Date: Wed, 06 Oct 1999
From: April B
I am interested in the Mojave Desert phone booth. When was the last time
you tried the number and does it still work? All I get is a busy signal.
see, you're doing the smart thing. you could make a big production out of driving out there to "hang up the phone" and then crow about it endlessly on a crappy website in order to draw attention to your other crappy website. but no. you're being smart and asking.
just kidding. actually, it just gives a busy signal because people are ringing the line from around the world. constantly. ceaselessly.
We have been talking about the booth in an urban legends class.
hmm ... i would think the booth would be an urban legend only if it didn't really exist.
or is it just about the way that the media perpetuates stories, screwing them up & generally taking what was a fun thing & beating it to death with a huge stick?
Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999
From: Jim
Being an East Mojave freak, I found your website stuff interesting.
BTW: loved the car. My wife and I were reminiscing about the album
just the other day (don't ask), so it was timely.
From: Karen G
Subject: "Dead Line" The 1st Phone Booth Movie!
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999
Hi, it's me again!
Our site has been updated to include information and stills from our movie, Dead Line, that was shot at the phone booth in September.
Thanks and see you at the movies (and at the phone booth!!!)
Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999
From: Jessica P.
Subject: Howdy
Hey Deuce,
Couple weeks ago I told you that some friends and I from the Ed Abbey list
were going to journey out to the booth on Oct 23. Well all the media hype
has taken the wind out of our sails. None of us are thinking it's a good
idea to trek out there now. Something kinda dies after Brokaw gets ahold
of it...know what I mean?? Anyway, I'm hoping the Booth survives its 15
minutes. Catch ya later.
Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999
From: D
Subject: charlie's daughter
Hi! Deuce,
My name is [deleted], Im the daughter of Charlie. My brother called me up and said
dads in the paper, and I recently watched nighly news with Dad answering
the old phone booth.
I must say this is quite entertaining for me because we spent are
weekends and summer vacations out at lorenes cinder mind at that time
she did not live there. The thing is that we would drive by the phone
booth and it seemed strange but it was reassuring to know if we got
hurt or stuck out in the desert we knew there was a way to contact
civilizaton.
I learned how to drive on those old dirt roads and my friend would call
her mom in LA to check in with her when she would come with us to the
desert. Also, I remember getting are water out of a big trailer that
was hauled in. That life was so different then our city ways.
My dad just fell in Love with the mojave desert he gave up his home
quit his job 2 or 3 year from retirement. He gave up all his ways and
choose a new way to live which I was about 14 when he decieded to move
to the desert.
I really think it is something for that old phone booth to become news.
and my dad must be in hug heaven with all the attention he is getting.
I will be visiting my brother who lives 10 miles north of charlie this
summer in mt Pass. Maybe I might go out and say hi to the old man and
check out the phone booth again. I think that you are very unique.
Tell my Dad Hi for me when you see him.
From: Nicole
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999
Subject: Hello Deuce
Hello Deuce,
My name is Nicole. I went to your site when I found out about the Booth
in my local paper. I am form Florida and thought that was preety cool. I
think I will go there one day. Maybe I'll call you. (I am kidding). I'll
write you later (if you write me) and tell you what I think about you site.
Yours truly,
Nicole
Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999
From: Mike K
Subject: Thought you might want to read this ...
The author [of the web post below] was me. I might be a bit more negative than your tastes run,
probably not ...
but if I read you right I think you'll agree with the sentiments.
yep. (though i will say that burning man is still fun -- the fact that more idiots are coming now means there are more idiots with whom to TOY)
I haven't checked out much of your site past the phone booth info, but I plan to. Thanks for being intelligent in the public domain of the
Internet. I hope you aren't blaming yourself for the fate that has befallen the phone booth in question. If you hadn't done it, someone
would have soon after.
Oh, and I really think what the government has done to the Cima Cinder
Mine stinks. I'm going to call attention to that in a reply to my
original post (gotta keep things focused, as even the measly 5,000
visitors a day to our site are mostly morons, it seems). What disgusts
me the most is that the NPS's actions DON'T suprise me in the least.
[what follows was posted on a web board]
You may have recently seen a public interest story on "the phone booth in the middle of nowhere."
If you haven't you probably will soon. Wherever you are. Anywhere in the world. Trust me on this.
I found one of the iterations of the story that the media is throwing about. In it they talk about the
booth, and how web sites have popped up about it, and people all over the world are now calling
the phone number of the phone booth in the Mojave Desert.
Well, I did a little research on this "phone booth in the middle of nowhere" thing.
It reinforces every 70% idea we've had.
Apparently the phone booth, 15 miles off of the nearest road in the Mojave desert, was first
'discovered' in 1997 and publicized in a 'zine, and the info then documented on some guy's web
site. This guy (having just enough time on his hands as he needs, I'm sure he'll agree) was smitten
with the idea of a phone booth in the middle of nowhere, and documented his first call to the booth
that was answered by someone. The person who answered it said that this was
the nearest phone to her place, and she had just finished using it-- and decided she had to pick
up the phone because it NEVER rings. The guy then documented his trip to it in 1997 on the way
to that Burning Man gathering shit thing (I'm sure Burning Man has probably SUCKED the past
couple years since every fuckhead with disposable income goes there to get trashed, but that's
another rant that I could care less about typing out).
Now it's 1999, and the mainstream media have suddenly started running 'gee isn't this odd' public
interest stories about it. The phone rings off the hook 24 hours a day, with people from ALL OVER
THE WORLD calling it to see if someone will answer. You pick up the phone to answer one of
these calls, and less than 7 seconds after hanging it up it rings again. And again. And again. And
again.
Bad enough? It gets worse. Now there is a constant stream
of people and TV CREWS trekking into the Mojave desert and blazing down this dirt road (that
goes through the yards of some miners that probably live out there to be AWAY FROM ALL
THESE IDIOTS) who camp out next to the phone booth and take their turns answering the
aforementioned constant stream of calls from all over the world. I'm sure they think they're all
doing something that is sooo weird and off-beat and 'alternative', eh?
Already there are people voicing their plans to be the first person to call the booth 'on the new
millennium' (which they probably think is only 88 days away). I'm sure there are also those who
are hoping to be there to answer the aforementioned call on that date.
The owner of the site that started it all is distressed over the attention now being given to the
booth. He's taken down the driving directions, and is whistfully hoping that the publicity will blow
over and the poor locals will eventually see a return to the remoteness their location once
provided (I have my doubts). Methinks he is experiencing the two physical laws of the social
universe that are as unyielding as the law of gravitation:
popularity kills.
and people SUCK.
From: WALTER O.
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999
Congrats Dude!!!!!!!! Your in the Boston Globe........again. Some Wag is
dumping on the MDPB,( I think). Any press is good press, isn't it? The
article is on page A16 in case you are interested. Good luck with Whip-it.(
I remember when that stupid album came out, it was all the rage then!!
From: GETTMAX
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999
Subject: Pioneers of Mo Pho Buth, circa 1981
Here is a photo ...
From: Dawn Q
Subject: I hooked on the phone booth
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999
I'm a little slow... I just heard about the phone booth....i love it... i'm
gonna go there... i've been calling ... last night it was busy for a few
hours... then no answer.
My name is Dawn (AKA: Modem Butterfly)... I would
love to talk to you..I think you're nuts...
Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999
From: Peter T.
Subject: Thanks...
I read about the Mojave Phone booth in my Sunday paper (Philadelphia
Inquirer) and had to check out the web info. Thanks for the cool
website and great pics they really rocked my Monday morning.
From: Patrick F
Subject: Been There
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999
Just today my dad showed me an interesting article (I believe from the LA Times) on a phone booth in the mojave, and how it has a net following. The spot rung a bell, and he dug up this photo. This photo was taken about six years ago. My dad, Ted Fisher, is taking the picture. In the booth is my uncle, Jeff Fisher, and by the bikes is my cousin, Bill Fisher. Notice that the phone book is still intact, so this was taken a while ago. Thought you might like to know that little spots like this are visited occasionally. They thought it was pretty neat, a phone booth in the middle of nowhere.
Date: Sun, 03 Oct 1999
Subject: unfreakingbelievable ...
From: tecopah jane
Uh...(rolling eyes, smiling weakly)...are you still having your Y2K fest out
there? I've been thinking about passing on it, but now I definitely will. I
think it's going to be too nutty out there.
Purely objectively, I'm glad I could watch the progression of complete
pointlessness into a bona fide media event...it's been fascinating.
But...and I've said this before...there are so many other cool anomalies out
in the desert...swimming pools, crashed bombers, bathtubs... These aren't
interactive the way the booth is, but I've left business cards and secret
notes and little art projects out there in the hope that one day somebody
might come across them. Even if they don't contact me, I like to think that
they'd stop and think for a second or smile a little. And I may be dead and
gone when someone finally does... it's like tossing a bottle into the sea.
If you want something to be special forever it's best kept secret, huh?
Most people can't look beyond their noses...there's no curiosity or sense of
adventure or desire to find out anything new or scary or uncomfortable. When
I told people that I was going to hook up with some guy I never met out at a
phone booth, they were not enthusiastic...they thought it was either dumb or
reckless. I think my dad and my brother were the only people I know who got
a chuckle out of it ...
...that "rolling the eyes" thing when I mentioned what I was doing. "Yeah, whatever."
Now of course he sends me emails saying he saw mention of the booth here or
there...
People can't think for themselves and if you're someone who does, then they
doubt you until the tv or their friends tell them it's OK to believe you...
...think PacBell will make the booth outgoing only? Wouldn't that throw a
wrench into the works! Heh, heh, heh...
From: kerry
Date: Sun, 03 Oct 1999
Subject: news coverage...
The mojave phone booth was on the news tonight. they even gave out the #. South Carolina is a little slow with these things. According to friends it was on the news in Maryland last week. And in SF weeks ago.
No mention of deuce of clubs or your web page. alas. Someone was featured and seems to have stolen your glory.
anyhow, just thought I'd let you know.
From: April Pilgram
Date: Sun, 03 Oct 1999
i saw this thing on the news about a guy
that answers this phone out in the midd. of desert so im assuming not 2 say
that this is your phone but that this is the phone yu are aquainted with.
saying that because i dont know of 2 many phones midd nowhere c what i mean?
my question: do u no anything bout the segment on news? ce when i saw it
i was interested. i want 2 go visit the phone! i wanna go!i wanna go! so i
looked up on internet 2 try find the #. 4 i could call get directions. so i
find your website. then i email yu. and i tried 2 send it and my computer
messed up or i mess it up then i had it filed away so i sent it attachment
wouldnt attach to yours. comes back 2 me next day. i read it. and i have no
idea what i was thinking when i wrote it so good thing yu dont get it or yu
will think im crazy because yu know how when u write something and u r so
tired yu read it next day and wonder "what im thinking when i wrote this?"
thats where tinkerbell came in2 story. have yu ever had any other mission
like such experiences cross your path? me many. always told "Too much time
on your hands" :) but i just make time 4 things that interest me and neglect
those that dont. so i can c where the impression would come from. who is the
bust? when yu said W i thought george washington. bye ape
From: PUSkunk
Date: Sat, 2 Oct 1999
Subject: On the Cima mine, and the Mojave Phone booth
Greetings! Just wanted to say I loved the page and the way all the
intrigue has sprung up around this phone booth in the middle of the desert!
And all because of you! It even got me my 15 minutes of fame (sorta), I
talked to the reporter from the LA Times who was doing a story on it,
apparently, my story was fascinating enough that he put my full name in the
article (Pher Reinman. Yes, that's my real first name, why do you ask?). As a
result of this, all my online friends have called the booth and one is also
mentioned in that article. One day I vow to go out and see the phone booth of
my obsession.
Comments on the Cima Mine:
This is property seizure of the worst degree!! What they are doing to Lorrene
(sp) is wrong, and the NPS knows it's wrong. They are counting on her to not
put up a fight and concede defeat on the mine that her family has worked for
literally generations!
From: Jenn
Date: Sat, 2 Oct 1999
Hey Deuce...
My name is Jennifer, I am 24 years old and currently living in Youngstown,
OH (to put a perspective on where that is...it is exactly between Cleveland
and Pittsburgh in Northeast Ohio) Anyway, I was out at a local bar recently
and using my cell phone. Some guy standing next to me says "Hey, are you call
the Booth?" I was all "What is this freak talking about??!!??" Then he
proceeded to tell me the story about the booth. So, I programmed the number
in my Nokia 252 and proceeded to call this supposed phone in the middle of
nowhere. I called and called and called and called. The phone number was
always busy or would just ring and ring. I was completely determined to get a
hold of someone at this booth. Every time I had the chance I was dialing this
number. My friends told me I was obsessed and that there was never going to
be an answer. Well, lastnight at about 1:30am eastern time, I decided to give
it a shot. Busy. Tried again. Busy. One more time....RINGING. Then to my
surprise a voice comes over the line "MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH." I screamed "NO
WAY!! ARE YOU SERIOUS? IS THIS REALLY THE BOOTH?" and the guy replied "Yeah
man, this is it." I said "This is so bad ass!" So, anyway I talked to the guy
for about 10 minutes. His name was Doug and he was from San Bernadino. He was
out there with his girlfriend camping out and answering the phone. It was the
coolest thing in the world.
I think I became so obsessed with talking to someone at the booth because I
just moved back here from Simi Valley, CA a few months ago and have been
totally missing California. To be able to talk to someone and relate to where
the phone was...I made that drive to Vegas from LA many times...it was just
really cool. I was online today checking my e-mail and just decided to do a
search and see what I could find about the booth. That is how I ended up
telling you this story.
Anyway, I have all of my friends here in Youngstown calling the booth and I
am going to be calling the booth to see how many different people I can talk
to in the middle of the Mojave.
From: frankc
Date: Sat, 02 Oct 1999
Subject: The Mojave Conspiracy
I was searching on the phonebooth for stories, and I found
this site about how the Gov/Military has found this network of
underground caverns and waterways, virtually throughout the continent
and that the Mojave is a major part of it. Perhaps this has something to
do with why they are closing down certain areas, like the mine in
Mojave. Then again it could all be crap.... but it struck a chord with
my sick way of thinking....
take care Boothman!
From: Mike M.
Date: Sat, 2 Oct 1999
I read about the booth in the local Cincinnati paper...After reading with
fascination I thought I would try to call the number. After about 3 tries,
I made it through. My wife thinks I am some kind of weirdo. The only way I
could explain the wanton urge to call was "Because it is there..."
Also, if I hadn't read that article I would not have found your incredibly
diverse and infinitely amusing web site...(I especially liked Amy's
Mandible...)
From: Jon H.
Subject: MDPB & KTLA 5
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999
I made the trip out to the Phone Booth on Wednesday 9/29 from Alameda (SF Bay area). I assumed I would be the only person out there, how wrong. There were a total of 8 people including Charlie, some miners, some people from Las Vegas and a news crew from KTLA 5.
It is poetic justice that the news crew came in from the north and got stuck, luckily Charlie had met them at the closed Cima Rd. gas station and was there to pull them loose. The news story aired this morning (Friday 10/1), I was the blue van guy from San Francisco.
