MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH -- MODERN MARVEL! 

Did anybody from the MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH call the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES? Probably not, who would know the telephone number. Then again, who knows? The MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH had a magic energy, that enabled all kinds of call-ins and call-outs. BELOW: PICK UP MR. PRESIDENT.

KEEP THE MEMORY ALIVE--DOC's MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH BOOK BELOW:

PERHAPS THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH GOT ITS DAFT SPIRIT FROM ITS LOCATION. I tend to BELIEVE THE MOJO THAT WAS OMITTED FROM THOSE WHO PHONED IN OR CALLED OUT, ADDED TO THE MAGIC THAT WAS AT THIS LOCALE.

ACCORDING TO LORE-FACT-LEGEND-LIES-HALF TRUTHS- THE  MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS PUT IN  PLACE CIRCA 1970 -- SOME ARM CHAIR EXPERTS AND NOW PASSED ON DESERT RATS, CLAIM THAT IN 1961, THE PHONE AND BOOTH WERE PUT IN PLACE. I SAY -- EL WRONGO! 

ONE THEME ---HAS THE PHONE, NOT THE BOOTH BEING INSTALLED IN 1942.  AT  MINIMUM THE TELEPHONE LINES AND POLES THAT CONNECTED THE PHONE AND LATER THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH, TO THE REST OF THE WORLD WERE POSTED IN 1942. WHY, 1942? DUE TO WORLD WAR II. THE PHONE LINE WAS A PRECAUTION, THE WAR DEPARTMENT - FEDS, WANTED A CIRCUIT THAT WOULD WORK (BACKUP) IN CASE THE CALIFORNIA COAST LINES WERE SEVERED, BY WAY OF A JAPANESE ATTACK. THE MOJAVE PHONE WAS ORIGINALLY POWERED BY A HAND CRANK DYNAMO. -------- NO MONEY WAS NEEDED TO USE IT.  THE PHONE CALL WOULD BE DIRECTED TO AN OPERATOR, FROM THERE THE CALLER WOULD BE CONNECTED TO WHO HE WISHED TO SPEAK TO.

MYTH, LIES, FACTS, HAS THE ORIGINAL DESERT PHONE INSIDE A WOODEN BOX THAT WAS ATTACHED TO A WOODEN POLE.  A GUNNY SACK LIKE MATERIAL COVERED THE WOODEN BOX's FRONT AREA. 

FROM THE 1960s ONWARD (MID 1960s -EXACT DATE IS HAZY) THE PHONE-BOOTH WAS INSTALLED AND NOW THERE WAS A PAY PHONE-- IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, INSIDE A GLASS AND ALUMINUM PHONE BOX -- YES! A PAY PHONE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOJAVE ENCLOSED   A CLARK KENT TYPE OF PHONE CUBICLE! OTHER YARNS  HAVE ITTHE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH CAME INTO EXISTENCE IN 1986 OR 1976.  THERE ARE A LOT OF BOGUS COMPETING TALES CONCERNING THIS UNIQUE PHONE BOOTH.

WHAT IS FACT, BEFORE THE TELEPHONE WAS MODERNIZED (NO CRANK DYNAMO), ONE COULD PICK UP THE RECEIVER AND CALL THE OPERATOR IN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA AND SHE WOULD DIRECT YOUR CALL. WHEN THE PHONE BECAME A PAY FOR YOUR CALL TYPE SERVICE, AS IN PUT MONEY INTO THE COIN SLOT AND THE OPERATOR WOULD CONNECT YOU TO THE NUBER YOU WANTED, SUPPOSEDLY THAT WAS WHEN THE PHONE BECAME ENCLOSED WITH A MODERN STEEL AND GLASS FRAME  A.K.A. THE-MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH.

"CAPITALISM BABY", X AMOUNT OF YEARS AFER WORLD WAR II, THE PHONE GOES FROM TRUNK OPERATOR CALLS TO PAY PHONE. 

THIS PHONE OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE -- GRABBED MY ATTENTION, OR I FIRST HEARD ABOUT THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH IF MEMORY SERVES, IN OCTOBER 1965, AS I WAS HEADED FOR CALIFORNIA, ON OLD WONDERFUL ROUTE 66. 

THE IDEA THAT A DEHYDRATED PERSON STRANDED IN THE OUTBACK, HIS VEHICLE BROKEN DOWN, AND ALL HE HAS TO DO IS GET TO THE DESERT PHONE AND HELP IS ON THE WAY, SOUNDED LIKE A GRAND IDEA. THE PHONE DURING THIS ERA WAS LABELED A TOLL PHONE, THEN IT BECAME A DIAL PHONE.  

