redid the campgrounds, so that house may be the new caretaker's house. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Threads like this make me sad. My knee jerk response is "of course who the fuck hasn't?". Then I realize there are people alive now who probably haven't. This is new territory for me. I'm from South Dakota, and I never saw a phone booth. I saw payphones on walls (outside and inside). It didn't matter of it was the middle of January and 40 below, if you really needed to call, you'd get out of your car and use the phone outside the convenience store. Someone built a house on a nearby lake within the past year. The garage has a payphone hanging on an outside wall. Every time I've driven by, I've looked to see if someone is outside there. I've wanted to ask them why there's a payphone there. I do know they redid the campgrounds, so that house may be the new caretaker's house. I see you are in MN. Anywhere near the Canadian border? Customs check in line? |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:18:27 PM EDT
[#15]
Im 41, and I've used one, but it's been a very long time.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:20:28 PM EDT
[#16]
1982-3ish? Called a girlfriend 40 miles away that I was off work and heading her way. We were going to see Krokus and Sammy Hagar in concert. VOA tour. Phone booth in front of our post office..with the door closed.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:20:44 PM EDT
[#17]
Yes
At a truck stop near my house. About 10 years ago None of your damn business what the call was about. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:22:00 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: FT Knox '81. Same same. The DI's made you call MAMA and let her know that you were still alive and that The Army hadn't killed you yet.  Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: In Cape May NJ, at USCG boot camp, the booths had no doors. They were removed. So your poll fails. Early 81? I graduated boot Feb |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:23:58 PM EDT
[#19]
My house I just bought has a phone jack next to every outlet in all rooms.
 I am doing some roof work and rented a 45' JLG lift. Today I realized the line out front was for the phones. Ran that bitch up the pole and cut the wire.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:24:27 PM EDT
[#20]
I even slept in one in like 1979 or so.
Rainy night, small town New Jersey |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:25:38 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Early 81? I graduated boot Feb Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Quoted: In Cape May NJ, at USCG boot camp, the booths had no doors. They were removed. So your poll fails. Early 81? I graduated boot Feb |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:26:45 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Threads like this make me sad. My knee jerk response is "of course who the fuck hasn't?". Then I realize there are people alive now who probably haven't. This is new territory for me. It's a weird shock, ain't it? I'm getting more and more used to it, though, I've turned into a reliquary of old useless history and arcane knowledge. I used phone booths many times. I always left the door open and rarely went all the way in because it was too confining. How many remember the indoor wooden booths like you see in the old film noir movies? I remember using a couple of those! They were pretty much on their way out, though. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:29:57 PM EDT
[#23]
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:32:48 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'm closer to 70 than 60 years old - so of course I have. I'm closer to 70 than 60 years old - so of course I can't remember when.  Attached File |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 9:36:21 PM EDT
[#25]
The only reason to close a phone booth door was for privacy, to keep bad weather out, or to keep bad people out by jamming your foot against the center of the door. Phone booths stank bad because so many people smoked in them. This thread has triggered that aromatic memory.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:14:19 PM EDT
[#26]
Yes and they were stale
Like cigarette smoke and humidity ETA: the glass was always dirty, and scratched and the door made a screeching sound when you opened/closed it Ma Bell, the good old days |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:16:12 PM EDT
[#27]
A bar I've frequented has a red wood & glass booth inside the establishment for patrons to use, but it doesn't have the payphone.
It's handy when the fucking hipsters are being loud as fuck and you don't want to argue with the doorman about the rest of your party already being inside when you're done. Kharn |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:20:05 PM EDT
[#28]
I had a girl in the eighties I was so crazy in love with, I would drive 30 miles mid-day while deer hunting just to find a pay phone and call her.
She dumped me….
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:24:28 PM EDT
[#29]
Yep, shut the door a light and fan in top turned on. Light up cigarettes and drop a dime. Last time was around 94-95
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:26:57 PM EDT
[#30]
Yes. 2004ish.