I was surprised what good shape the phone is in compared to any of its city bretheren. It is now graced with a pink flamingo brought by one of the Las Vegas people. The area around the phone is very clean, though with all the increased interest I hope it can stay that way.
It was really a unique experience to answer the phone for about 5hrs, you could not take more than three steps away before it would ring again. While I was there there were calls from Germany, Italy, Brazil and all over the US and Canada. The callers were always amazed to get through and it seemed like everyone had seen either the NBC news story or a local story about it and decided to call, most said they had been trying for hours. I had two calls from children, at least one (whose mother spoke with me as well) was working on a school report about the Mojave Desert and thought the call would be good research.
I would like to echo some of the things already said on the emails you have posted... I came to the phone by way of the ranch, be responsible, if you come this way you do drive slowly as you pass very close to their house. Take care of the area around the phone, it is really nice now, but it will be easily spoiled for everyone. Be nice to people you meet there, besides being a good thing to do, I found I was the only person there without one or more guns in my vehicle.
I really hope this is all not spoiled by the publicity. The fact that it is where it is and that the roads are in the shape they are may be the only thing protecting it.
From: catfan
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999
I've been reading and working my way through your site since I
stumbled across it for reasons I no longer recall. You do have varied
interests!
It's relief to read that "the booth" is still in good shape and being taken
care of as well as being answered, but I fear that the craze may not be
over. I have acquaintance on-line who wants to spend new years at the
booth. I mentioned that you didn't think that was a good idea and
though I haven't heard back from her yet, I hope she's taking my
comments to heart.
Like you I hope that the hysteria dies down soon. It sounds like the
neighbors are sick of the goofs who come thundering through the
area! Having said that I do want to visit the booth, but it's not going to
be this year. Possibly not even next year either.
Date: 1 Oct 99
From: JEFF V
Subject: ill news about the phone booth
I saw your Mojave Phone Booth website listed in an article in my local
newspaper. Nice! I wish I could have gone on that trip you took when you got
snowed on!
I got through to the phone booth yesterday morning at about ten o'clock and
talked to "Nick". He mentioned that a day or two before a park ranger
(described as a surly kind of fellow) had come out and cleaned out all the
paraphernelia left at the booth (i.e. no more naked Barbie doll, flags, etc.).
I haven't been out there to confirm it, but it might be worth checking out.
Anyway, I'm a resident of Adelanto, which is right next to Victorville and
about, oh, I'd say two or three hours away from the booth. Unfortunately all
I have is a Saturn station wagon and it just wouldn't cut the mustard if it
came down to physically visiting the site. :(
Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999
From: Rob
there is a small forest service office in Baker next to Bun Boy. (I
think it's new -- I don't remember it being there last time I was in Baker)
She said dozens of people have asked her for directions. Unfortunately, I
don't think she has the luxury of denying people directions to the
booth; she'd probably get in trouble if she did that. She did her best,
however, to discourage me from going out, until I rattled off a few obscure
locations out there indicating that I'd been out there before.
As I was driving past the ranch, the people that live there were getting in their
pickup. I gave them a friendly wave, but their expressions clearly indicated they were
sick of people passing by.
I, too, feel sorry for these people. After all, they live out there mostly to escape people. If I could make a living out there (and my wife would let me), I'd be there too.
But I think there is a glimmer of hope. I called the Booth twice yesterday and got thru on the first try each time. I think the popularity has already peaked.
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999
From: Anon. (I)
Subject: Media
Reporters are all retarded, I sincerely distrust them all. They're all looking for pat answers to meet deadline
and they don't care about actually reporting. I think EVERYONE in america should get interviewed for a few articles and then read what actually comes out, that would be the best way of educating people about how the media actually works.
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999
From: Rob and Jan K
Subject: camped at the Booth 9.27
After camping out at the Booth Mon. night (9/27), I can attest to
the extreme number of calls coming in these days. The phone was
ringing when I arrived and did not stop once the entire 12 hours or so I
was there. The second I'd hang up from one call, the phone would ring
again. I did, however, field some calls for a couple of hours until my
voice started to give out.
In that short period of time, calls came in from Canada, Spain, Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, as well as at least 25
different states. It was fun talking to everyone, especially the young couple from northern California who called the Booth simply to wish for good luck in an upcoming job interview. Some people called the Booth on their birthdays, or because they were drunk, or on a bet,
or out of boredom, etc. Everyone had a reason. But it's really great to know that by just picking up the phone and talking to someone for a few
minutes makes someone's day.
EVERYONE, PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:
I'd like to pass along the following info for those planning a pilgrimage to the Booth. Please drive slowly on the road that leads eastward
from the Booth. There are a couple of ranchers living along this road. I've been told that they are quite upset at people speeding by
their house. (The road literally passes directly between their house and some out-buildings. The porch of their house is not more than a
few feet from the road.) Even driving slow kicks up a great deal of dust on this road; I can't imagine how unpleasant it must be to be
sitting at that house when someone come barreling along at 50 mph.
this upsets me. i'm going to request, i think, that people stop going out there. this must be horrible for the ranchers. i'm not going to give directions any more. i was afraid this would happen ...
As a longtime Mojave Desert nut, I've found this whole MPB craze amusing, but I am concerned that people, in droves, will attempt to see the Booth in person. There are a lot of inexperienced drivers entering the desert these days. A woman at the Forest Service told me a story of an elderly couple getting stuck in the sand trying to make the trip in an old Thunderbird. Another couple traveling with young children had their car break down. They had no water or other provisions.
Not smart.
for some reason, people fear the forest but are idiotically cavalier about the desert.
this is another reason i wish people would think twice about going out there ...
But judging by the condition of the booth, and the lack of trash near the booth, most people are treating the desert with the respect it
deserves.
well, that's a relief, at least
From: James M.
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999
In a news article about the phone booth; directions were given...
I must point out that 2 of the roads went to unfriendly ranches and the 3rd road ... was unpassable due to recent rains. There were NO telephone poles along any of these roads. I think the "Cima Road" directions are NOT correct.
Yep, I had a topo map. Got it from the Ranger Station. Guess I should have gone past the ranch house but they acted like they was going to start
shooting trespassers. So, I turned around and left.
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999
From: A commentator
you'd think that something like the booth would be a litmus test. that only a certain subset of the population would hark to its siren song or
some bullshit. doesn't work that way, does it.
what is it about people that makes them want to flock to something that
seems fringe and absorb it into the mainstream? it's the classic
snotty-ass too-cool-for-you kid talk to say "well that was cool before
everyone else got into it," but a lot of the time it's true. does it ever
occur to them that the weirdos don't want to be adopted... or even that
all this endearing weirdity is s.o.p. for some people and not strange at
all? that the appeal of something like the booth is NOT "hey, isn't this
FREAKY? we're such FREAKS, look at us!"?
i have gone SO off people in the last few... months? years? people as
opposed to persons, that is. i couldn't get by without individuals.
i wonder what can be done about all this rampant idiocy, besides running
around whacking people at random with a clue-by-four. it's why i feel
like i have a duty to go into education... for god's sake let's raise a
slightly smarter generation.
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999
From: todd b
the phone booth is alive and well as of 8:30pm wednesday the 29th. last
night i made several attempts only to get a busy signal, but then success.
i almost hung up before it started ringing. why? because when it's busy
the busy signal happens almost immediately after dialing the last digit,
but on the successful attempt there was only silence for about 5-8 seconds.
i was starting to push the hang up button when i heard a ring. a person
named george from las vegas answered. VERY COOL!! he was the only one
there at the time, but during the day a tv crew and also some people from
germany and brazil had been at the booth.
From: turtle
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999
I have a friend whose uncle is a reporter. He is
one weird guy. I will never trust them. They all want the best story and
are all egotistical. They aren't journalists, they're entertainers. I just
had to put in my few cents in this area.
From: Andria Fiegel Wolfe
Subject: Fw: MDPB
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999
This guy sent me a cool note the other day detailing a little history of the
booth, and he sent this other little bit today.
----- Original Message -----
From: Joe M
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 1999
Subject: Re: MDPB
The orginal toll station name was "Lanfair #1"
There were at least two other "parties" on the Lanfair circuit. In order
to call any of the mojave desert toll stations it was necessary to call your local operator
and ask for a "toll station operator for the 714 area code". This would get you a
operator that sat in pasadena, ca. The operator would then roll across a room (you could
actually hear the chair roll across the floor and make the connection. Because there were
other parties on the Lanfair circuit you only wanted to call "the booth" during daytime
hours. Like all party lines, each subscriber had a particular ringing pattern (two shorts
and a long, etc).
when you got your phone bill it would read:
"714-000-0000"
From: Tim H.
Subject: telephone stardom, etc.
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
just thought I'd write to express my concerns about the booth. The
widespread media coverage continues to amaze, and worry, me. Hopefully,
it'll just go over as "freak of the week" and drift back to that wonderful
anonymity that it once had. Worst-case scenario, the feds rip it out when
100+ New Year's partygoers lay waste to the area. Hmm...I'm gonna have to
find time in my schedule BEFORE new year's to make it out there. I mean,
I've been tracking this thing since before your first trip out there (wow,
has it been that long?)
Wonder how long it'll be before that gas station at the Cima exit starts
selling Booth paraphernalia? Bumper stickers? T-shirts? Like a train
wreck in slow motion, I am gripped in horror yet my gaze is frozen upon it.
Should these truly be the final days of the MPB, I can only wonder, what
next?
damn, Deuce...Wagner, Whip-It, MPB...and the next unintentional media darling child of G.D. will be ??
From: Chris Kabin
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
Hello. My name is Chris Kabin. For the past 2 days now, I've been trying
to call the desert phone. It got a bit of publicity here on the 11 o'clock
news. I live in Toronto Ontario Canada and it says I can not complete the
call as dialed, I have no idea what is wrong, I just wanna call the booth.
see what happens, see who picks up. Do you know of my call is posible??? I
wonder if I can call it collect??? I'll try that I hope to hear from you.
it's just all the publicity -- people are calling it from all over the world ...
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
From: Emmy
we are a couple of old farts who like the Mojave; we saw the phone booth
first in 1994 and thought it interesting. When I discovered your web site
about it, we had just returned from our 1998 trip, and I copied all the
text and the maps. We then found it again, after putting aside the maps
and relying on our memories, and we pleased that it seemed to be in
relatively good shape. I heartily applaud your decision to remove some of
the info on how to find it; I fear that in a couple of years vandals will
have totally destroyed it.
i certainly hope not. i'm hoping the fuss dies down.
We will probably visit it again this fall on
our way to Arizona for the winter. We always stay overnight at the old
railroad station on the Cima road.
I am curious about the ages of those who are motivated by your article to
visit (not phone) this phone booth. We were 61 and 65 on our 1st visit in
May of l994; every year I wonder if we will make it back again and worry
that we are getting to old for taking the 4 wheel drive roads. do you have
any info on ages of phone booth visitors.
i'm afraid i don't. on the internet, age is pretty much irrelevant
I really appreciate your keeping this web site up.
de nada.
From: PhotoPDog
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
Subject: ...Busy Signals
Great site, We'll be visiting the booth before going to Burning Man next
year. . .perhaps sooner.
But I've been trying to call recently and have come up with nothing but a
busy signal. . .
what's going on?
is it broken again? does it need to be hung up? or maybe it's become too
famous for the likes of us. . .?
it's just BUSY! there are people visiting it a lot now -- there were people there today. but even when no one's there, and someone else is calling it ... yep, busy signal ...
(that'll be quite a burning man journey ... the booth's not exactly on your way!)
From: Alison
Subject: ahh that damn phone box again
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999
OK, here we go......news item, New Zealand national evening news...September 26 (our time).....Mohave Phone Box story not headlining but definitely an interesting inclusion.....another "eccentric personality" tickled senseless by it. I think it's great...still trying to get through to the phone box though....oh well, I will keep trying, for a few more months anyways....Keep up the good phone box work
Yours in eccentricity
Alison
BTW....wondering about the dark patch on Wagner's right eye area...hard to see in the photos...did someone perform a violent act on him or did he fall from some high position...like a phone booth perhaps?
he has broken many times. the first time, he fell off a bridge, into the rio grande. i had to go in after him! but i never found that little piece of his forehead. years later, i filled him with foam. but then people commented on the missing hole (if that's not an oxymoron). so, i painted the foam black where the hole is.
it's not easy being wagner's keeper ...
From: Kros
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
Hello, Hello. My name is Tony Kros, and I have just learned about the Mojave
PB. The San Jose (California, where I'm from) Mercury News just did an
article on it, with a map. I have been to Vegas on numerous occasions, but
never had a clue. The article did include the phone number, so since Sunday,
I have been calling whenever I feel, or remember. Well, today, I finally got
through. A couple of guys from Las Vegas took a trip out there and from what
they told me, the phone has been ringing all day. The longest break they
have had is about 7 seconds. I guess the number has been run in the German
national newspaper, so 9 out of 10 calls are from Germany. I don't even know
why I'm writing this! Guess I'm just so happy that I got someone to answer.
Anyways, great site.
From: Senor Spanky
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
Subject: Monday's front page news in San Jose...
What's next? A resort? An Indian casino? A gas station? A family diner? A
truck stop? Track housing? Hmmm.....
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
From: greg
Gda m8
Saw a bit on the news about "your" box...found the site(a great
read)...wrote down the phone number...now I gotta call it up ;-).
Here is the entire number for people in Australia, perhaps you could add
it to your site...??
0011 1 760 733 9969 (time difference is -17 hours for people on East
Coast Australia)
cya l8r
From: tracy m.
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
Simply incredible. I watched our evening news last night and saw an article
about the Mojave Phone Booth and today Radio Stations all around the country
have been josling to call the the elusive phone booth. Then I surf to your
site and see that it is popular absolutely everywhere! Fanbloodytastic
Deuce!
I have a plan - I want to be the first person in the new millenium to call
the Mojave Phone Booth. New Zealand is the first country to see in the new
year, and I just have to make that call.
I find the whole thing amazing - your site is wonderful, the hmour
contagious and you deserve nothing but praise for turning a simple phone
booth into such a phenomenom across the world! Contratulations and I look
forward to speaking with you Jan 1st, 2000.
Tam - New Zealand
thanks, and good luck to you, then! (let's see ... you're, what? 17 hours ahead?)
From: No One Of Consequence
Subject: Recording your story
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
I ran across your site by accident, and have now been rivited there for over
an hour.
the phone booth story is amazing.
I am curious as to whether or not you would be interested in doing an
interview (over the phone of course) about it...i would love to hear you
tell the story yourself, in your voice.
let me know what you think,
i think ... what do i think? ... well, i guess i think the booth is getting somewhat over-exposed!
well, if you decide you would like to talk about the overexposure, let me know...
oh, gawd ... a story in itself!
but, i'm pretty sure you just don't want to talk at all, and i will probably not hear from you again.
as calvin coolidge said, "you lose!" (someone had bet they could get him to say more than two words at dinner.)