THE DIFFERENCE IN TERMS, IS THAT ONE REQUIRES AN OPERATOR, THE OTHER DOES NOT, BUT BOTH PHONES COST -- AS IN -  CLICK -CLICK- CHANGE INTO THE MACHINE, FOR THE DEVICE TO WORK.  

FOR AN EMERGENCY -- ONE WOULD DIAL "O",  AND THE VOICE ON THE OTHER END WOULD CONECT YOU TO  THE POLICE OR HOSPITAL.  THE 911 EMERGENCY NUMBER DID NOT BECOME THE S.O.S. MONIKER UNTIL THE 1970s AND ONWARD.

AT THE TIME WHEN THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS POSTED UP, AND THIS WAS PRETTY MUCH TRUE THROUGH ALL OF ITS EXISTENCE --- THE DESERT PHONE WAS ABOUT 18 MILES FROM A PAVED ROAD OR HIGHWAY.

FROM THE LATE 1970s ONWARD--CIVILIZATION STARED TO CREEPING INTO THE DESERT.

TO GET TO THE DESERT PHONE, ONE COULD DRIVE UNDER A LINE OF TELEPHONE POLES ATOP AN OVERGROWN SERVICE PATH. IT WAS A JEEP - MOTORBIKE, TYPE LANE.

ANOTHER ROUTE FOR BIKERS WAS TO TRAVEL A FEW ARROYOS OR SAND GULLIES THAT WOULD MEET UP WITH A ROUGH ROAD, WHICH LEED TO THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH. %99 OF THE PILGRIMS THAT REACHED THE ICON-PHONE BOOTH, TOOK THE BUMPY TRACK.

AS THE SECRET GOT OUT ABOUT THIS ISOLATED PHONE BOX, THE DESERT ROAD BECAME MUCH EASIER TO TRAVEL.  VEHICULAR TRAFFIC PACKED DOWN THE EARTH AND IN CERTAIN AREAS, THE WIDTH OF THE LANE WAS EXPANDED.  LIKEWISE, THE AREA AROUND THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH BECAME LESS WILD, AND MORE BAREN.

FOR A BRIEF WHILE IN THE 1970s, HUEY MILITARY HELICOPTERS USED TO FY THE AREA. THE BAD JOKE WAS, THE CRAFT WERE PART OF AN INVESTIGATION. THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS A DOORWAY TO ANOTHER REALM. MORE THAN LIKELY, THE HUEYS WERE GETTING A BEARING OR ON AN EXERCISE. THROUGH THE AGES, HUMOROUS MESSAGES WERE SCRAWLED ON THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH ABOUT BEING ABDUCTED BY ALIENS OR MIBs (MEN IN BACK). IN MANY WAYS, THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS A PORTAL TO ANOTHER REALM, BY WAY OF WHO WAS ON THE END OF THE LONG DISTANCE LINE.

BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER -- KNOW THAT THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH NO LONGER EXISTS. I WOULD LIKE TO THINK IT DEMATERIALIZED INTO A WORLD OF HAPPINESS AND JOY. THE PHONE AND CUBICLE WAS TAKEN AWAY BY THE PHONE COMPANY MANY YEARS AGO. TO BE EXACT, WEDNESDAY MORNING, MAY 17, 2000. RUMOR HAS IT THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS THEN DESTROYED BY THE BLM BUREAU of LAND MANAGEMENT MEANIES OR BY CALIFORNIA BELL (MA BELL) PHONE COPS.

OFFICIALLY THE PHONE WAS REGISTERED AS THE CINDER MINE TELEPHONE AND ITS LOCATION WAS ON CINDER MINE ROAD OR AIKEN CINDER MINE ROAD (CIMA MINE RD.). THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH AND ROAD HAD MANY NICKNAMES.

 THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH;  DOC DANIELS, (AUTHOR) IS LEGITIMATE -- DOC IS THE CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS OF THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH. MORE ON THAT LATER. THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH IS ALSO BY HIS LINK, THE MAN HAS TALENT! SAVE THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH BY WAY OF A BOOK OF MEMORIES! DOC IS THE ONLY GUY DOING THIS-- WHY NOT HELP OUT! THEN -- HINT -HINT-- BUY ONE OF MY BOOKS ON THIS SITE.  REMEMBER THIS SITE DOES NOT RUN ON SWAMP GAS.

