Off the hook

As cell phones proliferate, public pay phones are dwindling. AT&T is getting out of the pay phone business, announcing it plans to sell its 65,000 pay phones around the country, including 21,000 in California, by the end of 2008. Verizon will be the last major company still in the business. (There are an estimated 1 million pay phones in the U.S., down from 2.1 million in 1999.)

While the Inland Valley still has plenty of pay phones, I’m always on the lookout for old-fashioned enclosed phone booths, the kind Superman liked to use.

They’re an endangered species. I can think of two, one at the Chino Airport, outside of Flo’s Cafe, and one in Ontario, next to Juanita’s. They’re the worse for wear, but they’re there. When I visited Flo’s a few months back, I checked the phone for a dial tone and was reassured to find one.

Know of any others?

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