I'm sorry I missed the boat on this one..... it is a wonderful story.
thanks. i don't mean to be rude ... it's just ... hard to say.
of course, if you really believe that the booth is now overexposed, why not
take it off your web page?
because of the cima mine story. i really want to help out lorene and her family.
fair enough.
i apologize if i've wasted your time, and simply added to your agravation.
but, since you said you didn't mean to be rude, i may as well tell you, the
use of the coolidge quote was not only slightly rude, but also came off as
bordering on pretentious.
you obviously misunderstood the intent. read it again:
[YOU WROTE:] but, i'm pretty sure you just don't want to talk at all, and i will probably not hear from you again.
[I RESPONDED:] as calvin coolidge said, "you lose!" (someone had bet they could get him to say more than two words at dinner.)
see, you said you probably wouldn't hear from me again. but you *did* hear from me again.
sorry. i will type slower next time.
(now *that's* rude -- just so you'll recognize it next time)
deuce
pretentious bastard
heheheheeh
i consider myself bested.
you sound like an interesting, and not to mention funny, guy Deuce.
I am glad i was able to have this short exchange with you.
From: pjflynn
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
Subject: Phone Booth(not necessarily movaje)
First off, I enjoyed your site thoroughly. While perusing the site I
noticed that you had a phone booth of your very own, and I was
wondering how one comes into possession of such a nice looking phone
without stooping to crimminal activity.
i didn't say i knew how to do that ...
Regrettably, I was travelling
towards Phoenix last August(98) ignorant to the fact that a beacon of
hope, that beautiful oasis of communication, the Mojave Phone Booth,
was lurking off the highway. Perhaps next trip I will be able to
visit. Thanks and good luck.
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
From: ALAN OLSEN
Cool page . It is about time someone other than Superman puts a
phone booth to good use.
From: SWEthno
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
Well, my wife and I made it there on Sunday! Got stuck in the sand twice!
you went out there w/a 2wd? (disapproving look ... )
Yes and we paid dearly! We had no idea.... We had to go out the other way
toward Baker via Kilbaker Road. BTW, never eat at the Bun Boy! That place
sucks!
you ate at bunboy? (disapproving look ... )
actually, let me just tell you: the Mad Greek RULES
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
From: Noel Ward
Hey Deuce--
Nice site on the MDPB! Good job!
I just found out about it in an article in the Boston, MA paper, so I have
been checking it out in preparation for a visit. I'll be in SoCal in
November and hope to be able to play hooky from some meetings for a drive
out to the desert.
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
From: ronan
Hi there Deuce from the emerald Isle.(Ireland)
I was just reading your web page about the booth.
It's really cool.
danke!
I say a report on sky news earlier this week about the
booth and I decided to check out the web page. The
news report went out to a hell of a lot of people, the
mews caster tried to call the booth but she had no
success.
They didn't mention you which was a little unfair, so
maybe you'd like to contact them and put things
straight, after all the full credit goes to you.
i appreciate the thought. but actually, i don't mind. i'm not much of a publicity hound, actually
Nice talking to you, I look forward to further updates on your site.
(... if i ever get around to doing any more!)
From: Neil Feder
Subject: your phone booth is in the UAE!
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
Just a note to let you know that an article about your booth appeared in
today's edition of the GULF NEWS, in the tabloid section. I live in Dubai,
in the United Arab Emirates, but am from the States, and would love to go
and visit the booth on my break!
well, it may remind you of the UAE (except the nearest dunes are the kelso dunes)
From: Kim
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
Just found your web page describing the pretty damn cool mojave phone booth.
I grew up in East LA & spent a lot of time near the booth (in Kelso, etc) but
never actually knew about it. Now I have a mission for my next trip home.
I also was impressed by our traveling phone booth. Does it ever make it to
the "real" Pacific Northwest (San Francisco does not count)?
well ... not yet. it's been to northwestern nevada ... but it's a BIG pain in the wazoo to cart around ...
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999
From: Roderick S
Your phonebooth has just appeared on Sky News here in Britain -
approximately 1:30am.
Roderick S
not roderick SPODE? could it be?
From: M. Steel
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
My name is Steel, I am a Senior Electrical Engineering major at the University of Cincinnati, here in South Western Ohio.
what a great name for an engineer
I also have a minor in Psychology, which is why I find the Mojave Desert Phone Booth so fascinating. I have always loved history and nostalgia, and the MDPB is both. I would just like to commemorate you on finding such an interesting piece of American history and culture.
consider me commemorated. commemorative. congratulated. that is what i'm trying to say.
I will say that will all of the answers you discovered, you also uncovered some new an interesting questions. First, if the mine shut down in the 60's, why was it upgraded to a modern touch tone phone?
it didn't shut down in the 60s. it was operating until the freaking feds shut it down w/o notice not long ago.
Second, if they are able to get a phone booth out in the middle of nowhere, why can't they supply the locals with utilities?
they could. but someone would have to pay for it!
Finally, why was the phone even listed on the map you had?
it wasn't my map. the guy with the map is the guy from whom i heard about the phone.
lesson: never (EVER!) trust what the media tells you. it will probably be garbled.
From: Lynn M
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
I'm just a librarian planning a yearly trip west. Vegas is the destination because it's where the convention is, but we do whatever we can to find alternative entertainment. Getting out into the high desert is this year's plan. (It was supposed to be last year, but things got screwed up.) I'd like to add a stop at the Mojave phone booth to the itinerary.
P.S. I've read your web site. The car really struck a chord. When I was quite young my dad, an avid music buyer, bought the Herb Alpert LP whose cover adorns your car. It was so racy that my mom didn't want us girls to see the album itself, but dad didn't care. I had never seen anything like it, and the image stays with me to this day. A naked lady dressed in whipped cream!!!
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
From: todd b
good day,
i appreciate your mojave phone booth web site.
i have called quite a few times in the last several days (even very late at
night) and only get a busy tone. is it still working? can it still
receive calls or has pacbell done something evil?
as far as i know, it's still working. it's just that now people from all over the world are constantly phoning, keeping it busy
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
From: Julian B
Congratulations! "Your" phone booth made to-day's Toronto Star - story and
picture.
From: Gadget
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
Subject: You Made The Big Show
Hey,
Cool Web Site!! If you have not already heard?!?? Kim Komando, The Digital
Goddess, mentioned your site on her radio show Saturday night (9/25/99). Way
to go.
From: Darrell
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
who is the owner? does it belong to the phone company?
pac-bell owns the booth
I saw the story on the nightly news and found your website when I searched on the phone number. Great story!!!
danke
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
From: Robert E. Oliver
Just read your story about the phone booth in the Mohave
Desert.
i didn't write the story. i haven't even seen the story of which you speak. i don't even know which story you're talking about. am i getting through?
Either you or your editors don't know the geography of the
Southwestern part of the USA well enough to know that this particular phone
booth is not in Mexico, but rather in the State of California! Nor do
they know that the Mohave Desert does not extend into Mexico. That is the
"Sonoran Desert" down there.
i grew up in the sonora desert, in fact. and i have visited the mojave phone booth six times. so i am quite familiar with southwestern geography. if you know who messed up, you have my "godspeed" on correcting them.
Please correct the labeling of your column
in Sky News as soon as possible. This is fair warning. If corrective
action is not taken "as soon as possible", we Americans shall take to
referring to England as "that Island in the Arctic Ocean that Germany and
Italy used to own". Thank you.
Sincerely,
"The Desert Fox"
and good luck to you, general rommel
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
From: Genevieve
Hello Deuce!!
In April of 1988 my SO and I were on a group desert camping/botany trip.
Driving through the Cinder Cones area we happened upon what we called the
‘Phone Booth in the Middle of Nowhere!’
I took a couple of shots of him phoning home (of course, we had to stop and
use it!) . The booth was in much better condition then (...would send you the
images, but the transparency adapter on my scanner has died...boo-hoo!)
Lo- and-behold---- that booth is now FAMOUS thanks to you!
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
From: kevin f
there was a nice article on the mojave phone booth and
you in the boston globe this morning.
From: babstoy
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
I assume that you saw the nbc news story on your
phone booth!! I sure wish you could have been in the video.
i turned them down. i don't want to be on tv.
I'm getting closer to having a showing of my phone booth photos
at a place called SHOCK in Omaha, NE
From: aussiguy
Subject: Howdy from down under!
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
Hi G.D. i was watching the 6PM news here in Melbourne Australia when
i saw a little story about "the desert phone booth".So i went onto the net
and yes found your excellant site!!Congrates its a real hoot(ers!)
Anyway i think your site needs 2 things 1. better map (i found Cima and
Baker with "Mapquest" but "the booth" is not shown,well i cant find it!)
2. The GPS latitude and logitude so i can find it this way too.
Do you know a few years ago i was in Vegas and drove Baker on the way to LA
so was so close if i only knew....pity
In any case hope to get their some time soon and hope no "nutcases"
destroy/damage this great site!
it is already happening. this is why i think i will take down even what directional pointers i already have on the site ... it would be a shame if my site contributed to causing any kind of damage to the area.
Keep up the top site regards Mp
From: Erik
Subject: Mojave in Newsprogram in The Netherlands
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999
Just wanted to let you know that your site and the Mojave phone Booth were in Dutch newsprogram this morning. Not bad for a phone booth in the middle of nowhere.
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999
From: The Evolution Control Committee
That is good that they respect your wishes of anonymity... glad
that you can see that national media can never be up to any good. I can
never figure out why people would always jump at the chance to be on a
national news camera if given the chance... I guess those are the people
that haven't yet had the opportunity (?) of being misquoted in the media...
i think that must be it. i've been involved in tons of media crap over the years, and it's NEVER right. in fact, i just talked to a guy at the today show (i was trying to talk him out of doing the story), and he said that when he was a pro athlete, 100% of the stories in which he was involved were inaccurate.
no surprise ... but i wish people would stop believing the media wholesale
I'd certainly noticed before
that your site didn't have any photos of you, but it occurs to me now that
your site has a determined "anti-celebrity" stance, in terms of you. Which
I totally agree with anyway; I've never put a photo of myself on my music
and only have one photo of me on the web. Still, I'd always wanted to know
a bit about you; a simple pictureless bio wouldn't hurt... (or is there one
and I missed it?)
So did they get all confused at why you'd refuse a chance to get your
mug on national TV? :-)
probably less so than if i didn't already seem like a nutcase to them, anyhow
Yeah, I was just trying to imagine what's going to become of this
thing... I'm really kind of surprised that Pac-Bell hasn't simply
disallowed incoming calls to the booth. I would imagine that if nothing
changes it could become a year-round "cool hangout site" that people might
seek out, which I'm sure would trash the booth area in no time.
that may already be happening
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999
From: tischrina
Subject: FOR WAGNER ....Mojave Phone Booth
Hey, I visited the phone yesterday and left Wagner a girlfriend. I'm not sure if it will actually stay there for more than a few days without being stolen, but it's the thought, right? Check it out.
From: Jen
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999
Subject: A few things...
Dear Mr. G.D.:
It was a late night last week--the kind all grad students refer to lovingly
as, well, a late night. I flipped on the news, and there was a snippet on
the phone booth. Your phone booth. My phone booth.
The snippet included an interview with a man who had retired and moved to
Barstow to enjoy retirement (Barstow???). Ironically, he was a longshoreman
in Long Beach, the very city in which I was born, lived for most of my life,
and frequent bars to this day. I watched the whole segment and I was moved.
I don't mean to say that I was "touched," rather, something kept that phone
booth and that man on my mind. I should mention that I'm a writer, working
on my graduate thesis in fiction writing, so episodes such as the above are
frequent; however, I knew that this particular one was different. I knew it
was something I needed to write about.
I found your site just today, after having tried to formulate the "story" in
my head everyday since I saw the news clip. I found it (your site) very
helpful with details I needed to have straight. I also found mucho material
fascinating and again, moving. Moving toward/for/because of what, I don't
know. I am sure now that I must forge on.
I'm hoping that I don't infringe on any other writers' territory. I'm hoping
to soak my story with originality. Alas, there are many a weirdo such as me
out there, and as was your experience (with the URL at the phone booth), I
may be too late to drive home the entire originality bus. I don't care. I
have to do it.
never too late. (even though the booth has become practically trendy. last night i found yet ANOTHER person who saw the booth story & made a site. weird.)
I leapt over to your personal site once I'd gotten too wound up over the
phone booth. To my surprise, you had Deadbolt there! Deadbolt. What a
buncha guys. My friend Amy is a good friend of theirs. Did you know that
Harley, the lead singer, was on the Jenny Jones show? (That's a story, too.)
In fact, we just saw them down at the Foothill in Long Beach about two weeks
ago. Earlier this year, we went over to the Que Sera to watch them--this was
the first time that I met them--and I got in for free. The cover was five
bucks, but Harley pointed to each of my boobs and said, "Two-fifty,
two-fifty." Funny.
that is soooooo funny! damn. that harley ... wotta guy. next time you see them, please tell them deuce of clubs says "GFY"! they'll like that.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading more of your stuff and visiting your
phone booth site for a reference. I should be done with my story by
tomorrow. Thanks again. Take it easy.
From: fletch
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999
I haven't finished reading your prolific web site concerning the
phone, and your '62 Chev, but I dig both. Thanks for doing it.
danke!
While reading, I'm trying to pidgeon-hole you. My guess: You graduated
from a 4-year college on the east coast, with a degree in music or art,
and returned to Tempe to live off family money until your consulting
service gains clients. I'm not knocking it, just trying to be a
detective.
don't give up the dancing lessons.
I drove past the Cima Rd exit many times while venturing
to Vegas from Barstow. I don't have the guts to turn right for 15
miles. Therefore, I tip the global X-Gen hat to you (I'm disco
generation, finished high school in '74, at Cheshire, Conn. Here's some
trivia: the guitar player on Saturday Night Live, G.E. (George) Smith
played tunes at my junior prom with "The Scratch Band". In fact, two
years later George was riffing at H.L.Wilfred's in Hamden when he leaned
back and his knee popped out of joint. My friends' sister (a nurse)
assisted him until the ambulance arrived. Here's hoping the Burning
Man rewards you.
he always does.
After the blurb about your site was published by
the AP I'd imagine you are getting a million notes per day.
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999
From: Dan Jack
Subject: BREAKING NEWS
The Mojave Phone Booth has now become a world information
center. It seems that the librarian at the Hesperia Library, about
40-50 miles from the booth, had one of her assistants take a
decommissioned edition of the world almanac over to the
booth. So...the booth now acts as a remote reference source
for the library. This is a true story, too! I called the booth
tonight and sure as hell somebody was there (from Huntington
Beach, CA) and he told me that there IS an almanac there,
ensconsed in a plastic bag which says "Compliments of the
Hesperia Library!" So now the area can't be as boreing as
it used to be. Not now that it has thousands of world facts
at the fingertips of whomsoever answers. I just can't wait
until somebody from Tel Aviv installs a phone booth way out
in the Negev Desert.
odd. no telling how long the parks service will let it stay there, though. they're pretty ruthless these days.
From: Cameron C
Subject: Mojave phone booth and some miscellaneous ramblings
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999
My name is Cameron Christmann, and I am writing you from Santa Rosa, CA. I
saw a segment on the news last night about the Mojave phone booth. I found
it so amusing that I giggled like an idiot for a couple hours.
