I seldom get to demonstrate my forensic data-mining skills by using data from this website. But whenever I happen to spot an old payphone get listed on eBay I look it over for evidence of where it might have come from before its decommission. The job for this one, spotted just today, was pretty quick, and kind of interesting.

If the starting bid of just $99 sounds pretty cheap that’s because according to the seller the phone does not work. It would be purely decorative, which is just how some people like their payphones. The rotary dialer adds an elegant, almost antique-like touch, even though the seller says the dialer moves very slowly.

The research behind this phone’s backstory came pretty easily. I searched for number “355-9910” shown on the phone, including the word “payphone” in the search query. The first link on the SERP was payphone locations for the town of Bellefonte, PA. The seller’s information said phone listed on eBay was located in Joliet, just a few miles from Bellefonte.

Just like that I was all but certain I had matched this old payphone to its now former location. Not only did it make geographical sense but the number printed on the phone — (814) 355-9901 — appears to be the Hot Dog House phone number. They must have used this old payphone as a house phone, as many dining and pub establishments used to do.

My listing for this number contains some errors, as this dataset was wont to do. WILLOWFANK should be WILLOWBANK. I think the F and B keys sit close enough to each other on a regular QWERTY keyboard there must be countless similar spelling errors.

The address number is also wrong, where 335 should be 775. It does not look like this business ever resided anywhere but at 775 Willowbank Street.

I strolled through the store’s Facebook Page, looking for photographic evidence of this payphone’s past location within the shop. I found none, but did confront a sobering, even depressing account of how the Hot Dog Shop, like countless other businesses across the land and throughout the world, were forced to shut down in response to the Governor’s orders.