Val Vashon, who recently checked reported that still some working payphones in Seattle, writes again with less inspiring payphone news:
“A sad dispatch this time. What we have here is a collection of kiosks and booths that are (mostly) without a phone at all, much less a working one.”
“Abandoned kiosk outside of the Shell gas station at 28th and Roxbury in Seattle. No phone book in there either.”
“An unlucky pair at the Lucky 5 mini-mart at 35th Avenue SW and SW Henderson Street here in West Seattle. For some reason one phone was removed and the other one left behind.”
Payphone number for this location: (206) 938-8982.
“Not only is it falling apart, it is also disconnected. There appears to be a mechanical stopper plate that has been (internally) put in front of the coin slot. It looks as if it is part of the phone and blocks you from putting a quarter in.”
“Full-on abandoned phone booth at Miners Drive-In on South 1st Street in Yakima. Washington. This is at the end of a row of parking spaces between two street entrances, hence the red bollards to avoid it being hit. Since there is no phone, one wonders why they bothered.”
“I’m amused by the AT&T mobile phone store in the background. If you needed to make an emergency call these days it would probably be quicker to duck into a mobile phone store and ask to try one of their phones as opposed to trying to find a working pay phone.”
“Outside of the Chopstix Chinese restaurant at 5905 California Ave SW in West Seattle. Love their vain attempt to cover this up with the red ‘Chinese Food’ banner. Still sticks out like a sore thumb. One wonders why they just don’t pull it down.”
“The Vietnamese Deli and mini mart at 1740 First Avenue in Seattle closed earlier this month (July 2013) according to the pink sign in the window. It appears that they pulled their pay phone much earlier. This is the most abused former pay phone that I have seen. Was that Gatorade purchased at the deli before it closed? Why leave the bottle there? This building might have been purchased to make way for the proposed new Seattle Sonics arena.”
“Another full on, abandoned booth at the Short Stop mini-mart, just a few blocks south of Chopstix on California Ave SW in West Seattle.”
“Now just a place for your empty beer and Slurpee containers and your tags. There’s still a phone book in that holder, however. Again, with the recent concrete work this would have been a good time to take this one out as it’s turned into kind of an eyesore and I don’t think it’s coming back any time soon.”
“Unusual orange pay phone kiosk at the AM-PM gas station at Coal Creek Parkway and Newcastle Way in Newcastle, Washington. Just leave the wire dangling, that’s OK.”
That’s it for this edition of Deadphone News, Washington State Edition. Look forward to a more upbeat survey from Val Vashon, who will share images of public telephones in perfect condition inside office buildings and elsewhere in the Seattle area.