I am pretty interested in anything involving randomness, a desert, or both.
When I was a kid, since both my parents are teachers, we'd spend the summer
somewhere. Every 4 years we'd do a big cross country trip, but during less
eventful summers, we'd stay with my dad's mom in Yuma, AZ.
I loved going to Yuma, although I didn't really understand why. It was hot,
and there was nothing to do. Looking back on those days, I realize that was
most of its appeal. There was nothing to do so I had to use my imagination,
I had to be creative, there was no one to bother me or tell me where I
couldn't go, unlike the suburb I grew up in, where I'd get yelled at by
grumpy old men telling me to get off the golf course.
So the thought of a pay phone (An early sign of where our society was
headed, followed, of course, by the pay toilet.) Placed in an area where it
is likely to receive the LEAST amount of cashflow caught me off guard.
It was also refreshing to see Joshua trees. I have not seen them for a few
years now. I find it interesting that so many people call to ask what the
desert looks like. I never thought of myself as taking those experiences
with the desert for granted, nor the Northern California coastline or
redwoods, but come to think of it, I guess I kind of do, in a way. After
all, I am constantly having to tell people I talk to in the midwest that our
coast up here is not like "Baywatch." Especially the pour souls who have
never seen the ocean in person.
I read everything I could find about the booth on your page after seeing the
news story, I even read other people's stories. I was quite amused. The
sign that you made with the "You could shoot it, but why would you want to?"
cracked me up, so did the Rocket Cameras. The quartz sign was a nice touch,
reminded me of a Wilderness Survival merit badge strategy for being found
when lost. My Boy Scout troop, when I was a young'un would have walked
single file on the left shoulder.
I do miss the desert, and I might make a trip to the booth next spring.
Load up the old Plymouth Duster with camping gear and make an event out of
it. If I caravan with anyone who has a cell phone, I could even call it
from right next to the booth! I'd love that! Kind of odd, visiting a 40's
phone booth in a 70's car (I have a CB and an 8-Track player) with a 90's
Digital camera and phone.
There is just sooo much about this phone booth that I find amusing. I'd
like to thank you for sort of discovering it and bringing it to people's
attention. Riding a trailbike around on the outskirts of Yuma, I always
found cool stuff just lying around, you know the saying "One man's junk is
another man's treasure." Unfortunately, the desert tends to get littered
in, yet there is something amusing in that too. Things are well preserved
there. There are signs of civilization's impact on the desert, but they all
seem so temporary. It has a way of collecting stuff, too, Once something is
discarded into the desert is does not often make it back out. It is like
civilization arrived, decided, for the most part (Phoenix and Scottsdale
excluded) "Maybe this isn't the right place" and left, but left signs of
their brief affair.
And all this because of some random phone booth in the middle of nowhere!
From: buni3
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999
I was talking to my dad today and he mentioned that he had seen the "booth" on the national news last night. He recognized it right away. He had a little information about the booth and thought you might be interested? Maybe or maybe not, but here goes!
My dad and a friend of his used to spend a lot of time out in the deserts in Nevada. They were out in that area and ran across the phone booth in the 70's. At that time, it was just a booth and metal phone with no coin slots or dial. To make a call you would just pick up the receiver and place a collect call with the operator. They used the phone one day to call home and the operator told them the phone number was "Windmill Station #3". They passed by there several times over the next few years without a change. Then in the early 80's the phone and booth were gone, only the concrete slab remained. My dad thinks that it was just about a year or so later there was a new (dial) phone and booth, which I guess has been replaced periodically over the years to keep up with maintenance and technology.
My dad also mentioned that windmill station #1 used to be located at what used to be a Stuckeys store on Cima road, just off I-15. It was similar to the #3, but it was a wooden phone.
I don't know if you wanted to know that, I just figured you might be collecting history on the phone!
yes, definitely, thanks!
From: SurfStudio
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999
deuce I just wanted to make some contact with you To let you k now
that all my porn surfing ever has not nearly brought me the SATISFACTION
that I have found womping around all your goofy ass ventures
You saved me from all the teen vixons who stole all my web
surfing time and brought me true fullfillment and enrichment
which I never dreamed t his juicysluts.com medium could ever
provide. a simple heartfelt thank you,
both hands on the keyboard, Mr. John
have you tried our brand of lovely, lovely smut?
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999
From: Laura Salvatore
I am thrilled that I was able to reach someone at the booth after only
about an hour of re-dialing, and had a nice chat with some guys mining
nearby. They were bored, so stopped by and answered the phone for a
while.
Yeah, they sounded like they were having plenty of fun, and seemed
really interested in where people were calling from the weather there,
the geography, etc.
What a blast ! I almost felt like *I* was on an adventure myself !
Now, my greatest desire is to receive a call from the booth ! (Not to
mention actually visit it...)
Thanks for a cool site and great updates !
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999
From: Laura Salvatore
Subject: Hi again
Last night I called The Phone Booth, and a little girl named Christine,
age 7, from Riverside,CA answered. She was there with her Dad and
brother. They had seen the Phone Booth on televeision, and decided to go
there and camp and answer it for awhile. She said it was "so fun" and
that as soon as she hung up it would "ring right away again in like 15
seconds". She said she got to talk to a "lot of nice people from lot's
of places" and "it was nice". She is in 2nd grade and is going to do a
report about it.
"i love that story" -- p. w. herman
So, what is with this thing that I now find myself compelled to call
each evening ?! It is weird - it makes me happy !
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999
From: Jason L
HEY MR. MOJAVE BOOTH GUY
I really enjoyed your site and pics.
I saw a mention of your phone booth adventures
on the evening news and thought " This is too kewl!".
A booth in the middle of nowhere and the phones
ringing off the hook.
I tried calling myself ( about 20 times ) but it was busy.
I live in the middle of nowhere my self - Fairbanks Alaska - so
I can really relate to this remote isolated phone booth. Thanks.
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
From: Lara Hartley
WOW! Just saw the Brokaw piece - hey pretty nice. But MY (ok, our) phone
booth is getting WAY too much exposure. And to think, in 1988 or 89
whichever it was I first found it on my first trip here - little did I know
that it would become a cult celebrity. Deuce, me thinks we have created a
monster that will eat up the very thing we love about the booth. But then,
people are fickle and the johnny-come-lately's will find something else and
then there will just be us few that will still be around.
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999
From: Robert C.
After they have the 2008
Olympic games at the Mojave phone booth, and you
complete work on Boothland, the Mojave's finest Family
Fun park, what will you do?
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
From: Joe Ault
BTW, CNN had an article on the booth this week:
They actually had a link to your site (under "related sites"). Didn't
mention you directly of course...only vaguely as, "...an Arizona man who
put the desert phone number on the Internet." More top-drawer
investigative reporting...
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999
From: Aristeia
Re: NBC
YOU ARE A MEDIA WHORE
if i were a media whore, i would have granted their request for an on-camera interview
if you were a media whore, you would have granted their request for on-camera SEX
i guess your quest for privacy trumps your media whoredom.
YOU ARE NOT THE BOSS OF ME
GIVE ME A WEEK
From: Charles Indelicato
Subject: Love it... and subscribe me
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
Sir,
Whilest watching NBC NEws this evening, a story came up about your beloved phone booth. I love it! And I love your site, so please add me to you occasional mailings.
From: Nikki
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
Subject: Mesa fan
Hi Deuce,
I cannot believe I just saw the nightly news with Tom Brokaw about the
"booth". You have become quite the little celebrity, haven't you???
purely inadvertently, i assure you
I just checked out the website, but it hasn't been updated since April.
You made a mention that there was a July visit but there has been one since
then too, hasn't there?
yes. i'm a bit behind. but i'll remedy that soon!
I wish I had some notification that you were making a trip out to the
booth, so I can make a call there, and have my friends in Australia and
Canada call too.
Well, I hope your latest venture out to the Mohave Desert was just as
fascinating to us as in the past.
(did you know that the official arizona and nevada spelling is "mohave," while the official california spelling is "mojave"? random fact.)
The stories you tell, and the narration
of the pics on your site, are great. Please keep up the fine job you are
doing. You still continue to fascinate me.
thank you very much. kind of you to say so.
Do you keep record of the news
articles pertaining to the booth, and are they posted somewhere on the
Internet??
I would love to read others views and opinions regarding this
strange pilgrimage.
well, there are a few on the site (in the "press" section). but i can't keep up with them. especially now.
Consider me a fan,
from Mesa
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
From: Kurt Heidelberg
Subject: you were robbed!
How is it that Tom Brokaw can steal your line and not give you credit?
which line was that? (hope you don't mean the "if a phone rings in the desert ... " that one's not mine, thankfully!)
Yeh, that's the line... Credit or no, it just seemed odd that your site wasn't
mentioned, since that is really the center around which the whole phenomenon is
based.
From: Chevy
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
Hey, I know you prolly get millions of e-mails, but i saw the phone on Tom
Brokowor how ever u spell it, spent the last 3 hours serching there data base
to find your website, just to e-mail u. I know ur not the Charlie person they
talked about on the show but i was wondering two things
A) What is the best time to call (EST) so i can like get trough,
obviously, there's no way to know. just whenever someone happens to be passing by ...
i want the phone to ring and am willing to wait untill someone picks it up, i have a
person who is willing to trade off so we r willing to sit there for how long
and pass the phone to each other if nessacery for the other to sleep. I am
also now facinated with this phone
Now thats all. Just wondering and thanks for your time, Also loved the wb
pages, and i think you should get a hold of MSNBC and get the credit YOU
diserve, not once did they metion your efforets or nething, not even the
link, i mean common all they said is the number is on the internet, and then
they gave the number, i think that u should, i dunno write some form of
complaint.
actually, they were honoring my wishes -- i asked not to be mentioned. that's how i found out that there still exists at least one journalist with an intact sense of honor.
From: Chevy
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
oh hmm. do u know an hor or like a period in time the phone isn't busy?
that is what i am telling you ... there is no way to know! the phone can be busy because someone is talking on it, or because someone else is ringing the line. there is no schedule.
we hope this clears up any confusion.
From: Todd Niemeyer
Subject: you know....
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
Visited your site tonight. The best entertainment in weeks. You, and the phone booth RULE. Keep up the good work. Nice to know there are still real people out there that can worship inanimate objects. I plan to visit the booth in coming years, after all the hype is over with. Is it Y2K compliant?
i'll know in 3+ months
From: Robert Zeithammel
Subject: Mojave phone on German radio
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
BTW, what's happening at the phone booth? All the signs and decorations
gone?
i'm afraid so. government is the enemy, always
If decorating desert phone booths is outlawed, only outlaws will have
decorated desert phone booths. What a frightening thought!
i will quote you on that
From: Charlie \"Monoxide\" Morris
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
Jeez Deuce...you ought to have a job in the PR business! I wish I had you
working for me. If you can make a phone booth famous, imagine what you could
do with a piece-of-shit-radio-show like mine!
Keep on entertaining me!
From: Jennifer / NYC
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
I just called your phone booth and low and behold someone was there to answer. Their names were Tom and Walt from Denver, CO and they took pictures of themselves talking to me and said they would e-mail it to me when they got back, which of course I will forward on to you. I must congratulate you on creating the most interesting site I have ever been to. You will also be pleased to know that I read it at work and have wasted half the day so far calling and reading and enjoying your pictures.
ahhh ... do you hear that? music ... music to my ears ...
I have been out there on that RT 15 and I know exactly how remote it is and what a fantastic thing that it is there. Thank you for realizing what a trip that is and making it a trip for everyone else. Can't wait to see the July pics and stories.
Always,
Jennifer
NYC
soon! really. i promise.
From: SunnyFox
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
Subject: The Mohave Phone Booth and NBC News Dudes...
Hiiii again! I called 4 times today and got 3 different NBC
newsguys---one of them was a helicopter photographer named Alex, one was
Roger O'neill, the reporter from the NBC Nightly News, and the last one
tonight was a guy who asked me that, since I had visited your website and
called 3 times already, if I could appear nationally on the air tomorrow for
their piece on the MPB. Darn! Wish I could have---my computer at work is
not hooked up to the internet, and my company is real weird about anybody
unexpectedly showing up at the office. Also, I would have had to run home
from work, done the filming from my house, and run back to work again in an
hour or less, and with traffic on the 405, I don't think I could have done
it. Rats!!! I would have loved to have done it otherwise---they wanted to
show someone on the Internet who actually called them out there 4 times and
had seen your website to appear on the piece. Anyway, just wanted to say
"thanks!" again for bringing this sweet little phone to my attention---I must
visit it on my next driving trip to Vegas. I'm there next month, but I'm
flying as usual, so I guess my next trip I'll have to plan to go I-15 to pay
homage to our little friend. What sort of little gifts of tribute do people
leave? I feel that when I visit, I should bring a little gift of
appreciation or something. Any ideas?
probably not a good idea any more. the parks service ripped out everything that had been left there. everyone was leaving stuff there. it got messy.
I know there's already a bust of
Wagner---I actually have one of those from when I was a child and played
piano--along with the pair of tennies hanging from the telephone lines. How
about a greeting card with some friends' signatures and greetings for the
phone? Everyone at my house is totally awed by this whole thing---they want
to come and visit, too. Hey---where's that Charlie guy who answers it
sometime? Roger O'neill said he was over giving interviews at the time I
called. Well, it's 10:00 p.m. in California, so think I'll go now and try
calling the phone again to see if anyone's there... Take care!
P.S. I hope the phone doesn't get commercialized--it would be a shame if
they paved the road out there or made some weird kind of "Planet
Hollywood"-type theme restaraunt. Anyway...maybe a motel or something? Hope
not.
agreed
When's the next 'camp out' at the phone? I don't have 4-wheel drive,
tho...
it's pretty much necessary, these days
From: C. H. Draft
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999
I think my interest in the booth has dropped significantly in the last week
due to rampant government and media intervention.
The next cool thing you find needs to be password-protected.
From: Megan from Michigan
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999
I am password-protected.
he said, "cool thing."
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999
From: Ross Olson
Subject: Mo-Jo
So I'm hitting CamWorld over and over again, just waiting for some new
content, and decide to check out 'cardhouse'. Cardhouse's first link
about this weird little phone booth.
I read, read, read and read about the phone in the desert, and think,
"huh, that was fun."
This morning I wake up and the local news in Portland does a feature
story on this guy who's been taking phone calls in the middle of the
mojave desert.
They _are_ watching me! I knew it... You're probably part of it... Damn
You, George Orwell!
that is correct, citizen olson! put down those cigarettes, citizen olson! those are bad for you!
and that shirt clashes with your pants.
(btw, did you see the "stripper bingo" fun i had in portland?)
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999
From: M. Talon
Greetings...I've been following your phone booth and other assorted stories for over a year or so now. Makes great reading at work. :)
as you probably know, this is what i love: eating up billable time
Anyway, I was wondering if you saw this article on CNN's site:
yeah, it's kind of exploded. it has changed things ... we'll see ..
