Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[Stearmen]

Or in rural American, "run oft."

As apposed to, "he done ran out on her"!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Anything decent to listen to on shortwave radio. I was a frequent shortwave listener in the '70s and '80s and '90s, and even as recent as the early 2000s you could still find interesting international news and cultural programming. But it's wasteland now -- no BBC, no Deutsche Welle, no VOA, no Christian Science Monitor Radio, no Radio Moscow, no Kol Israel, not much of anything in English besides Radio China International and Radio Havana, along with assorted American religious cultists, survivalists, and fringe political quacks.

I don't even come across numbers stations anymore. Even the spies must be using the Internet now.

 

[Haversack]

Not much anymore. I occasionally set up the old Panasonic I've had since the early '80s. Compared to then, its a desert. Not even the Russian Woodpecker to keep one company. Back then I was amused that Radio Moscow had two English broadcasting services. One was in British English and one was in American English. The reporting on the same story would be different. And in its way, Radio Tirana out of Enver Hoxha's Albania was unbiased. It was anti-US, anti-USSR, anti-China, anti-Yugoslavia, anti-Italy, anti-Greece, anti-Turkey, etc… But a good strong signal it had.

 

[Stearmen]

Not much anymore. I occasionally set up the old Panasonic I've had since the early '80s. Compared to then, its a desert. Not even the Russian Woodpecker to keep one company. Back then I was amused that Radio Moscow had two English broadcasting services. One was in British English and one was in American English. The reporting on the same story would be different. And in its way, Radio Tirana out of Enver Hoxha's Albania was unbiased. It was anti-US, anti-USSR, anti-China, anti-Yugoslavia, anti-Italy, anti-Greece, anti-Turkey, etc… But a good strong signal it had.

Albania was never really part of the Warsaw pact, they marched to there own drum beet! They even flew Chinese MIGs. They even diverted a Russian YAK jet fighter, so our people could fly it to Right Pat Ohio on board a C-124 Gloabmaster, then return it and send it on it's way. It put James Bond to shame!

 

[hatsRme]

The oxymoron "Old News" applies here, and I apologize if already posted on this thread (but still noteworthy, I think?) The last phone booths in NYC!

http://www.scoutingny.com/the-last-phone-booth-in-new-york-city/

Wonder if they're still there. I'm also forwarding the link to my UWS-resident daughter to investigate...

 

[LizzieMaine]

I remain convinced that it's time for phone booths to make a comeback -- if not for an actual payphone inside then to provide a place where the cellphone-user can be isolated from ambient noise and everybody else can be isolated from the cellphone-user. I've been trying for years to convince the people with the checkbook that we should install a traditional wooden booth in the lobby at the theatre -- our number-one complaint is that when people go out into the lobby to take phone calls they talk loud enough you can hear them inside. Nobody needs to hear you argue with your stupid boyfriend.

I've even offered to wire up a payphone to use in the booth if we get one, but so far they don't see the value in the idea. But they aren't here every night to listen to it.

 

[Wire9Vintage]

Brilliant idea, Lizzie!

 

[Fading Fast]

The oxymoron "Old News" applies here, and I apologize if already posted on this thread (but still noteworthy, I think?) The last phone booths in NYC!

http://www.scoutingny.com/the-last-phone-booth-in-new-york-city/

Wonder if they're still there. I'm also forwarding the link to my UWS-resident daughter to investigate...

I live on the Upper East Side, but will look for them the next time I'm on the UWS - thank you for sharing - haven't seen one in years.

I also love - indirectly related to Lizzie's post (and her idea is spot on) - the old lobby ones that I still see in many of the, in particular, pre-war lobbies of NYC office buildings. Although many of them today no longer have phones in them, they are so integrated to the architecture of the lobbies that - my guess - the Historical Preservation Society (which is pretty powerful in NYC) won't let them take them out.

Some of them are incredible - the woodwork, the integrated architecture, the seats (some are padded fold downs, others substantial benches), the lights and even fans - one could get quite comfy in some of them.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Those were standard-issue Western Electric booths, for the most part. You could order them in dark or light wood, with or without an automated ventilation fan that would come on when the door was closed, and with or without an integrated electric interior light. There were even versions with a built-in swivel chair for telephoning from a seated position, with the mounting board for the phone adjusted accordingly.

These were all hand-assembled at the Western Electric factory, and were shipped crated and ready to use. They could be easily installed in just about any indoor area with an unused corner.

The wooden booth remained standard in the WE catalogs until the fifties, when the aluminum-and-glass booth became popular. These were seen as cheaper to build and easier to maintain, especially for outdoor use, and remained the standard issue until the little kiosks became popular in the seventies.

 

[Fading Fast]

Those were standard-issue Western Electric booths, for the most part. You could order them in dark or light wood, with or without an automated ventilation fan that would come on when the door was closed, and with or without an integrated electric interior light. There were even versions with a built-in swivel chair for telephoning from a seated position, with the mounting board for the phone adjusted accordingly.

These were all hand-assembled at the Western Electric factory, and were shipped crated and ready to use. They could be easily installed in just about any indoor area with an unused corner.

The wooden booth remained standard in the WE catalogs until the fifties, when the aluminum-and-glass booth became popular. These were seen as cheaper to build and easier to maintain, especially for outdoor use, and remained the standard issue until the little kiosks became popular in the seventies.

Lizziepedia beats Wikepedia. I have no doubt about the accuracy of your information - now I'm going to start looking to see if there is any real variation. I do think that some of the top-tier office buildings incorporated them into the architecture with additional wood built around them, etc., but again, I have no doubt that inside that custom work is what you describe. But now that I have evolved my career to work from home and am no longer going to a lot of in-person meetings, my opportunities to see them in old lobbies are limited.

