The Humble Payphone

If you were to ask anyone these days where the nearest pay-phone or phone booth is you'd probably get a blank stare or something like just a waat you talkin bout bro what is that?  Ok I am probably exaggerating a little on the second response but, it's not far from accurate a description of the response one would get to such a question.  

Pay-phones and booths are a thing of the past and generally they are very hard to find today.  In Canada just over 36,000 are left in the USA its 100,000 with approximately a fifth located in New York City.  When one considers that the pay-phone was ubiquitous in the 80's and 90's that is significant, it indicates that eventually they may be like the dinosaur, extinct.  For those who can not get hands on a phone that could be a real problem.  

For now though if you can find a working one you can drop that coin and make a call or use your phone card to connect.

I found some articles and sites that are interesting to read.

Wikipedia Payphone.

BlogTO Whats Happening Toronto Public Payphones.

One of my favorite news sites CBC has 2 articles related to payphones Article 1 and article 2.

Payphone Project, quirky and really cool.

Cliff T.