Didn't know the booth had a designated answerman...
ol' charlie's a great guy. he hung out with us there in august. he's having a ball with it
Oh, and the usual...great site, keep up the good work, and don't ever EVER do the expected :)
thank you ... and, i do not plan to!
From: Karen G
Subject: Houston, we have a problem....
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999
Dear Deuce,
I have been meaning to write to you for about a month now. My partner and I
own an independent film company in Las Vegas and we read about the phone
booth in our local paper a couple of months ago. Then we found your site
and we decided to make the trip out there, because it sounded like a perfect
setting for a short film. And it was. We loved the booth. So, we came
home, I came up with a nice little story and we hired a crew and headed out
there (Sept. 4th) and shot for about 30 hours at the booth. The
fasting/camping/religious guy was there (in fact he just left last weekend -
he had been there for 32 days.) Anyway, believe it or not, we didn't finish
and so we headed back out (this time, minus 3 crew members who had had
enough) just Tuesday (Sept. 21st) and when we got there, SOMEONE HAD TAKEN
EVERYTHING OUT OF THE BOOTH. We were really ticked. Charlie (Wilcox) told
us that someone had just done it over the weekend. So it is BARE. There is
NOTHING. Even the cool signs that were posted outside the booth are gone.
So, we scrambled for all the junk we could find in our cars and with the
props we had brought, we tried to restore its charm, but it really didn't
look the same. We cleaned up when we left, but I started the process again
(hopefully) by leaving a little rubber fairy (the one from "Fractured
Fairytales" on the Bullwinkle show) on top of the phone and I put some more
Band-Aids on the bullet holes, but it just isn't the same.
NOW - the reason I was originally "going to" write you is to let you know
about our film project and see if you might be interested in getting some
production stills and avi's up on your site. It is a 16mm production, about
10 minutes in length. It is a suspense-thriller and is centered, obviously,
around the phone booth. We are hoping to have it finished and entered in
the CineVegas Film Festival (here in Vegas at the Paris Hotel) in December.
We really enjoyed taking calls out there, and we spread the news about the
film to everyone who called. So, if you would like some info, just contact
me. We might even ask if you would consider linking to our site, so people
can get more info about the project.
Anyway, the bad news is the booth is cleaned out. The good news is it's
been in its (I think) first film.
thanks!
btw, i've been told that it was the parks service who ripped the stuff off the booth. i can't believe they took away the sign we made that asked people not to shoot at the booth ... well, i guess it was inevitable, with everyone leaving stuff there. this is not something i ever envisioned. i thought people would just join in calling the booth, not visit it. just goes to illustrate the law of unintended consequences.
From: Kristin
Subject: MPB garbage dump...
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999
Hey Deuce...your site rocks...I had a blast reading through it all!!
danke!
Sounds like you're all having a hell of a good time...but I couldn't help but thinking - if you and every one else who decides to visit the booth leaves "stuff" behind to say "I was here", isn't it going to quickly turn into one big garbage pile?
yes. and that was distressing me some. but someone ripped everything off & took it away -- even the sign we made asking people not to shoot at the booth.
i wish people weren't such monkey-see, monkey-dos.
Once things like that start happening, cool things just turn into tacky tourist-sites, filled with junk and rubbish. And once that starts happening, they're going to start cracking down on people spending time there, aren't they? They might even remove The Booth!!
it wouldn't surprise me if they did. the government is made up of chimpanzees, too
Anyways, that was just my thought on it all. I'll try calling The Booth one day...it makes a pretty cool story :)
c'ya
Kristin, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999
From: Lloyd D.
tuesday morning i heard about mojave telephone booth on NPR! no mention
of you, though, just that it's isolated and people call it to see if
anyone will pick up.
From: Ebony
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999
Subject: charles takin calls tonight
ive been callin the booth for close to a week now and finally made a
conection today -- man by the name of charles (says hes been hired as tour guide)answered the
phone and we spoke for about 10 min. said the phillipines,germany & some other
country called today.said the phone rings every minute. i was genuinely
suprised to hear a man answer"mojave phone"after only two rings.we talked,i
laughed a plenty. i plan on payin charlie a visit enroute to the booth soon,hes about 7 miles away on
some ranch breathin the sage infused air of the mojave. amen.
From: SunnyFox
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999
Subject: COOOOOOL Phone site!
Hi Deuce! I just wanted to say "Thanks!" for putting out such a unique
site! It's kind of cool---I just saw this on the channel 4 news last
nite--I've been calling it all day and actually got it to ring two different
times, but no one answered after even 30 rings. Anyway, it's kind of spooky
to think there's this poor little phone booth in the middle of nowhere--sort
of sad and lonely!~ At least thanks to you, now it's famous and everyone
knows it's there! thanks! I'll keep calling it til I get an answer! When's
the next little online meeting or whatever? I'd like to see if anyone else
has contacted anyone there. Take care and thanks again for bringing this
poor little phone into the limelight! Next visit to Vegas, I'm gonna' drive,
just so I can check this little sucker out!
From: Paul G.
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999
Fifty three years old, and raised in the desert,
one thinks that one has seen it all, desert-wise.
Things in the desert have this way of taking on
meaning beyond their actual substance. Take the
phone booth as an example: Imagine, this booth,
WAY OUT HERE. Put the same booth on an empty
lot in a big city, nobody would care about it.
But you see, out here in the desert, everything is
WAY OUT HERE. In fact, if you are there, you are
WAY OUT THERE. The air you are breathing is WAY
OUT HERE. It's all an illusion. It isn't any
farther OUT THERE or OUT HERE than anywhere else
is. The absence of trees, water, people and cars
creates the illusion of being WAY OUT HERE.
Had I not seen the phone booth on the Web, had
I been just driving by (which is not unlikely,
living most of my life WAY OUT HERE), I'd have
paid it little mind, unless I needed to make a
phone call, in which case I'd have stopped and
used it. I've used phone booths WAY OUT THERE
more than once, and have no particular fascination
with the experience.
So I am not much interested in the booth, per se,
other than being amused by the great interest in it
because it is WAY OUT THERE, this condition itself
being just an illusion, a trick of the eye and mind.
Because, if you are THERE, and you stop to use the
phone, it is just HERE, where you are. No big deal.
Enjoyed your Web stuff. Keep up the good work.
From: Bruce S.
Date: 22 Sep 99
hey deuce, i linked to a phone booth site and they had a phone box out in the middle of
nowhere too, it is now disconnected tho. they also had payphone numbers from all over the
world on their ste. i saw your story on the news so today at work i called it, i work on a
disney tv series in canada called honey i shrunk the kids. anyhow charlie answered on the 1st try,
he thought i was going to be roseanne barr,
too funny! yeah, the roseanne show called the other day & wanted to know "whether anyone would be at the phone" when they called. DUH!
i said sorry to dissapoint you i am not fat
and a bad actor, and i'm not even tom arnold (would be better to be tom green).
i'm with you
anyhow we
talked, i think he is thrilled with all the caffuffle
that's a good word i like that word.
about this little payphone, and your mecca.
Now that they have sealed off area 51 it is nice to know there is another place in the desert
worth seeing. you should host your own show
sign me up
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999
From: Jason K
Subject: 'The phone booth' newspaper clipping.
Heres another one for you from Wellington New Zealand. It prompted me to
search www.infoseek.com using 'phone booth' AND 'mojave desert' and I
hit your site first time :)
This appeared in The Evening Post (Evening paper in Wellington
(Capital City), New Zealand) and made interesting reading while walking
back to work from my Lawyers office on a warm Wellington afternoon.
On the front page each night is a piece called 'Odd Spot' following is
'Odd Spot' today :)
From all around the world, at all hours day and night, people are
calling a lonely phone booth in the middle of the Mojave Desert. "So,
what's out there?" asks Debbie, 20, from Boston. "Just, like, cactuses
and a dirt road and stuff?" The phone booth was installed in the 1960s
for volcanic cinder miners. Now theres a website in the phone's honour
and the phone just rings and rings. Hikers often answer. - AP
There you go, I've done my piece for the age of telephony now.
Say hello to Wagner for me.
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999
From: Stephanie G.
I just heard about your website (and the telephone booth) on my local
radio station here in New Zealand. That sound's really intriguing. I
guess this means you are now internationally recognised. Congrats,
dude.
From: Dan A.
Subject: Halifax, Nova Scotia talks to the Mojave Phone Booth
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999
I have no idea why I was so intrigued by this story. I saw the story of the
Mojave Phone Booth mentioned briefly on CNN today and a quick search on the
Web brought me to your site.
Like I said, I have no idea what was so appealing... it's a phone booth in
the middle of the desert. Anyhow, I programmed the number in my cell phone
and while out this afternoon I kept dialling for something to do while
driving. It was awesome when Charlie answered "Mojave Phone Booth..."
He told me he was standing in the pouring rain to take some calls. Someone
he knows was out earlier in the week and took 440 calls in one day,
including one from Taiwan after the quake. He also told me that a movie was
being filmed there up until last night... a woman gets murdered in the phone
booth (did it really need the Hollywood touch?).
Anyhow, I just wanted to write and say thanks... I'm not even sure for what
:) I'll keep the number stored in my phone and will call every now and then
to see what's going on.
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999
From: Jay
Mr. D,
I don't know if you are aware, but "the" phone booth was a featured
story on the NBC 7/39 news here in San Diego. When the report was
finished, the anchor said that they had posted a link to your site on
their web page. Did I waste one minute running to my trusty old HP to
check out your link?? H-E-double hockey sticks no!! And what a site it
is!! Very informative and entertaining!!
Well, my wife was at school at the time so she was not able to share in
my amusement. We're planning a trip to Vegas the first week in November
to celebrate both of our birthdays, so I figured there could not be a
more opportune time to visit "it". When my wife got home and I told her
of my newly conceived plans, she said "You really are Chevy Chase aren't
you." To which I replied "This will be better than the World's Largest
Ball of Twine!!" But I digress.
My question for you sir is: I went back today and perused your site
further, and saw the pictures of the booth in your living room. Now, is
that "the" booth? If so, has it returned to it's home since those
pictures were taken? I really hope so, as you have really gotten my
hopes up for a once-in-a-lifetime journey!
Thanks for seeing in a phone booth, what few people see in this world.
the booth in my living room is my very own. although i did take it to visit the mojave phone booth
From: Tammie
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999
I was reading my Sympatico Net Life mag this morning and came upon a page that shows a bunch of links. Under the top sites there was a story about hte mojave phone bootg site. I read the articel and had to find out more.
Kool. i really enjoyed your stuff. I will take a look later to see if there is anything new going on. I travel to the states with my husband. I will try and talk him into going the the phone booth. I will take pictures and let you know how it went. I will add this to the places I want to visit when I have the time. thanks
From: Menno
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999
Q: when is the July visit showing up on the site? It already is September.
settle down, there mister van oosten! some of us have to make a living!
I will be in the neighborhood in October, probably the 20th or so. Hope they
will have cleared the roads by then, I am not planning to rent a 4x4 just to
see the worlds most famout phonebooth...
"they" meaning ... ? these are not maintained roads, you see. so w/o a 4wd, you're risking it. it is possible to do it -- i took my 2wd pickup with a camper on it back in there ... but then, i was raised in the desert and am very foolish, to boot. booth. whatever.
take care and keep up your great site (but don't just update the mailbag...)
thanks. i'll get to it eventually!
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999
From: The Doctor's Legal Counsel
Subject: Phone Booth Media Blitz 9/21/99
Hey God,
Our local NBC affiliate just did an expose on the Mojave phone booth.
Some local Mojave codger got all the credit for answering it.
that'd be charlie. charlie's cool -- he hung out with us last time.
The only
mention of you came in the form of a vague reference to the attention
the booth is getting on the Internet. Is there no justice in the World?
yeah! don't i get $$$$$$ for selling out???
I taped the segment for you. Let me know if you want a copy.
On a sadder note, my damn neighbors are complaining about Mazdalicious
parking in the driveway. Maybe you can park Whip It! near by to draw
their attention away from my majestic eyesore.
yeah ... i'll give your neighbors something to complain about ...
From: Cherry
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999
Okay, now you've got me thinking I've got to rent a HUMMER to get there!
My ex has an Explorer, and we sometimes exchange vehicles, but I'd not sure
he'd buy it that I want to borrow his vehicle to go answer a phone booth in
the middle of the Mojave desert! haha.
well, yeah, i mean, if you were to TELL him that's why you wanted it ... !
I'm thinking I had better take a
male along with me as the thought of me and my three daughters getting
stranded in the middle of nowhere...
excellent idea. an even better idea is to caravan with another vehicle (also 4wd!)
oh, wait, we can call 911 from the booth!
yep. i'm sure that the 911 operators would all get a big laff outta that
From: alyssa
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999
ok, so i have nothing else to do but read the paper and surf the web.. but
there was an article in sunday's (9/19/99) Press-Telegram (published here
in Long Beach CA) about the lonely telephone booth. That's where i got the
address to your wonderful site :) Hope you find the article (perhaps i can
cut it out still and mail it to you). Keep up all the work!!!
From: Jacqueline Garbutt
Subject: Admiration and other stuff
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999
I admire your sense of adventure. Loved reading about the Mojave phone booth!
Looking forward to an update about the July 99 trip - did the trip happen?
yes. i've just fallen behind in my web documentation, unfortunately. but i'll get to it soon
I had a thought about the phone booth: Since it's a pay phone - doesn't the
phone company have to empty the change out of it every once in a while. How
often do they send someone out to do that?
apparently, not very often. when we were there in august, the quarter slot was jammed full and was not operational. (of course, we're mostly taking calls, not making them. and when we make them, we tend to use calling cards.) but i know a pac-bell person was out there yesterday, emptying the phone.
From: Doug the Desert Tripper
Subject: Question on Rangers/The Booth
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999
I was reading thru some of the MailBag stuff and you mentioned (in response
to someone's suggestion of a party, which I too feel is a bad idea, for the
desert and its residents) that MNP Rangers kicked out people who camped near
the Booth. Do they have a specific rule (like, must you camp 1/4 mile away
from the Booth) or were these people just being rowdy?
they're with the government. they don't need any specific rules. they do as they like.
From: patrick bergeron
Subject: mojave's phone's busy
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999
i found your page this morning and dialed the number right away.
the idea of a lonely human artifact struck in the middle of nowhere, and
people caring for it is cool, because it's useless and vital at the same
time. ok, i'm not the poetic type but i had to call anyways:
first try at 9:00 am e.s.t. (i'm from montreal, canada), no answer, it rang
for about 20 times until the fake operator cut me off. i tried again 10:20
and it's constantly busy for about 15 minutes and at 10:45 no answer again.
i'll keep trying coz i really like the idea but i'll bet you a dollar that
place will soon turn out like the Everest of the desert.
seems to be already happening
Patrick Bergeron
any relation to harrison bergeron?
From: turtleworld
Subject: Re: new year's at the phone booth
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999
Thank you for replying. I guess you are kind of like a celebrity now. When
I said party, I meant more like people hanging out. I'm not the party type
either. If you were thinking I meant bringing kegs and a DJ out there and
having some sort of rave, that's not what I had in mind. Oh well, do you
think the rangers would be staffed enough that night to turn away a bunch of
people?
well, now that they know about my new year's plans, they might. see, glionna (the LA times reporter) assured me he would keep the new year's thing off the record. lesson? NEVER trust a reporter
Do you think the locals would care?
they might. i don't want to take the chance.