However, they come up regularly in old movies - I can think of a few movies like "Executive Suite," "Sabrina" and "Dear Heart" right off the top of my head, but there are so many more - which I will start to focus on.

 

[2jakes]

I remain convinced that it's time for phone booths to make a comeback -- if not for an actual payphone inside then to provide a place where the cellphone-user can be isolated from ambient noise and everybody else can be isolated from the cellphone-user. I've been trying for years to convince the people with the checkbook that we should install a traditional wooden booth in the lobby at the theatre -- our number-one complaint is that when people go out into the lobby to take phone calls they talk loud enough you can hear them inside. Nobody needs to hear you argue with your stupid boyfriend.

I've even offered to wire up a payphone to use in the booth if we get one, but so far they don't see the value in the idea. But they aren't here every night to listen to it.

Clark Kent would love your idea, & so would I.
But I wonder how long the wooden phone booths survive without being
trashed by the "ordinary people" that someone has so keenly mentioned.


...perhaps this might work.

 

[Fading Fast]

I was watching "The Bride Came C.O.D." a few nights ago (an okay at best Davis-Cagney comedy that is really an adumbrated remake of "It Happened One Night") and in one scene, Davis comes out of a phone booth that has a wide curved glass and wood door which fit the Art Deco architecture of the restaurant and made for a dramatic shot. My guess, based on Lizzie's earlier information, is that it was a custom made door for the movie for effect.

I can't think of any examples, but I do believe, over the years, I've seen other customized versions of phone booths (in the lobbies and basement lobbies of pre-war NYC office buildings), but now - in light of Lizzie's comments - I'm not sure that I'm not confusing a basic phone booth that's been embedded in custom architecture with a truly customized phone booth. I'm on the hunt for examples, but don't get into those old buildings often anymore.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Anything like you describe would have been custom-built, but not by the phone company, which worked only according to standardized patterns. Ma Bell would have required the use of a standard mounting system for the actual phone unit, requiring the designer of the custom booth to work around their system, so it was rare to encounter such setups in the real world.

Western Electric started offering phone booths in the 1890s -- these were just wooden boxes with a standard swing-out door and plate glass windows. In the 1910s they began offering a variation with a "receding door" which tipped back into the booth along a sliding track when opened, thus making the booth more functional in limited space. The familiar folding-door design was introduced in the twenties, and became the universal standard for as long as enclosed booths were made. These booths only had windows on the door -- the sides were solid wood, and were specifically designed so they could be laid out in continuous rows, mounted in a recess in a wall, or left free-standing in a corner. This type of booth came in oak, mahogany, or walnut, and was usually used as it came out of the crate, but it was also possible for a builder to sheath it with metal, plaster, or some other architectural configuration for custom settings. When you come across a custom booth, take a look inside to see if it's actually square, with a rubber floor and a light fixture recessed into the top. If so, you're in a standard WE booth that's been faired into a custom architectural setting.

 

[Fading Fast]

... When you come across a custom booth, take a look inside to see if it's actually square, with a rubber floor and a light fixture recessed into the top. If so, you're in a standard WE booth that's been faired into a custom architectural setting.

Perfect guidance and will do - now I just need to get back into these old buildings (which used to be a regular thing for me in my old position, but not now - oh well - something will happen).

 

[LizzieMaine]

If you really want to find a rarity, try and locate an original, surviving wooden outdoor booth. These were standard wooden Western Electric booths covered in multiple thick coats of "Bell System Green-Grey" paint, and were often fitted with a shallow pyramid-shaped tin roof cover to flow the rain off. These were a maintenance nightmare, and were very quickly replaced when the aluminum and glass models were introduced in 1956. I don't know of a single one surviving anywhere in the wild, although a few of them survive in museums and private collections.

Some of them might exist in backyards, repurposed as storage sheds and the like, but probably not many. If you ever notice a narrow wooden structure with a weird pointy metal roof, and it doesn't have a crescent moon cut into the door, you might be looking at a survivor.

 

[ChiTownScion]

So I guess the next question is: are the plans/ blueprints of these standard WE booths available anywhere? A quick online search came up empty.

I'm guessing that the original hardware (handles, door tracks, fan grills, etc.) or reasonable substitutions are out there. An enterprising woodworker could thus fulfill the need for an business like Miss Lizzie's employer, who has the issues of patrons yakking at full volume in the lobby on their cell phones.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Original indoor booths are not uncommon on Craigslist and the like -- they were still being issued by the Bell System into the mid-sixties, a decade after they were discontinued for outdoor use, and there were a lot of them out there. The Western Electric catalogs show detailed sketches and overall measurements, and I'd think a clever cabinetmaker could replicate one reasonably well with a bit of study. The interior had a rubber floor with three internal sides molded up to form a baseboard, and a metal sill plate on the open edge. The walls were plain wood, with metal mounting panels for advertising display cards. The light used a mercury switch that automatically switched it on when the door closed. The fan was optional, and when installed was mounted in the open with rubber blades for safety -- these are almost always found with the blades decomposed away.

There were holes in the top for ventilation when no fan was installed. Ma Bell didn't miss a detail.

 

[GHT]

I can remember a time when indicators on cars were not optional extras.

 

[Hal]

Certainly a vast number of drivers behave as though indicators don't exist!

 

[Stearmen]

Certainly a vast number of drivers behave as though indicators don't exist!

[video=youtube;Z5JOBgY9Gmg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5JOBgY9Gmg[/video]