CLICK HERE -- THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH DEMANDS TO BE REMEMBERED -- DOC's BOOK IS HERE.

NO EXCUSES -- CLICK BELOW LEFT-- MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH  -- DOC DANIELS" PROJECT

ORIGINALLY: IN THE 1960s THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS A S.O.S. LINE FOR PEOPLE IN THE AREA WHO HAD NO PHONE -- MINERS, (CINDER MINE) HOMESTEADERS, OR THOSE THAT GOT LOST IN THE DESERT, HAD A PLACE TO CALL FOR HELP.

LEFT: THE MOJAVE-TELEPHONE BOOTH- WAS LOCATED WHERE THE ROAD MEETS THE TELEPHONE LINE TRAIL. THIS PHOTO DOES NOT SHOW VERY WELL, THE GULLIES OR ARROYOS THAT INTERSECT THE DESERT ROAD THAT LEADS TO THE MAGICAL BOOTH.

BEFORE YOU GET TO THE PHOTOS AND MORE DATA ABOUT THIS STRANGE AND MAGICAL PLACE IN THE  DESERT! FIRST---- & SECOND, BELOW = A LINK AND A PROMO FOR ADVERTISEMENT ON THIS SITE!

ADVERTISE ON THIS SITE! CONTACT =

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UNIQUE WEBSITE THAT IS VISITED BY ALL DEMOGRAPHICS!  

THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH BY AWAY OF TELEPHONE -MA BELL SLANG WAS KNOWN AS A -SUPERMAN BOOTH -. THAT IS WHAT THE CALIFORNIA BELL CALLED THAT TYPE OF STRUCTURE THAT ENCOMPASSED THE PHONE IN THE DESERT. THE BOOTH WAS THE TYPE OF UNIT THAT CLARK KENT WOULD RUN INTO WHEN HE SHED HIS DISGUISE AND BECAME "THE MAN OF STEEL."   WHAT IS THE (MA BELL) TECHNICAL IDENTIFICATION FOR THIS TYPE OF UNIT (MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH),  NO DATA HAS TURNED UP. 

INTERESTINGLY, ONCE THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH GOT DISCOVERED, PEOPLE ON MEMORIAL MISSIONS WOULD TREK ACROSS THE DESERT AND IN SOME CASE TRAVEL THOUSANDS OF MILES TO THE GLASS AND STEEL CUBICLE AND LEAVE A MESSAGE FOR THEIR DECEASED LOVED ONE ON THE PHONE-FRAME.  AS ODD AS THIS READS, AND AS STATED BEFORE, FOR SOME PEOPLE -- THE PHONE BOOTH AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD WAS A PLACE WHERE WISDOM AND HEALING COULD HAPPEN. 

HECK, IF THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS STILL THERE, I WOULD BUY A 1967 BONNEVILLE TRIUMPH (PRIMO CONDITION) (YES I USED TO HAVE A 650 TRIUMPH) AND JOURNEY TO THE DESERT AND WRITE THE NAMES OF MY DECEASED SIBLINGS ON THE BOOTH, ALONG WITH A MESSAGE.  THEY WOULD HAVE LIKED THAT.  YES, MY SIBS WERE FELLOW EXPLORERS -- DESERT RATS; PILGRIMS THAT JOURNEYED TO THE ENDGE OF THE WORLD -- WHERE A MACIAL PLACE WAS FOUND. SADLY, THEY HAVE PASSED ON SINCE THE CUBICLE WAS TAKEN AWAY. 

MAYBE THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH ENERGY OR PART OF IT DERIVED FROM HAVING TO DRIVE OR RIDE (MOTORCYCLE) IN RUGGED TERRAIN TO REACH THE CALL BOOTH. THE JOURNEY CLEARED THE MIND.

FOR MOST PEOPLE THE CUBICLE DID NOT EFFECT THEM INITIALLY IN A DEEP WAY.  THE TREK WAS JUST PURE ADVENTURE, BUT FOR SOME -- THERE WAS AN ENERGY THERE THAT REACHED THEM RIGHT AWAY UPON ARRIVAL.

THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS THE HOME OF THE ORIGINAL "WILD CARD LINE". AFTER THE  PHONE BOOTH WAS DISCOVERED BY THE WORLD, A NUMBER OF ODD ORATORS WITH STRANGE THINGS TO SAY, CALLED THE ISOLATED PHONE.  

