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# Busy signals few and far between
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/busy-signals-few-and-far-between-2/
- Published: 2007-04-24T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:37:50.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Community, Promenade, #archive-import

*Finding a pay phone in Santa Monica is nearly impossible*

DOWNTOWN SM On the corner of Fourth Street and Broadway sits one of the last remaining phone booths on the Westside. Its plastic panels — that is, the ones that still remain — are menacingly scratched up and scrawled over by vandals.

Its condition is so unappealing that Jeff Parsons wouldn’t even think of using it.

“I’d rather run into a restaurant and ask them if I could use their phone,” the UCLA student said as he walked to the Third Street Promenade to have lunch with friends.“It just looks pretty dingy, like it hasn’t been cleaned in a while. I wouldn’t want to put that up to my ear … Besides, I have my cell phone.”

Parsons isn’t alone. With 233 million Americans using cell phones as their predominant mode of communication (a recent survey found that 84 percent of people have not used a pay phone in more than a year), pay phones and phone booths are quickly becoming obsolete. More and more, phone companies are removing them altogether due to a lack of interest. Very few are added, and when they are, most are placed in high traffic areas like airports, train stations and popular shopping districts like the promenade, where there are at least four pay phones on each block.

“Pay phones are certainly going the way of the horse and buggy,” said Joe Farren, a spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Association, which was founded in 1984 to represent service providers, manufacturers and Internet companies. “Today, it is all about mobility and that is the essence of wireless. It is essentially a desktop computer in the palm of your hand so you can stay in touch and connected, regardless of where you are. Pay phones just don’t have that.”

The telephone booth became a common fixture in industrialized countries in the early 1900s and gained in popularity until the 1970s, when many were removed so that phones could be made more accessible to the handicapped. Booths became a part of American culture, serving as the changing room for Superman and a time-traveling device in the film “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” In 2002, there was even a movie entitled “Phone Booth” that took place almost entirely within one.

But with the influx of wireless technology, Hollywood screenwriters, just like the average consumer, have shifted towards cell phones, submitting scripts in which a cell phone becomes just as important to a story as the central character, as in the 2004 film “Cellular.”

Phone companies are acutely aware of the decline in usage, and have cut back on the number of pay phones in circulation, however, they remain committed to providing the service where needed. To determine that, providers regularly conduct surveys on usage and make changes accordingly, said Jon Davies, spokesman for Verizon, the leading provider of phone service in Santa Monica.

“Nationally, we operate around a quarter of a million pay phones — that’s down more than 40 percent over the last five to 10 years,” Davies said. “But having said that, we still have a niche for pay phones.”

Around 15 percent of Americans still do not have cell phones, and those who do sometimes run into “dead zones” where cell phone signals cannot be transmitted to a nearby antenna, Davies said.

As for booths, they have been removed over time because of maintenance issues and the decline in the use of pay phones. Other than the booth on Fourth Street and Broadway, Davies said he can only think of two others in Palos Verdes and a few more scattered throughout the county.

Some businesses will pay Verizon to keep pay phones up and running, which can run anywhere from $75 to $100 a month.

“A lot of places like gas stations or bars and restaurants will request they stay because it’s good for business,” Davies said. “Customers may come in to use the phone and walk out with a soda, some food and other stuff.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 24, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042407.pdf?ref=smdp.com)