Do you think people are going to show up anyway?
they might. i have already received lots of e-mail from people offering to show up. if even one-tenth of those people actually showed up, they -- and i -- will be thrown off the preserve for sure. and i don't want that!
what i want by way of participants is only for people to phone me at the booth & tell me whether / how y2k is affecting things where they are.
Again, sorry for bothering you.
no bother at all, de nada
From: Doug the Desert Tripper
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999
Thanks for a great web page.
I heard John and Ken on KABC Talk Radio 790 (LA) saying something about a
phone booth in the middle of the Mojave Desert. I thought, Funny, we
happened on one out there a few years ago. Could it be the same one? Naw. I
read the LA Times article John & Ken mentioned (9/18/99)and was astounded.
Sure enough, it's the one! I had NO IDEA about the attention it's now
getting!
We ran across the Booth in 11/96 while 4x4'ing through the East Mojave. We
were fascinated with its remoteness, awestruck that it actually worked, and
my girlfriend called her mom from it. Since we had no idea that anyone else
would be interested in a booth in the sticks, we didn't tell anyone outside
of our circle of friends. I took a few minutes of home-video of it, inside
and out, (even the downwire and lightning arrester) and will locate it and
provide an mpeg AVI if anyone is interested.
A picture of the pre-hysteria Booth, along with other really cool stuff we
found in the area, is available on my Desert Trip pages at:
We're gearing up for another camping trip pretty soon (we live about 160
miles from the Booth, in San Bernardino, CA) so we will be sure to visit it
again and see what it's like now that it's world-famous!!
Phones like this have fascinated me since childhood, when I used a phone at
the Cactus City rest area on I-10 east of Indio in 1977. It was an old crank
unit with a buzzy line (proximity to power lines maybe). Nostalgic! I even
ran a phone line into the bushes next to my parents' house so I could
simulate a phone in the boonies. It's GREAT to hear that others share my
fascination.
From: Tim
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999
My name is Tim S and I'm a Radio DJ in Exeter England. I stumbled upon your site on 9/21/99 and called the box all day, I thought you might like to know I spoke to a lady called Joyce who was there to mend the phone!! She worked for Pacific Bell (I think) and we had a really good chat
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999
From: Sandra P.
Dear Deuce,
I used to work in the Mojave Desert as an exploration geologist - in the
80's - and am very familiar with the "other" phone booth, the one you
called The Anti Phone Booth, or something like that - the one near
Goffs. It's actually called the Lanfair Valley phone booth. It was put
in on what used to be called the Old Government Road, I believe,
probably during WWII, but I'm not sure. That guy you talked to in Goffs
or Essex might remember the history a little better. Goffs, by the way,
is not really a town, more like a ranch (?) area with gas, ice, and beer
(in the 80's anyway).
i went to goffs in april, on the way to the "real" mojave phone booth (which i phoned from the lanfair phone -- but got no answer). then i drove westward, all the way from there to the booth. it was a beautiful drive (though i nearly got stuck once).
My field partner (Boies Hall) and I made a phone call from that phone
booth, probably in 1983 or 1984,
the lanfair phone isn't a booth any more. it's just a phone kiosk, attached to a telephone pole. it's been moved from the main road to a cross street -- dennis casebier said that was because it was getting too vandalized where it was.
but I didn't write down the phone
number. We just called our office in Reno, Nevada (near the site of the
Burning Man thing), just to say, "Guess where we're calling from!?"
It's funny about the Mojave Phone Booth at the cinder cone area near
Cima Dome. I'm sure I've driven by there at least once or twice while
doing field work in the area, but didn't notice the booth.
Probably I was off on some side road - but it doesn't seem possible because we took
the dirt road from the Halloran Springs exit off I-15, drove through the
cinder and lava fields on our way to some old prospects in the Marl
Mountains just a little south of the Mojave booth, and it seems we would
have had to drive right by. Must have had our eyes closed or something.
maybe you didn't drive to that very intersection. because it would be just about impossible to miss it.
Anyway, the Lanfair Valley phone booth is actually more out in the
middle of nowhere than the Mojave Phone Booth - it's about 36 miles from
I-15 and about 19 miles from what's shown as I-40 on my map: the
interstate between Needles and Barstow.
well, in the "distance-from-the-interstate" category, perhaps. but the lanfair phone is easy to get to -- a highly-maintained road leads right to it. and there are people living right across the street from it, too.
From: Michelle
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999
hey Deuce
My name is Michelle.... and yesterday I read in the Press Telegram about the
phone booth...... Well I decided I had to go see this for myself ..... so my
husband and I set off with our three kids ( 12, 10 and 3) on this 220 mile
journey from our home in Lakewood California to Baker...... When we got to
Baker we asked a guy at a service station about where this phone is... he
laughed at us like we were crazy and said he had never heard of it..... Well
since I had been to your web site before leaving my house I saw the Bun Boy
resturant and right next to them was the information center..... we went in
there and YES they knew about this phone :) so they gave us the driving
directions and a map.......... well the frist 20 miles on Kelbaker was just
fine.. but I all I can say is "don't blink or u just might miss that
wonderful Aiken sign LOL" ok so off on this dirt road in our 93 plymouth
voyager ..... they said only 4 wheel drives vehicles.. now I know why LOL
what a nightmare road that was ... ok so we drive and we drive and we drive
looking and and searching for the phone and praying for our lives to be saved
on this road ... :) well we first see the blownout trailors and truck and
look around there for a while then we keep driving..... we are about ready
to give up hope for a phone out here when my daughter sees phone lines.....
we get there and we all start laughing and screaming "oh my god there is a
phone" there was a man out there also and he said yes the phone really does
ring..... this man leaves and the phone starts ringing off the hook.... we
must of answered 40 calls in the hour we were there..... we had calls from
Arizona, PA, Hawaii, Texas and a lady from Sweden ( she was hard to
understand and I am not sure if she actually called from Sweden or not ) most
of the calls were from California and we also got a call from a guy in
Lakewood the city where we live... that was just too funny....... anyway I
found that people were really shocked that someone actually answered the
phone.... one poor lady was so confused she said her and her husband would
come down next weekend and see me out there then.. I said well I am going
home soon .. I said this was just a day trip to get out of the house for a
while.. and she says ok dear I will see u next weekend .. I said ok bye LOL
on the way back down the road we got a flat tire.. it would happen on the
steepest part next to a cliff ... thank god hubby knows how to change a
tire.... although the car did roll once and fall off the jack... we also are
not that hip and don't own a cell phone... but we did have 2 sodas and some
gold fish crackers if we should of had to sleep out there... LOL ......ok
well this I am sure is a way too long email .. but this was the funnest and
will probably be the most remembered day trip of my families life.. ( lol
they don't let us out much as u may have noticed LOL ) ok well u have a
wonderful and I am sure we will go and answer the phone a few more times in
our lives ...... :)
friends in the mojave,
Michelle
From: Badkatz
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999
Subject: wither the mojave phone booth
i read that article in the latimes yesterday and came looking for info on the
phone booth tonight (ive tried the number a few times, but it's been
busy...im not as persistent as you, and besides, now that the word's out, its
just not as cool to be everyone and his grandma as opposed to being the
pioneer). is there a movie in the works? a coca-cola commercial?
well ... two different phone propaganda ads have kind of clipped the idea. one of them is on the site.
do you know if anyones ridden a ducati up there yet? is it reachable by ducati?
dunno. but charles (whom we met at the booth earlier this year) drove his miata. however, that was before the huge storms that wrecked the roads. 4wd is definitely recommended.
now that everyone knows, is it just a matter of time before some greedy
profiteer starts jeeping tourists in?
it wouldn't be surprising at all. dismaying, yes. but not surprising.
have you had to hire a staff to handle all the emails?
if i had the $ ...
how's it feel to have captured the imagination of the entire world?
weird.
From: turtleworld
Subject: new year's at the phone booth
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999
My friend and I were spending forever at your website where my friend got
this really good idea. How about a big new year's party at the phone booth?
While others are spending thousands of dollars for a room in Vegas, we'll
all be living it up for free, being as loud as we want. And people from
around the world can call in telling us it's new year's in wherever they
are. An in the event all the Y2K hoopla is true, we'll know because the
phone shut down, but we'll all be unaffected.
well ... that's probably not a good idea. apparently the rangers just threw some people out & took down the signs. besides, the truth is, i never expected groups of people going out there, and i don't know whether the locals would be annoyed by that. my intent was just the phone calls, really. (plus, i hate parties).
so, i'm just planning on quietly doing my y2k phone-in project. but thanks anyhow for the offer. call me that night & tell me whether your town is on fire.
I still have yet to visit the phone booth, and my car is a piece of shit, but if it breaks down, I can
actually use the phone for something constructive and I can give the AAA
operator a big headache.
the roads are screwed now, have been since those huge storms in august. so anything less than a 4wd on aikens mine road is suicide. i'm told that people are getting stuck in there. this is not a good thing.
(also ... AAA will absolutely NOT tow anyone from the area of the Booth. believe me when i say this!)
From: Cherry
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999
Subject: Calling the phonebooth
Hi Deuce-
After reading the article in the L.A. Times about THE PHONE BOOTH, I was
intrigued enough to attempt a call. Given the circulation of the L.A. Times,
and my propensity to sleep in on the weekends, I wasn't surprised to get a
busy signal at every attempt to call...perhaps 15 times this weekend. SHOCK
OF ALL SHOCKS...I hit the re-dial button and it started ringing! I was
further shocked to find that a lone couple was manning the booth, as I
assumed that a flock of freaks from L.A. would have gotten there by now
(Sunday evening, article ran Saturday morning). Anyway, the woman whom I
talked to said her trek out there had "actually changed her life." I found
that quite profound. She was having the time of her life fielding calls from
around the world. I plan to visit soon with my three children, and think it
would be a riot to have my five-year-old answer the phone. ...the last thing
people would expect in such a remote area.
Your website is great, btw, and the cult following you have fostered must
exceed even your wildest imagination. Sheesh...I'm a CPA living in a
suburban area and ready to pack up the kids, AND WATER, to embark on an
adventure....
You are way too cool....
Sheryl
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999
From: Terri S
Dear Deuce,
I love the Mojave Phone Booth site. You guys have all the fun. I
especially like the satellite photo of the MPB. I would love to visit
there.
Thank you,
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 23:50:41 -0500
From: Terri Stradinger
X-Accept-Language: en
To: deuceofclubs.com
Subject: MPB
Dear Deuce,
I love the Mojave Phone Booth site. You guys have all the fun. I
especially like the satellite photo of the MPB. I would love to visit
there. It would be cool to add a large scale stone circle or something
like those designs in the desert in South America that are only visible
from airplanes. Cosmic graffiti. I will enjoy your report of the July
1999 visit.
Thank you,
Terri Stradinger
From: Henry Peck
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999
Subject: new year's eve at mojave phonebooth
i just read article in latimes and it sounds like something i would
consider doing since i'm losing interest in being in the big city then.
drop me a line if you are considering company.
well, given that the rangers just threw out some people who were at the booth, i' m just gonna go out there with a couple of pals & answer y2k situation reports. but why not phone in & let me know whether there's mass civil unrest where you are?
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999
From: Sour Jane
chalk up a simpleminded article for the la times, and put that chuck
guy on my list of people to be executed on suspicion of moronitude. jeez.
i just saw blue man group in ny. have you ever seen them? VERY cool
performance-art-but-not-pretentious, no-really,
they-make-a-sculpture-out-of-chewed-up-marshmallows-i-swear-it's-not-pretentious
kind of stuff. there's a lot of regurgitation, come to think of it.
the music was amazing. i told one of my friends, who's a drummer, that i
changed my mind -- there's a future for him after all. and for some
reason the text bits and the overall mien kind of reminded me of you.
i went in place of a friend who decided she had too much work. i have just as much work, i
just care less. i'm starting to see the whole college mindset as really
diseased... *why* am i a bad kid if i go to ny and see a great show and go
to the moma and read "the metamorphosis" aloud on the car ride instead of
staying home and reading the iliad?
which is more important to your education?
i think you know the answer to that.
which is more important to future prospective employers?
i think you also know the answer to that.
i mean, admittedly, there's a part in
the iliad where they hit a guy in the back of the head and his eyes pop
out... but PLEASE.
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999
From: nancy
We never heard of "your" phone booth but would often four-wheel the Mojave
Road and stop at the "other" telephone booth. I'm glad to hear it is still
there, we thought it was gone but are glad to know (thanks to Dennis) it
has only been moved.
I found your site from an article in the Mohave Valley Daily News (Bullhead
City, AZ).
Thanks for the interesting site.
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999
From: John P. F. W.
Subject: Re: LA Times Sept 18 99
Just called it but the line was busy. I would think that story may have
blown this thing wide open. They may have put in a "Bun Boy" next door by
now :)
From: april
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999
at approximately 420 am oregon time i stumbled upon your almighty page -- the phone booth one.. dont have the slihgtest clue how i got there. Just like when i drive somewhere and end up somewhere interesting i can never find it again because i never remember how i got there. anyway. its great.
it's especially great because i lived in the phoenix metro area for five years, and met various people doing interesting and semi-pointless things in the name of art, fun and boredom eradication.
i wanted to point out to you a bathroom in the middle of almost nowhere. out there in AZ, and about a half hour to 45 minute drive (maybe more, time is something i never kept track of down there).
when i find the picture with the road number on it i'll email you again, i just saw it earlier tonite.
hope you get a chance to check it out. i always thought it was worthwhile. i was always out of film by the time i got up there though, so i don't have any pictures of it.
april
who used to live in North Phoenix, Chandler, and Mesa and now resides in oregon
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999
From: Lucian J
Subject: BBC documentary
Deuce,
Love the website. Love the idea. Desolate phone booths are eerie and
compelling at the same time.
We're making a series for the BBC called DIGITRIBES. It's about how
groups of people who used to commune because they were geographically
near can now do so electronically at opposite ends of the earth.
The phone booth project is a great example of this. An interest group
which has grown up - perhaps with a whimsical intent - but phoning
people at random seems to have some kind of analogy with Email,
facelessly contacting strangers and no longer having them be alarmed
or angry. Just wanting to talk.
So I'm wondering how I can find out more about your project.
Hope you're well. Keep up the good work.
i guess pretty much what info i have is right here on the site. (although, i'm a little behind at posting stuff)
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999
From: Joe Ault
Subject: LA Times article about the Booth
They label their advertisements with "Advertisement". Be happy they don't
place scanned images of the newspaper text online...
An excerpt:
"...'It's the get-a-life factor,' said UCLA sociologist Warren TenHouten.
'Some people just have nothing to do, so they pursue shreds of information
that have no value. It amuses me, but there's something pitiful about it too. I
mean, what's the most interesting thing that could happen by being so mischievous as
to call a public pay phone?'..."