THROUGH THE DECADES THE PHONE BOX WAS SHOT UP.  IT WAS ALSO DECORATED WITH PLASTIC FLOWERS, SPRAYED WITH PAINT, MARKED WITH DECALS, AND GIVEN ANCIENT WELCOME MATS.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT; AND I KEEP HARPING ON THAT STATEMENT --- BECAUSE IT SOUNDS TO ODD, BUT CANDLES, CHAIRS, ROSARIES, GRAFFITI, PHONE BOOKS FROM OTHER STATES, CHARMS AND PHOTOS WERE LEFT AT OR ON THE BOOTH. 

SOMETIMES, EMPTY BEER BOTTLES WERE POSITIONED ON THE MENTAL FRAME.  ALL KINDS OF TRIBUTE WAS LEFT AT THE DESERT BOOTH. AMERICAN AND FOREIGN COINS COULD BE FOUND IN AND AROUND THE PHONE BOX. WERE THEY DROPPED AT NIGHT BY ACCIDENT IN THE DARK OR JUST LEFT OR THROWN INTO THE CUBICLE AS SOME TYPE OF PRESENT OR OFFERING. 

THE COINS AND TRINKETS THAT WERE LEFT INSIDE THE MA BELL CUBICLE WERE SOMETIMES SUPER GLUED TO THE STEEL FRAME OR MANTLES. EVENTUALLY THESE ITEMS WERE TAKEN BY VISITORS OR BY THE PHONE COPS - MA BELL PEOPLE! THE ONLY THING THAT HAD A CHANCE FOR A LONG  LIFE AT THE BOOTH WERE DECALS.  BUT EVEN THESE, AFTER A WHILE WOULD BE PEALED OFF BY WAY OF HUMANS WITH THE HELP OF THE SUN AND HEAT.

IF BY CHANCE THE DECAL ON THE PHONE BOOTH WAS UNTOUCHED BY HUMAN HANDS, IN TIME IT WOULD STILL PEEL OFF.  DUE TO THE EFFECTS OF THE DESERT WIND AND TEMPERATURES.

RARELY WOULD ONE FIND THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH CLEAN OF WRITING OR OF DECALS.  WHEN THE BOOTH WAS FOUND IN A PRISTINE CONDITION, IT WAS DUE TO A COMBINATION EVENTS: RAINSTORM OR VISITORS WHO DETAILED THE PHONE BOX.  

CLOUD BURST DID HAPPEN IN THE DESERT, THEY WERE RARE, BUT WHEN MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH GOT RAINED ON, A LOT OF THE INK ON THE CUBICLE WOULD BE WASHED OFF ALONG WITH WEATHERED DECALS.

YES, SOME PILGRIMS WHEN THEY VISITED THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WOULD CLEAN UP THE BOX AND SCRUB THE FRAME.  THE MESSAGES THAT PREVIOUS PIONEERS HAD LEFT, WOULD BE NO MORE. RATHER LIKE LIFE, HERE FOR X AMOUNT OF TIME, THEN ADIOS EL MUNDO.

ALSO-- THE INTENSE SUNLIGHT AT THE BOOTH WOULD IN TIME MAKE THE GRAFFITI FADE AWAY.

MOST CLEAN UPS AT THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH CONSISTED OF SWEEPING OR A DUST OFF OF THE BOOTH AND THEN LEAVING A GIFT ON THE FRAME OR SOME SCRIBBLE.

MOST OF THE NICK-NACKS LEFT BY THE ICONOCLASTS AT THE SOLITARY BOOTH WERE TAKEN BY OTHER VISITORS AT A LATER DATE. OR THE DESERT WIND SWEPT THE OFFERINGS AWAY.

I THINK BY NOW, THE WINDS WOULD HAVE BLOWN WHAT IS LEFT OF THE FIRST 1960s-1970s OFFERINGS OUT TO SEARCHLIGHT, NEVADA OR UP TO REDROCK, NEVADA. (UH HUH!)

NOTICE IN SOME OF THE SNAPSHOTS -- HOW CLEAN THAT FRAME BEAMS ARE.  SOMEBODY SCRUBBED THE METAL WITH WINDEX AND A PAPER TOWEL. IN OTHER PICTURES THE SEARING DESERT SUN FADING OUT OF THE TAGS.

THE MOJAVE-PHONE BOOTH --- FIRST NUMBER WAS 714-733-9969, SOME WEIRD BEARDS ATTESTED THAT THE DIGITS WERE SOMEHOW LINKED TO THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST. I CAN NOT SEE HOW?

