Washington State Dead or Gone Pay Phones

[Westrex]

This payphone is at an ARCO station (24001 Pacific Hwy. S, Kent) and has no dial tone. This phone was carried by NCF Communications out of Redmond, Washington.

[Westrex]

More dead payphones.

Images 1 & 2 is a pay phone at a Mobil Gas Station (503 Boulevard Rd SE Olympia, Wash.), image 3 is a booth that's at a Shell gas station (2303 Pacific Ave SE Olympia, Wash., a block away from images 1 & 2), and image 4 is at a Safeway gas station (14449 124th Ave NE Kirkland, Wash.) with a Verizon-turned Wimactel enclosure.

The phone at the Mobil station at Pacific Ave. & Boulevard Rd. in Olympia is still there, albeit with no dial tone. It was carried by Western Pacific Telephone Co., which most likely sprouted up in the payphone boom of the 1990s.

[Westrex]

This sign and former location of 2 booths is at Amanda Park Mercantile (6088 US-101, Amanda Park, WA 98526). The phone booths can be seen in photo #3 and disappeared sometime between 2022 and 2024.

[Westrex]

Unfortunately, the 3 pay phones at Kalaloch Lodge have no dial tone. The 2 pay phones in the booths are Bell System phones, so they were probably carried by AT&T until 2006.

The 3 pay phones at the lodge (1 phone on building, 2 phones in booths) numbers are:

Booth 1: 1-360/962-2054
Booth 2: 1-360/962-2321
Phone on Building: 1-360/962-2231

I found more dead pay phones on my camping trip so go over here to find them: http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=27611.0

The 2 booths at Kalaloch Lodge are still there, however the phone in photo #1 had part of the receiver cap broken off (I snapped it back in place). I also took some photos of the booth light fixture wiring and telephone wiring while I was there.

[Kellogg Kitt]

phone booths

I can't remember the last time I saw an actual enclosed phone booth.  It has been many years.  They started disappearing long before pay phones started disappearing.

[poplar1]

I can't remember the last time I saw an actual enclosed phone booth.  It has been many years.  They started disappearing long before pay phones started disappearing.

There are two nice ones -- with the glass only in the top half of the doors, wood on the bottom half -- at the 100+-year old Chapman Drugs in downtown Hapeville, GA.

When Southern Bell/BellSouth tried to remove the booths -- which apparently still belong to the phone co. -- Mr. Chapman told them to go ahead, but then they would have to match the wall paneling behind the booths -- it had to match the other paneling installed by his father in 1930. They relented and left the booths. They are just begging for a couple of 150Gs or 155Gs, connected to X-Links. (A POTS business line from AT&T costs only $350/month.) I'll try to get some photos later.

[Kellogg Kitt]

There are two nice ones -- with the glass only in the top half of the doors, wood on the bottom half -- at the 100+-year old Chapman Drugs in downtown Hapeville, GA.

When Southern Bell/BellSouth tried to remove the booths -- which apparently still belong to the phone co. -- Mr. Chapman told them to go ahead, but then they would have to match the wall paneling behind the booths -- it had to match the other paneling installed by his father in 1930. They relented and left the booths. They are just begging for a couple of 150Gs or 155Gs, connected to X-Links. (A POTS business line from AT&T costs only $350/month.) I'll try to get some photos later.

I might have to stop by there and see them next time I am in the area.  It is good that they were saved.

By now, those booths probably have been abandoned by AT&T and belong to Chapman.  He probably would not be able to get AT&T to remove them now if he wanted to.

I grabbed some pictures from Google Maps, which give a partial view.  I think I see a phone still in the booth.

I see Chapman Drugs has a POplar1 telephone number!

[poplar1]

I see Chapman Drugs has a POplar1 telephone number!

The East Point Central Office cut to dial service in 1931, with a capacity of 3000 lines, with the designation CAlhoun. Thus, the phone numbers were CAlhoun 1111 - 3000. The retired manual office FAirfax had a maximum of 800 lines. In 1955-1956, all Atlanta numbers switched from 6 (2L4N) to 7 (2L5N), but the line numbers (last 4 digits).

