Mojave Phone Booth

(WIP)

About

The Mojave Phone Booth was a solitary phone booth located in the Mojave National Preserve in California. After the number for it spread online in the late 1990s, people began to call the booth as well as visit it, camping out with the hope of answering a call. The booth was removed in 2000, but the number was revived in 2013 by a white hat hacker who redirected it to a conference call system.

Origin

In May 1997, a blogger known as Deuce of Clubs received a copy of the independent zine Wig Out!^[1] at a show for the punk band Girl Trouble. In the Letters to the Editor section, a letter from Californian Mr. N. described a telephone located in the middle of the Mojave desert, 15 miles from the main highway. After going on a trek to find it, he learned the booth was put there after World War II for the people working in a nearby mine that ceased operations in the 1960s. Finding that it was still operational, Mr. N provided the number, (619) 733-9969, for anyone interested in calling.

Deuce of Clubs began calling the number every day for approximately a month before someone answered the phone. Soon after, he launched a website^[2] dedicated to the phone booth to share his personal calling experiences as well as draw more attention to the lone booth.

Spread

Deuce of Clubs made several pilgrimages to the booth between August 1997 and July 1999, chronicling each one with photographs on his website. In On September 18th, 1999 The LA Times^[3] ran a feature story on the phone booth, noting its popularity online. In November 1999, the fan site Cinder Peak Phone^[4] was created, giving the booth a new nickname.

Film

2013 Relaunch

Search Interest

External References