Hey Warren, it's the "get-a-job factor"...some people are so uncreative
that the best thing they can come up with is to spend 5 or so years after
undergrad to get a PhD in sociology. It amuses me, but there's something
pitiful about it too. I mean, how fulfilling could it be to spend your
career studying what other people are doing with their lives?
joe...
From: Mark F
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999
Wow!! You make Front page of one of the big time of newspapers, the stinkin L.A. Times!! (Sat. Sept 18th edition- With color picts!) And they manage to give you proper credit!!! (usually not well done with them, even though they are one of the 10 largest).
Keep up the great work on the site, It's still one of the best ones out there!!! And please add me to the update list.
From: Jon L
Subject: Phone booth documentary
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999
Hey Deuce -
I'm an indie
filmmaker from LA and I'm going to come out and shoot a one day documentary
on the phone, the calls, and whoever happens to be answering the phone...
We just have a little DV camera and that's about it - so it'll be a tiny
dig. But the whole thing intrigues me, and I figured you might be the man
to ask.
Also, it's not that tough a drive is it? A two-wheel drive truck can be
just kosher out there? Don't want my crew getting stuck :)
i don't recommend two-wheel drive at present. it used to be easy to get there via aikens mine road, but it's very sandy right now and ALL 2wd vehicles are getting stuck (so says charlie, who's the guy who tows people out of there). i took a 2wd pickup (with a camper!) over valley view road, and most of it was ok. that's the way i'd recommend you go. but if you can get ahold of a 4wd, i'd say, do it.
From: Rod M
Subject: Why They Do it
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999
Deuce, it's a mountain. They do it because it's there.
Anything else I can help you with, just let me know.
From: Robin
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999
HI Deuce,
My mom just called me to tell me that all the people that were camping at the
phone booth got kicked off and all the signs taken down, so much for tha area
being a national park.
I will send a list of people to have others send a letter but basically we
are wanting to get the attention of all of them because we feel this is so
unjust. I am ,as, you can tell, a little mad that they kicked you guys off
the Mojave National Preserve too.
As I think I told you before, this is something they, the government , are doing in other states as well. I hope
we can make a difference so that way in the future our grandkids will know
what it is to have public access to public property, not to mention, the
right to own and maintain one own property.
I smile now because it's not often I get On this way but I need to vent,
thanks for listening.
your friend,
Robin
From: Per
Subject: Mojave Phone Booth in Swedish - Translation for you
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999
Hi Deuce,
I saw your call for a translation of the Swedish newspaper article about the Mojave phone. Well, here it is. You may want to check it for grammatical errors, and also look at the 8 vs. 130 miles distance towards the end of the article. The word "mil" is used in Swedish to designate 10 kilometers (6 miles) and I don't know what is meant in the article. I just now realize the it should read 8 miles [or is it 50?].
Hope to get to the booth sometime.
Per in Tustin, CA
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999
From: Kent D
Subject: Phone Booths & Other Quirky Things
Greetings!
Some time back, I wrote to you in one of my less sober moments regarding
"The World's Hottest Phone Booth" in Darwin, CA. In that message, (which
is still archived on your Phone Booth site, embarassingly enough), I
mistook Arthur Godfrey for Eddie Albert. I further engaged in some
meaningless discourse over the theme to Green Acres. It's OK, I'm over
that, now. I've put it behind me. I was just wondering if you ever made
it to Darwin to check out the "other" phone booth?
not yet. but molly has.
On another note, I subscribe to the Ed Abbey discussion list, where lots
of things get discussed, but rarely anything about Abbey himself.
Anyway, a few of us seem to find ourselves drawn to The Booth as a sort of
Mecca, or at least Medina ... Your dalliance with The Phone Booth has been discussed
around the list a bit, and I know that these grizzled,
anarcho-ecoterrorists that I hang out with would love to call you up from
The Booth just to say Howdy.
Of course, if you don't want to hear from these grizzled, smelly, porcine
people that's perfectly understandable. (Some of these friends of mine
are often likened to the javalina: "Wild, pig-like animals").
Thanks for bringing The Booth into the light. You've done wonders for all
mankind. And women, too.
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999
From: peter and marzia
un ciao a deuce e alla mitica mojave desert phone.
peter and marzia -- italy
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999
From: Tom M
Subject: MPB: (760) 733-9969
I'm in trouble out here on the coast for spending so much time on the net
going over all of the various reports on the MPB (Mojave Phone Booth).
Actually going there is exactly the sort of thing that would delight me. I
was dismayed in that none of the family seemed to perceive it in the same
light. Hell, they didn't perceive it at all.
how puzzling!
In any case, congratulations on a fine, extremely interesting web site.
danke!
Too bad I have only just found out about the MPB and have missed the
earlier adventures. I'm looking for some maps that can guide me there in
the event there is even a shred of a chance of needing to head out that
way, say for a loaf of bread some evening or whatever.
you'll need a 4wd these days, to be safe. the way we've always gone is washed over with sand now. there is an alternate route, via valley view ranch. you'll want to make sure you have a topographic map with you. and lots & water!
You can bet I'll
call if I ever end up there. Oh yeah, I don't recall but is there a phone
number for where ever you are? Cuz, if I *DO* get there, you are the first
person I'll report to.
Needless to say, I'm awaiting eagerly to hear about the visit you made July
1st of this year.
in ... um ... due course
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999
From: Ade Capone
Subject: The book...
...is out, and it looks like a big success!
Looks also like every reader of mine wanna call the booth!
Well, here is the colour cover and one of the opening panels.
Please, Deuce, send me your exact address: I'll send u some copies of
the book.
You do deserve it!
With friendship...
Ade
Il vecchio indirizzo (polaris) non è più attivo.
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999
From: Jessica P.
Subject: howdy
Dear Deuce,
Once again your website got me through a very long conference call at work.
I doubt you remember me, but a few months ago - hell maybe even a year
ago - I was toiling away in my office on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and
got sick of working and starting dreaming about whitewater and decided to
surf for an outfitter and found your dumbass in the drink page and well
sent you an email to which you promptly replied and we had a brief but
lovely e-discussion regarding a relative of yours who recently had heart
surgery (I think it was heart surgery, I work at the American Heart
Association) Whew. Anyway...bookmarked your site and have been enjoying
it ever since.
So much so that I allowed myself to be talked into Burning Man this year.
Whoa. It was....um...exactly what I needed.
So...now I'm feeling the urge to visit the booth. Why?? Hell if I know.
I explained this to my partner the other day. We were talking about things
that we want to do in the coming year and I said, "well, sweetie,
um...there is one thing I would really like to do." He goes, "what's that
dear?" (He didn't exactly say it like that but it flows well) I told him
I wanted to go see a phone booth in the middle of no where in the Mohave
desert. He looked at me kinda funny and grinned. Asked why. I told him
about your site and the phone booth stories...and you know what??? He said
sure, let's do it!! God, I just love him so much! How many guys would
follow a woman out into the desert to visit a phone booth?
i don't know. but hang onto him!
From: Bruce Nicholson
Subject: visit to the booth 10 Sep 99
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999
Deuce, we made our first trip to the 'mojave phone booth' yesterday. We being:
myself - Bruce from Las Vegas
my brother - Brent from So. Cal.
my son - Josh from So. Cal.
my friend - Kip also from So. Cal.
We went as a late birthday celebration for Josh's 21st.
While there we smoked cigars, had a couple of Guinness Draughts and answered the phone. We had three calls from Germany, I guess the booth has recently been in the newspaper there.
We went in at the access near I-15. Between miles 6 and 7 the road is very sandy, we had no problem in a 4 wheel drive, but I would think twice about making an attempt in a 2wd.
We stopped on the way out, to enjoy the view (and another brew). While stopped we met Charlie, he was ferrying in a couple of people and stopped to make sure we were OK (nice of him). He explained that the Valley View Ranch road is a good road in to the booth, and he was pretty sure accessible by 2wd.
No one was camped near the booth, by the way. The only people/vehicle we saw was Charlie as we were going out.
We are glad we made the trip, thanks for the information.
I am considering having some hot sauce bottled, usnig a photo I took out at the booth as the label. Would you mind if list your web page link on the label?
no, i wouldn't mind at all -- i think it's a dandy idea
From: Robert Bohn
Subject: About The Phone
Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999
My compliments on your web site. It is one of the finest I've seen. It
inspired me to take a trip to see the Mojave Phone Booth on my motorcycle. I
had such an unusual adventure I had to write about it on my web site.
I thought you'd like to see it. If I hear any more about the movie they were
filming I'll email you about it. I am embarrassed to say, I didn’t think to ask what the name of the movie
was. I was a bit overwhelmed, spending much of the time shaking my head and
muttering ‘Wow’. After I got home I starting thinking of a lot of questions
I wanted to ask everyone. Maybe next time.
From: Anna Nutt
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999
Deuce: You have too much time on your hands, but so do most of us
comp-geeks....(grin) Just wanted to let you know that your resident
Jesus-freak is leaving tomorrow (guess he had enough of that "clean
desert living" as he put it). Says he's been there for about a month
(which, having read through the mail-box posts would be about right) and
that he's logged something like a thousand calls (which I can believe).
i was a little apprehensive about meeting him, but he turned out to be a good ol' guy. i'm not one who believes that god tells people to go do things, but i have to say i enjoyed meeting him.
Wish that I (one) had a car and (second) lives closer (I live in
Brooklyn, NY), so I could visit the Booth. Though your pics of all and
sundry during the various visits have kept it close to my heart...(grin)
yeah! well, you can call us during the mojave phone booth y2k situation report phone-in & let us know whether there's mass civil unrest outside your window
Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know that he's leaving - so you can
again have people call without meeting up with
theological-download...(chuckle)
Always,
Neophytos
From: Esther
Date: Sun, 5 Sep 1999
Hi Deuce
I have read a small article on "your?" phone booth in the middle of
nowhere...subtitled. the worlds ass has the #.....(here in Germany we refer
to "out in the sticks, in the middle of nowhere etc. as "the worlds ass")....
so anyhow I am reading this little thing in a computer magazine (Konr@d
website www.konrad.stern.de - but you certainly know about this)- and there
ist a neat picture of the booth - and of course curious me has to call right
away.....Now was I surprised to her someone answer rirght away....I thought,
nice try...this ist a nice fake story...but the man who answered said that
yes indeed he was sitting out in the desert, "just camping out" as he called
it and asked my name and blessed me....Well I blessed him back, although he
had not sneezed and hung up...slightly bewildered. Then I started my computer
and visited the website...cool stuff....had a good time reading about
it...and then I read all these mails form august, mentioning some "preacher"
picking up the phone...pretty cheap methods I say..other people call around
to herald their believes he picks up calls...well anyways....I will be
calling the booth I guess....dunno whether I ever will have the time to
visit.....it is just a wee bit out of my way...but one never knows
Keep it up...as well all you other apparently very creative endeavours
(and.... bless you :-))
Esther, Hamburg Germany
From: Patrick Scott
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999
I called at 2:19pm, EST, and Lorene's friend answered. Odd.
She said someone had been there for 2 weeks, and recieved over 400 phone
calls.
Pretty cool
Date: Wed, 01 Sep 1999
From: Ken n Terrie
Subject: Phone booth fan!
We are sorry that we missed you at the phone booth we did not
get your email until Sunday! We wanted to tell you that we like your
idea of calling the phone booth and we will be calling it from time to
time just to see.... maybe we too will talk to Lorene though we did
want to talk to you and get that password so we could get in on your
neat prizes. well anyway if not too many people called you there and
you want to give us that password you can we are going to make it a
priority to come see you at Burning Man and I can sure say that next
year we will be calling you at the "Mojave Phone Booth" well have a good
BM and maybe we will see you there..
i was really difficult to find at burning man this year. anyone with a history of troublemaking got quarantined to the northernmost wastes, so deuce of clubs was out there in banishmentland with artkar kamp, disgruntled postal workers, portland caco, space cowgirls, &c.
From: Mark from DC
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 13:12:16 -0400
I've been calling the booth for a few months now with no answers. Finally
today, someone actually answered the phone. What a great feeling! I
freaked out! Unfortunately, it was some realigious freaky guy whose
camping out and teaching the gospel. I talked to him for a while and then
he read me some bible crap. IT kind of sucked. But at least I finally got
to talk with someone who was actually at the booth. I was hoping to catch
you or some of your posse but I guess you guys already left for Burning Man.
Oh well. Love your site.
thanks. actually, we met the bible guy & he turned out to be a very nice guy. he just left a few days ago, after i got back from burning man, so i was able to phone him & wish him well.
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999
From: miz jewelz
Subject: BM Call Home
Just tried to call the Mojave Phone Booth and... THE LINE WAS BUSY!!
I'm SOOOO honored!
See y'all on the playa,
jewelz
From: NY
Subject: Cima Road
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999
Hello Godrey
Your website on the Mojave Phone Booth is a hoot!
thanks, i'm glad you're enjoying it!
My husband and I manage the store at Interstate 15 and Cima Road. My husband has been friends with Charlie Wilcox and Lorene (your first contact) for years. We had no idea that the booth was attracting such interest until an article in the LV Review-Journal appeared August 1, 1999.
Please stop at the store to say hello the next time you get out our way - meet some of the other locals.
i'll bet i've talked to you before. i always stop at the store to pick up snacks for the journey to the booth. i haven't mentioned the booth because i didn't know what the reaction of the locals to the booth was. i was raised in the desert (sonora) myself, and i know that it can be a pain for people to come trooping into one's desert hideaway! but i'm glad you're all enjoying it. i'll definitely identify myself next time
Did you meet Lorene yet? They stop by every now and then at the store.
i haven't met her yet, but i hope to soon
Take care!
From: HikeSierra
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999
Subject: The lone phone booth story
Salutations and greetings to you:
Today, Saturday, 8/22/99, I read in the San Bernardino Sun newspaper an
article that caught my eye. It caught my I because I saw on the front page a
picture of a phone booth that I once spent some time at back in 1981.
I was on a visit to the "Hole-in the Wall" campground and drove my then
girlfriend (now wife and mother of our 4 daughters) on a spontaneous trip out
into the desert. We were in my old 1973 Jeep CJ-5, and I wanted to stop for a
second and fill up my gas tank from my 3 gas cans that I kept wrapped around
my Jeep for such occasions. Anyway, we pulled out at a junction in the road,
weren't sure which place to turn, so I figured, hey, a good spot to do the
gasoline thing.
Well, I thought it odd that such a place would have a phone booth, so I
figured we must be on the outskirts of somewhere or something. After I filled
up with fuel, I realized that I had pulled off the road (dirt road) into a
section of soft terrain and...well, got stuck. We sat there for a few, and
thought, well, at least there is a phone here...strange as it seemed. Anyhow,
I simply got out and engaged my 4 wheel drive, rocked the wheels a bit, and
eased onto the road again. No need for the phone that could have been! Now
that I have read the article, I guess I am somehow forever tied to the odd
spot out there that I have always since referred to as "I think they call it,
'Goffs,' or near there," (per the map). By the way...it had glass back then.
actually, there used to be two phone booths in the mojave, the one near aikens mine, and the other near goffs / lanfair. the lanfair phone has now been moved a little ways, and is no longer a booth -- it's just a phone kiosk attached to a telephone pole. and there are people living right there, too. so it's not as fun as the aikens booth.
