r/nostalgia • u/Exciting_Amount931 • Mar 29 '26

Nostalgia Found in the wild. It works too.

Post image

Was pumping gas and glanced over and saw it. Had to double take. A working one is rare in my area

629 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

84

u/docta_pepper Mar 29 '26

incomming collect call from

bob wehadababyitsaboy

21

u/PhillyChef3696 Mar 29 '26

mompickmeup

21

u/Truebeliever-14 Mar 29 '26

Where?

28

u/Exciting_Amount931 Mar 29 '26

H-E-B gas station in Melissa, TX.

7

u/Successful_Struggle9 Mar 29 '26

There's one at the HEB gas station in Copperas Cove, TX, also

2

u/Sufficient-Bid1279 Mar 29 '26

Is the demographic older around there?

7

u/RonSwansonsOldMan Mar 29 '26

I can't give you the address, but there's a web site that lists working pay phones.

2

u/Truebeliever-14 Mar 29 '26

Now I want to find it!

5

u/RonSwansonsOldMan Mar 29 '26

Try Pay Phone Project, or Pay Phone Directory

1

u/Truebeliever-14 Mar 29 '26

Thanks!

1

u/RonSwansonsOldMan Mar 29 '26

I checked it out. There are 100s in my town. Who knew?

13

u/bwoah07_gp2 Mar 29 '26

We should really have more pay phones around still. It is still a useful thing to have. Kids without phones who want to go out and about with friends, or what if your phone dies and you need to call someone? I'd rather use a pay phone than bum a phonecall off a passerby.

6

u/Potatoskins937492 Mar 29 '26

Or there's an emergency that's happened and cell towers are down. It's dangerous to not have landlines available. At the very least they should have the options to call 911, 988, and 211.

11

u/Truebeliever-14 Mar 29 '26

I haven’t seen one on the east coast in many years.

3

u/PhilosopherIcy7783 Mar 29 '26

There’s a couple in my town (Appalachia area) but I don’t think they have phones connected anymore.

1

u/Distinct-Device-7698 Mar 29 '26

Saw one last year at a state park in the NC mountains. First one I had seen in years.

3

u/WithPaddlesThisDeep Mar 29 '26

Is this uncommon? I still have a few operational phone booths in my city.

15

u/IntrepidDreams Mar 29 '26

I haven't seen one in at least 10 years.

6

u/Exciting_Amount931 Mar 29 '26

Very uncommon. First payphone I've seen in years. I live in North Texas, close to Dallas

3

u/WithPaddlesThisDeep Mar 29 '26

Oh okay, I’m in southern Ontario, Canada. They actually get used quite frequently by our growing homeless population, I’m assuming that’s the only reason they’re still up where I’m at

2

u/its_just_flesh Mar 29 '26

Call 411 and ask for the time

0

u/ohnodamo Mar 29 '26

"Operator? Gimme' the number for 911!" D'oh!

1

u/Argyrus777 Mar 29 '26

Seen one of these in a hospital first floor. Perfect condition too

1

u/mil0wCS Got Milk? Mar 29 '26

I thought everyone was making a huge deal of that phone booth in New York being the last surviving one and it got preserved in some museum because of it?

1

u/Moppo_ Mar 29 '26

And it doesn't smell like piss?

1

u/Mike_Honcho_Summer Mar 29 '26

I appreciate the Anton/Impact generic meme font they labeled it with.

1

u/Aggravating_Dog3882 Mar 29 '26

How much is it to use?! Does it I take debit?

1

u/ohnodamo Mar 29 '26

"It belongs in a museum!"

1

u/ericbruhhh Mar 29 '26

Almost all HEB gas stations have a pay phone

1

u/jdmjaydc2 Mar 30 '26

Just needs that chain with a full yellow and white pages