Drove 4-5 hours without a phone, map, or GPS to visit a friend at a different college. I got into town and played some phone tag with a payphone to get his address. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:27:39 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: With a rotary dial even. This |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:27:55 PM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: How many remember the indoor wooden booths like you see in the old film noir movies? I used one of those, but I don't remember where it was. That was the one that the light came on when you closed the door. The outside kind, I used many times. There was one right outside the store my parents owned, and it got used a lot. Eventually they switched it out for one of those stand types that just has the little roof and side shields. This would have all taken place in the 60s and 70s. I don't think I ever used one in the 80s or later. Edit - I just remembered that I used a stand type pay phone in the early 90s. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:31:11 PM EDT
[#33]
I remember always looking at the handset before making a call because I saw a cartoon in MAD magazine where someone put gum on the earpiece.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:31:38 PM EDT
[#34]
I used drive-up payphones.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:32:52 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yep, shut the door a light and fan in top turned on. Light up cigarettes and drop a dime. Last time was around 94-95 |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:35:00 PM EDT
[#36]
Yes, many times, and once for an activity unrelated to the phone company.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:36:16 PM EDT
[#37]
5 years ago my company did a refit and went to all benches/tables. No cubes no walls. No place to take a private call.
I bought and installed 3 1970’s aluminum phone booths per floor and 2 of the red UK booths No phone installed but just a place for privacy It was a huge hit. The fan came on. The light came on ,I had an old phone book in each. I modernized with a data jack and a usb charging port installed People loved it. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:40:31 PM EDT
[#38]
2004, they pulled them out a few years later.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:45:56 PM EDT
[#39]
I was a phone repairman for many years. Coin (pay phones) was the best gig working for PT&T and later AT&T. No customers to bust your balls, lots of OT. Did a lot of work at LAX. It was amazing how people would try to steal the coins or figure a way to make free calls. Even after we went to card only phones customers would try to put coins in the card slots. Mostly foreign coins. The American coins we had to turn in but the company didn’t want the foreign stuff. I still have a jar of assorted coins. When we got rid of the coin phones, they were all dumped in the trash. Of course I snagged one. Still have my keys. For the most part it was a great job.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:51:07 PM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Remember checking the coin return slot and finding change? Hell yea! Remember checking the coin return slot and getting stuck with an AIDS infected needle? Fw: FWD: Fwd: You're not going to believe this! |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:54:15 PM EDT
[#41]
lol. Yes, of course. I also had a 5 number telephone number growing up, before it went to 8.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:58:44 PM EDT
[#42]
Yes, left door open so light didn't come on.
In high school I worked at a grocery store and there was a pay phone in the lobby, plus a booth at the edge of the parking lot. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 10:59:02 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I also had a 5 number telephone number growing up, before it went to 8. We had eight, but it was a party line so we had to count the rings. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 11:01:00 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: 5 years ago my company did a refit and went to all benches/tables. No cubes no walls. No place to take a private call. I bought and installed 3 1970’s aluminum phone booths per floor and 2 of the red UK booths No phone installed but just a place for privacy It was a huge hit. The fan came on. The light came on ,I had an old phone book in each. I modernized with a data jack and a usb charging port installed People loved it.  Attached File |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 11:05:39 PM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I took this pic less than a year back. I haven’t used a pay phone in 20 years though. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/131934/60C7BECC-D53D-4006-BB80-3DE630DAF9DD-2501732.jpg The phone book is intact and there's no graffiti in the stall. That must be behind a locked door somewhere! |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 11:10:48 PM EDT
[#46]
How long ago?
A long time ago, like decades. Yes, I'm old |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 11:12:44 PM EDT
[#47]
'60s for sure.
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Posted: 8/24/2022 11:17:28 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryNot guilty. Wood. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 11:17:48 PM EDT
[#49]
Yes, & done both.
Hot as hell out it stays open, winter it got closed. |
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Posted: 8/24/2022 11:20:48 PM EDT
[#50]
Payphones? Psshh. We used to have milk machines in the NYC projects in the 60's & 70's where I grew up.
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