Modern Vespa

Surprisingly moving video. Although I can't recall the last time I used a public phone... after watching the video I am feeling strangely nostalgic for them.

When was the last time you used, or even saw one?

I came across a working pay phone in the lot of a Shell Petrol Station 3 years back in Chillicothe Ohio and remarked then what an odd sight and wondered how much use it had. These used to litter the city and every little country store in the area. Undoubtedly a thing of the past. I also recently came across a working cigarette machine in a town's city hall that was being used to prop open a fire door to a stairwell just outside of the local fire chiefs office. Again something I hadn't seen in years but these also littered every restaurant when I was younger.

In London over the summer. The phone box smelled very bad.

Here in Maryland, phone booths and pay phones have been gone for years. There may be a few remaining somewhere in Maryland but I haven't seen any in a long, long time.

Superman no longer has a place to change. That's why there is so much crime in Metropolis these days.

I have a couple friends who buy them as regular house phones. The stable where my daughter rides has a payphone as well. However, none of these actually require money. They have been purchased as nostalgia items. I guess that is a true sign they are gone when you see them as collectables.

We have several out by me and people use them. In fact i usually see someone on the one at our local grocery store. Man, how is Dr Who gonna visit Ireland now? They'll know it is him. They had a blurb on TV with kids (ages 5ish) and they had a rotary phone, typewriter and other things a lot of us grew up with and it was hysterical. The kids were trying to find the power button on both the typewriter and rotary phone and the one kid didn't know how to dial the rotary phone. I'm getting old. BTW i couldn't understand the guy in the video.

Old phone booths are good for all sorts of things:

http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2012/07/30/libraries-aquariums-outhouses-14-reclaimed-phone-booths/

Nostalgic? Oh yeah! My belt buckle that I have been wearing over 40 years:

Ma Bell was the best. Now we have tinny tiny cell phones, static, noise, fades, "can you hear me now?" I did carrier, switching, for 25 years I was in OCS -- I installed and maintained voice and data for Ma Bell.

OCS is gone. Coin has been gone for over a decade. The technicians that maintained the switches have been retired and the companies want to shut them down, even tho' 60% of residential and 90% of business are still on wire.

Once I tried taking the bus to metro to work (Bowie - Bethesda) and I took the wrong bus on the way home. I ended up on the north side of town, so I got off and looked for a pay phone to call my wife for a ride. I found a phone booth/station, but no phone. No pay phones anywhere. After that I bought a cell.

A year or two later I was getting a tour of my daughter's school and not only did I stumble upon a pay phone, it was rotary.

Pay phones are rare around here. I saw someone using this pay phone one day so I had to circle back and snap a photo. (ckaiserca, I got a good chuckle from your Superman comment)

Reminds me of this song:

Doo doo doo down
Doobie doo down down
The deal is going down
Doobie doo down down
The rates are going up
Uppy up up up
Breaking up is hard on you

Don't take Ma Bell away from me
I've gotten used to monopoly
When they divest, then I'll be blue
Yes, breaking up is hard on you

Remember when you'd make a call
And you'd get through no sweat at all
Now we wait the whole night through
Cause breaking up is hard on you

They say that breaking up is hard to do
And so they put the screws to you
Don't say it's fate, my friend
Including breaking up
They're also jacking up the rates again

A. T. & T, don't say goodbye
Don't wanna use no MCI
You'll pay bills out the wazoo
Cause breaking up is hard on you

They say that breaking up is good to do
But then they send six bills to you
Don't say it's fate, my friend
Including breaking up
They're also jacking up the rates again

I beg of you, don't take my phone
I want to lease, don't want to own
Reach out and touch some other fool
Yes, breaking up is hard on you

The deal is going down
Doobie doo down down
The rates are going
Up uppy up up up...

(Hello) yeah, hello John, listen
(Hello) hello (what) John
(I can't hear you) well, I
(I hear myself coming back here)
Damn phone company
(Hello) what (hello)

The deal is going down
Doobie doo down down
The rates are going up
Uppy up up up...

Maybe they got tired of chasing leprechauns and decided to try catching Dr. Who.

It would be a real hooker hang up to see the end of the Telephone Boxes in the UK - world renowned as the place for prostitutes to advertise their ware & also considered in some circles as works of art in front line advertising .......

If you can snag one for the man cave (especially those big red brit ones, I love those) remove the phone guts and put a beer tap in it.....booyah!

There is one about 8 miles from my house in Crescent City. One day last year I had forgotten my cell so I used it to call home collect (we were having some cat emergency I think). Anyway the charge on my phone for that one 30 second call was around $25.00. I called the company that owns the phones and after some back and forth they agreed to remove the charge.

Good video. Wish It had english subtitles!