From: Chris L
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999
Subject: "the" phonebooth
When I read about the phonebooth in Travel & Leisure magazine, I just had to
check out your website (very clever and interesting). And I HAD to call the
phone number. Unfortunately, someone did answer, immediately started a
recording (saying it was NOT a recording), which launched into a religious
statement. Not, that I am against religion, but this was NO fun at all--I
wanted to talk to a real person. I'm afraid, at least for the moment, that
your fun fone booth is in trouble.
yeah, i know. he does talk, after he gets through his spiel (i don't think it is a recording, i think he just reads a statement). he seems to be suffering from a type of mania. unfortunately, the desert tends to exacerbate this type of mania. i hope he gets his message from the clouds very soon & goes back to texas
amendment (september, 1999) -- after meeting that fellow in person, i must say, i really liked him. he turned out to be a good guy. he has returned to bullhead city now, after a long fast. i told him that i'd been apprehensive about meeting him, but he was fun to hang with, & i wish him well.
Keep up the good work--the desert has lots of interesting sites due to the
necessities of the environs. I know, I live in Palm Springs!!!!
From: Robin
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999
Hi deuce,
My mom ... and her husband are still [in the Mojave Desert]. My grandparents were there before them as a matter of fact my our family has
been there for 50 years, so I did spend alot of time out there when I was a
kid . Boy, did we have fun when we'd go visit!, Me and my sister and my 8
other cousins when we were kids . My grandparents had horses and a donkey
and a chicken coop and we each had our own chicken out there. They of course
had a couple of dogs, appropriately named by there coat color, brown dog and
black dog. It has been a great education.!
We loved the open space, no other buildings or smog and we could run free
without worry (except we did have to watch out for rattle snakes) and still
do.
I just think it's so interesting that you have started this...following, around the theme of a
phone booth out in the middle of nowhere.
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999
From: Julian
Yesterday I was leafing through an atlas, came to California, wondered just
where The Mojave Phone Booth was, looked up your website and found the map,
and learned that I had missed the July 1 gathering. Sorry I didn't call -
you could have wished Canada a Happy 132nd that day. Anyway, I hope it was
a great event, attended by a crowd of at least 15. The world is a very
serious place and could use more pointless and 'just for the fun of it'
activities. One of these days (or years) my wife and I want to see Las
Vegas, just for the fun of it. Only 75 miles to The Phone Booth did I
read? Hmmm.
Apropos of not too much, when I was born my Dad was driving a Whippet but
it was soon replaced by a 1929 Plymouth roadster which was the earliest of
his cars that I can remember. That sort of dates me, doesn't it?
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999
Subject: bm99?
From: Alex R
I'm curious as to if you've nailed down your Burning Man plans. That is,
will I have a chance to take a picture with Wagner?
wagner will be in disgruntled postal workers / art kar kamp, in the vicinity of the deuceofclubs.com candy cigarette machine.
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999
Subject: You are a celebrity
From: Karl J
Some folks at work caught me poking around on your Mojave phone booth
web-site. A fellow employee knew the whole story, web-site and phone #.
I tell you, my man, your a fucking celebrity. Its time you move to
Hollywood.
nope. my next move is back out to the desert from whence i came.
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999
From: d milsom
Subject: what hath god wrought?
i called the booth today (12:47pm est) and it was
promptly answered by what i thought was a recording of
a guy spouting off about jesus and yahweh, etc. i hung
up and called back - no, it was not a recording, but a
guy named carr, who spouted the same speech and
jesus and yahweh, then asked my name and where i was
from...he said he had taken about 45 calls today..i
had to hang up on him because i was at work and my
boss walked in..oh well..
From: Heather W
Subject: El telephono
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999
I was just wondering who the guy was out at the phonebooth currently. He is rapidly becoming my new best friend! He says he is in a tent reading the bible. He also answers the phone with some talk of god which i couldn't understand as he had a bit of an accent.
Perhaps the God that sent him there was in the form of satanic cough syrup???
Perhaps he was tricked into thinking solitude would be his reward for
obedience.
From: Elizabeth T
Date: Mon, 09 Aug 1999
Hi Deuce!
I couldn't hold back any longer letting you know a few interesting things
that you may not have heard already. First, we have been good
friends with that booth since 1972. My husband ran cima Cinders for several
different owners (Really Leasers) off and on for many years. He also worked
for Aiken a long time. I didn't move to the desert until 1981, but he was up
there long before me. We moved down to the city a year and 1/2 ago with
health problems. But my husband goes back up there every couple of
weeks.Charlie told him about you (you must know Charlie from the Cow Camp)
He is the one who helps folks when they get stuck or break down out there.
Well our daughter in WA e-mailed you, I saw her letter on your site, they
are also looking at you from Al. and laughing I might say. (Old and good
memories). Now, I am a senior citizen and this is the honest truth! My old man
called me one night from the booth, say,1978, and while we were talking he
got real excited for there was a round shaped object flying around the booth
with flashing blue lights and scared him nearly to death. I was so upset,
and crying because I thought he was going mad. But he was so shocked with it
i know it's true. Several years later some Gov. men came and talked to him
about it.
Anyway at that time it was a crank phone and the # was Cinder Peak
#one. Down at Stuckeys and the house next door it was called "Windmill
Station #one and two" WE lived at the mines there and we had to haul water
13 miles from Cima rd. out there. No electricity
either. I know the lady you talked to on the phone out there. I just wish
her Dad Emerson was alive, he could really tell you stories.
My husbands High Roller Cousin came from Vegas a couple of years ago and he
and his party and big Limo with Driver went to see the Booth. I will send
you some Pics. when you are ready Okay? I just hope the Booth doesn't get
completely destroyed with so many going out there now. Maybe you will have
to hire Charlie to guard it. Take up a collection or something. LOL Well,
this is not a Tall Tale I wouldn't want my grandkids to ever think I lied,
so take it from there!!
"Used to be desert Dweller"
From: HeaDxFreaK
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999
Subject: I think i am the newest mb fan
I live in las vegas and i read the front page of the rj the day it was
published, i showed every one at werk and no one seemed to have a smuch
fasination as me, so when i got off werk i called it, unfortunately no one
answered, i told all my friends about the booth and none really seemed to
care, except for my girl friend sarah, i did alot of searching for the mpb
online and found your page. Last night i was at my gf's house and we called
the booth again, it rang like 3 times and then i a voive picked up "hello
mojave phone booth" i was speechless i couldent believe it, "hi" i said "what
r u doin out there" i couldent realy think of what to say so i just went with
the flo, he said he needed to get away and he was from texas, and said he wrote down Sean and Sarah on a piece of papere that hes
gonna keep in the phone booth as being the #3 callers of his trip
From: Lynn
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999
Hi Deuce
I was with Lorene the day you called. We had been making some business calls as it is less to call from the booth than a cell phone. We were as surprised as you when the phone rang.
i was just floored -- i thought it would take years for someone to
happen to be near the phone when i happened to call it (even though i was
phoning every day -- as i still do, in fact).
have you seen all the stuff on the internet about it, then? one fellow (a
guy who keeps track of tortoises or something) e-mailed me and said he
would print it out & show it to lorene.
My name is Lynn and Lorene asked me to give you this info. The booth was moved to its current location sometime in the early 60s. Before that, it was at the "Y" at the Aiken Road and the Road to Cima Cinder Mine. What mailbox did you leave her a message? She does not have a mailbox. All her mail goes to Nevada. There isn't an address at the mine or the road to the mine.
i mistakenly left the message in one of those mailboxes near the old
stuckey's. i think i thought it said "aikens" or something. but i did end up
hearing back from the person who owns the mailbox (though i'm afraid i've
forgotten the name)
My husband and I have been friends of Terry and Lorene for years and have spent a lot of time at the mine and have used the phone booth dozens of times. Never did it ring until that fateful day. Lorene and I have had as much fun with all of this news as you have had with it.
i'm really glad. i never expected the booth would get so much attention and,
frankly, i've been a little concerned about it. i myself was raised in a
tiny desert town (coolidge, arizona) and i wouldn't want (a) people to make
a mess in the desert or (b) upset the locals in any way. so far, all of the
people i've met out in the area of the booth have been very, very kind and
good-humored.
From: Behuva
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999
HEY ----------
I know, I'm being a pest, but I don't type that fast and thusly, this
takes me longer to type than for you to read.....but, you gotta hear
this........
So, we're at band practice today and I mention the LV RJ article to my
roadie, Chuck(les), he goes "..........eh, a phone booth,
where??????........." etcetcetcetc
Chuck pulls a phone out of his back pocket.....(Las Vegas.........)
....and dials the number........
........and gets the busy signal.........
We just figured it was other people calling the phone booth.....
Peace---
Brenda&Bob&Sarah&Dave
The Buddha Bellies Band
that might've been me -- saturday, for only the second time ever, someone answered (i mean, someone i didn't know would be there) when i phoned the booth.
(see next message)
From: Felonius
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999
Subject: Saturday at the Phone Booth from Jeff and Marti
Deuce,
Marti and I wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed our visit to the
Booth.
It seems the timing of our adventure was Serendiptidus since the first call
was from you! It was just a short time later that Andrea called and we had a
fine conversation with her also. We can't thank you enough for making our
experience one we'll remember forever.
Just before we left, the phone rang once more and it was someone named Zack
from Las Vegas. He was STUNNED that someone had actually answered the phone!
LOL! We talked for a bit and I invited him out. I wouldn't be surprised if
he goes there today.
I'll contact our sign crew next week and see about getting a warning sign
made. I regret not bringing the electronic camera as I could have emailed
the pics of the new sign that someone installed near the booth. It will
probably be a week or so before we get our pics developed and scanned in so
be patient.
I'll also send you the Pac Bell office number for Baker, Ca. T and S
spend almost all of their time in the field so it may be hard to reach them.
However, if they are aware of the publicity this thing is generating, they
might return your call.
Hope the summer monsoons have quieted down in your end of the world! Let us
know when you plan to make your next expedition!
From: obbop
Subject: Booth, Phone, Mojave, One
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999
Greetings,
The Student Revolutionary Strike Force hereby bestoweths upon thee the
illustrious but non-renumerative "Right On" award for your groovy Mojave
phone booth endeavors. Surely the Gawds are chuckling with glee over your
efforts.
Onward through the fog...........
S. Kelley
National Master-at-Arms SRSF
i shall bear this honor with honor and great bearing.
hochste lust!
deuce of clubs
honored "Right On" award recipient
From: Dennis Mitchell
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999
Just thought you would like to know, a listener to our "Action Guys" radio show was overcome with the lure of "the phone booth" this past week. His name is Tom. On Tuesday, he called us and said he'd go out and try to find it, using the article and his knowledge of the area. Wednesday he called from his big-rig, to say he had been up and down the Cima Road, but couldn't spot it. Thursday, we got a call from a fellow employee of Tom's, who told us he was in hot water at work, because his boss had heard the call the previous day, and he wasn't supposed to be on the Cima Road.
On Friday, Tom calls on his cel-phone, and says he is walking on the power line road toward the phone booth. He had taken his private vehicle to the road, only to have it get stuck in sand a couple of miles in. Through the course of the show, he phoned in on his cel during the walk, gradually getting more tired, describing the scenery along the way. Then, just a few minutes before our show ended at 9:00, Tom sighted the booth, and a few minutes later made the call. We had him hang up, and called back just to make sure, and he answered "Hot Talk 105-1!" He then went on to describe everything in the photo that accompanied your article, but said a few new items had been added, just since the piece ran. A little bear with "I Love You" on it, had been glued to the top, opposite Barbie. There was a subway token and other odd coins in the return slot.
Not to make a short story too long, but we thought you'd like to know.
Garry O'Neal and Dennis Mitchell
"The Action Guys," KVBC-FM
that's a good warning ... the storms have really messed up the roads out there in the mojave. w/o a 4wd vehicle, phoning the booth is easier than visiting it.
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999
From: George
Subject: "that record"
Just spent an hour and a half checking out your site, outstanding!
Regarding new years eve... will the booth be manned? Are outsiders
welcome or will you fire warning shots as we approach?
maybe both
Oh yeah, I've seen countless copies of "that record". As you well know,
you'll find at least one copy of "that record" in every thrift store. If
you want me to help you rid the planet of "that record", let me know.
I'll do my part......
danke! all whipped cream & other delights albums are welcomed at the following address:
deuce of clubs
p.o. box 250
tempe, az 85280-0250
From: En Crypted
Date: Wed, 04 Aug 1999
Just wanted to thank you for one of the most origional sites I've seen on
the internet to date. They (whoever they are) say genius is a thin line fron
insanity, and I believe you have far surpassed that line.
You have also been awarded the honor-of-moderate-strength of being my Cool
Link of the week. While this gives you nothing, nor increases your postion
in the herd, please take it as the compliment it is.
i accept the honor with dignity and outstretched palm (where is my money??)
I look forward to the July photos!
the way i'm going, they won't be up until after burning man
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999
From: Monique
Thank you for making my day a little more surreal. What a hoot! I'm spending entirely too much time poking through your sites, and laughing.
i do hope this is work time ...
Would you be interested in yet another strange item to be buried at the Booth? I have a little metal statue of some sort of big-eyed, pointy-headed animal dressed in a surgeon's mask and gown, holding a baby whatever-it-is upside down by the feet... A friend gave it to me years ago. Neither of us has ever known what it is, though we suspect it might be a fertility idol of some sort (probably now I can only have twins...). Anyhow, I feel in my soul that this object rightfully belongs at The Booth.
sounds perfect. send it along
I'll be watching for the report on the July 1999 trip and looking forward to the Y2K report.
call us up then & let us know if/how y2k is treating college station
From: sunburstUSA
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999
Are you planning on having a new years eve party there in December. Rumor
is, they will have a Christmas tree out there.
HOHOHO!
we will be out there over new year's for the Worldwide Y2K Situation Report phone-in. but there will be NO PARTY. and NO XMESS TREES
From: VEGASJK
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1999
Dear Mr. D:
The Sunday, August 1st edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal had a very
long and detailed article about the Mojave Phone Booth. Also contained in the
article was the URL for your Phone Booth website. Being both curious and
intrigued, I went to the site to see what you had to offer for the curious
and intrigued. Well, I spent a couple of hours strolling through your site
and found it fascinating! I made my first call to the Booth at 3:20 A.M. on
Monday, August 2nd, and got a busy signal!
By the way, my name is Jeff and I'm a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas.
Also a note of information for you; the photos contained in the R-J article
show your sign ("You could shoot it.....") to be in very good condition and
also that the lock has been removed from the cord.
yeah, the pac-bell repairman ("leroy") sawed it off. in fact, i have the lock here with me now
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999
From: Erik M
I'm a las vegas native and I'm strangely intrigued be this phone. If it's not too much trouble, could you kick me down some directions. too much time on my hands
no. because you have uttered the FORBIDDEN PHRASE!
