Pay phones, remember them?
Before the days of everyone and their uncle having a cell phone, there were pay phones.
Prior to people walking around all day with their head blinking a constant blue pulse and looking like a cyborg, there were payphones.
The last time I used a pay phone was in the winter of 2004. Don’t ask me why I remember that, but I do. I was in a building that did not allow cell phones and I needed to make a call.
But not here in sunny downtown Los Angeles.
Pay phones are everywhere here! Within a two block radius of our place there are at least six of them, if not more. And here’s the thing — people are always using them! Let’s be clear that when I say people I mean individuals from all walks of life. Those who seems down and out on their luck … people who are speaking a language I don’t understand … people speaking the one language I do understand but would rather not hear their conversation in public …
You’re probably saying to yourself, “Hey you Canadian-Midwest transplant, don’t they have pay phones where you are from?”. The answer is yes they do still have pay phones back in Chicago and in Canada, however usually you have to seek them out in a building such as a mall or a public/government office; they are not randomly placed on a side street.
So we have the whole phone thing out of the way in the sense there are many more here in downtown LA than in other areas. Which leads to the ineviatble question …
Who are these people using them and who are they calling?
Ooh, you got linked to Curbed. Prepare for a lot of traffic.
Drug dealers., or foreigners visiting LA.
While cell service was down right after the quake, people were forming lines to use the pay phones on Spring and Broadway, which were working.
Wow Rich – that’s interesting to hear!
I watched a really touching movie last night, called “Under the Same Moon” about a boy in Mexico and his mother who left him behind to cross the border…she lives in LA (it’s cool to see parts of DTLA and East LA as the backdrop in the movie) to earn money for a better life for her son. Anyways, she calls him every week on a payphone, that interestingly, plays a key role in the movie.
I remembered this post as I was watching the movie last night. In any event, it’s a really good, sweet and moving movie (73% on the Tomatometer at RottenTomatoes.com), worth checking out and may also answer your question as to why there are so many payphones in LA.
Lola – Thanks for the comment – it’s certainly interesting to see our little insight have some meaning on the big screen!
I must say the pay phone madness doesn’t stop – I was walking Carter this morning and saw a guy on Grand just past Olympic in his chefs outfit making a call on a pay phone.