[poplar1]

So 404 761-1136 was formerly written as PO 1-1136 or POplar 1-1136. From 1931 it was CAlhoun 1131. So Chapman's has had the same line number 1136 since 1931.

[Westrex]

I might have to stop by there and see them next time I am in the area.  It is good that they were saved.

By now, those booths probably have been abandoned by AT&T and belong to Chapman.  He probably would not be able to get AT&T to remove them now if he wanted to.

I grabbed some pictures from Google Maps, which give a partial view.  I think I see a phone still in the booth.

I see Chapman Drugs has a POplar1 telephone number!

Those are some nice booths and I agree with you that at least one of them has a phone in it. Thank you guys for the mini-history lessons on the drug store, the booths in the store, and the POplar 1 & CAlhoun exchanges.

[Westrex]

More dead payphones.

Images 1 & 2 is a pay phone at a Mobil Gas Station (503 Boulevard Rd SE Olympia, Wash.), image 3 is a booth that's at a Shell gas station (2303 Pacific Ave SE Olympia, Wash., a block away from images 1 & 2), and image 4 is at a Safeway gas station (14449 124th Ave NE Kirkland, Wash.) with a Verizon-turned Wimactel enclosure.

The WiMacTel/Verizon enclosure at the Safeway fuel station is still there, and is basically free of graffiti.

[Westrex]

The WiMacTel/Verizon enclosure at the Safeway fuel station is still there, and is basically free of graffiti.

From the address, I'm pretty sure this GTE 120C payphone was in the enclosure at the Safeway fuel station at one point. I don't think I've seen the coin return have the "Push For Coin" text above the door, so that at least seems a bit unusual.

If you want to buy this phone on eBay, click here.

[Westrex]

Here are some payphones (or enclosures) I found during my day trip to Frenchman Coulee:

Went to the pay phone yesterday. This phone does not accept dimes and also probably doesn't take nickels either.

The GTL phone at the Sultan Police Station (515 Main St. Sultan, Wash.) is having some issues as of today (June 7th, 2025). There was some intermittent crackling from the receiver, but no dial tone. I suspect that the trouble is in the handset, hook-switch, COCOT board, or the ~6VDC battery hooked up to the board.

The payphone enclosure in photo #1 once housed the GTL payphone (360/793-3409) at the Sultan Police Station. Sometime between June & August, the phone was removed and number disconnected.

The photos #2-4 are the payphone enclosures built into the wall at the Sunset Cafe (318 E 1st St., Cle Elum - 1st St. entrance).

There is an empty enclosure at a former Shell station at 15255 U.S. Hwy. 2 in Leavenworth. View it on Google Maps: http://tinyurl.com/nx3f69d6.

There is another empty payphone enclosure at a Short Stop station at 201 W 1st St. in Cle Elum. View it on Google Maps: http://tinyurl.com/5d4prz9z.

[Westrex]

I was in downtown Seattle to do some payphone hunting today, and came across these. I found working ones at Union Station, so see this post.

Photo 1: The remnants of the 2 payphones in Photo 4. These are in the bit of space between the entrance to the main hall and the entrance from Jackson Street.

Photos 2 & 3: I think these were payphones given the size of the metal plate, but I can't be sure. They are located on the left side of the main hall at both ends.

Photo 4: The phones that sat where Photo 1 was taken. This photo is about 6 years old from the Payphone Project.

Photo 5: Backboard & conduit pipe of a former payphone located at 3rd Ave. S. & S. Main St. in Seattle on the side of a vacant building.

[Westrex]

Here are some enclosures and 1 dead pay phone.

Photo 1: Enclosure at Gordy's Pizza & Pasta: 1123 E 1st St, Port Angeles, WA 98362
Photos 2-5: Phone at 44th Market: 21210 44th Ave W # A, Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043
Photo 6: Enclosure (prior to removal) at a 76 Station: 20409 Aurora Ave, Edmonds WA

The phone and phone enclosures are still at 44th Market in Mountlake Terrace. This phone was operated by NSC Communications and its number is 425/672-4296.