THE LIES AND MYTHS THAT ATTACHED THEMSELVES TO THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WERE THAT DIFFERENT CULTS CAME TO THE PLACE AND SO DID THE CHARLES MANSON FAMILY IN THE 1960s. AS FAR AS I KNOW, NOBODY WAS FOUND DEAD AT THIS PLACE OR OUT IN THE WEEDS NEARBY THE FRAME.  IF CULTS DID COME TO THIS LOCALE, AND MAYBE THEY DID, THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH REMAINED AND THEY LEFT.

THERE WERE A FEW PEOPLE WHO VISITED THE ISOLATED BOX BECAUSE THEY CLAIMED SOMETHING DIVINE TOLD THEM TO. 

THESE PEOPLE TENDED TO BE VERY QUIET.  THEIR SOLITUDE AND ENERGY THAT RADIATED FROM THEM WAS A BIT CREEPY. NO, THEY WERE NOT- NOT- NOT SERIAL KILLERS LOOKING FOR BLOOD.  

SIMPLY PUT, THESE NOT BOTHERING VISITORS, PERHAPS HAD A PARTIAL SCITZO PERSONALITY AND WERE IN NEED OF MENTAL THERAPY. IN ANY EVENT, THESE PEOPLE's MINDS WORKED COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM THE MODERN AMERICAN GRAY MATTER MODEL.

THESE QUIET PEOPLE WHO WERE ON A MISSION (DIVINELY INSPIRED CLAIMED OR JUST FLAT OUT HEARD VOICES). THESE PEOPE STAYED A BIT AT THE PHONE BOOTH, MAINLY IN THEIR VEHICLES AND THEN LEFT. ONE LADY ON A QUEST, WAS A PETITE, STRONG, DARK TAN LATINA WHO HAD AN UNNERVING CALM ENERGY ABOUT HER. THIS AURA WAS NOT DRUG INDUCED, IT SEEMED HER BRAIN FIRED DIFFERENTLY AS COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE HUMAN HERD. ANOTHER  TRAVELER WAS A VERY OLD RETIRED ALCOHOLIC MAN. THIS MATURE ANGLO SAXON WORE A BASEBALL CAP AND THOUGHT HIS TIME ON EARTH WAS NEARLY UP. THE PLACE GAVE HIM A COMFORT. 

ONE GUY--- THAT GAVE MOST EVERYBODY BAD VIBES AND I DARE SAY WHERE-EVER HE DROPPED ANCHOR AT HE WOULD CREEP PEOPLE OUT, WAS A (NO NAME) SKINNY MAN, LONGISH HAIR, LATE 20s, ANGLO-SAXON.  THIS MAN HAD AN EVIL ENERGY ABOUT HIM THAT WAS BEYOND BELIEF. YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO TURN YOUR BACK ON THIS GUY. THE NEGATIVE AROUND THIS FELLOW WAS NOT CAMOUFLAGED.  I WOULD NOT HAVE WANTED TO GO TO SLEEP IN A TENT OR A LOCKED UP CAR IF THIS YOUNG MAN WAS AROUND, BECAUSE YOU WON'T WAKE UP.  I HOPE THIS MAN FOUND GOD, AND CHANGED HIS VIBE.  FUZZY MEMORY = THE MAN WAS HEADED FOR LANCASTER OR L.A? HE WAS A TRAGIC, SAD CASE. WHO KNOWS WHO HE WANTED TO MEET OR PHONE (ANOTHER EVIL PERSON)?

NOT OFTEN, BUT ONE WOULD RUN INTO A BAD NEWS PERSON (FLASHY DRUG DEALER TYPE) AND ONE WOULD THINK, WHAT WAS IN THAT FELLOW's DITI-BAG? ("BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA" A SAM PECKINPAU FILM COMES TO MIND)!  BUT MOST PEOPLE WHO WERE BAD NEWS -- WERE JUST OBNOXIOUS -- BUT YOU FIND A FEW OF THOSE TYPES AT EVERY PUBLIC EVENT. 

HOWEVER! MOST PEOPLE, %98-%99 PERCENT OF THE  MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH VISITORS-- WERE JUST REGULAR PEOPLE WHO IN ESSENCE WERE "OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD OF OZ" OR "OFF TO SEE THE EMERALD CITY". THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH BEING THE SPECIAL THING THAT HAD TO BE GLEAMED.

AMERICANS LEARNED ABOUT THE PLACE BY READING ABOUT THE SOLO BOX IN MAGAZINES OR ON THE INTERNET. CONSEQUENTLY FOR GENERATION X, THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH BECAME A 1969 WOODSTOCK-ESQUE LANDMARK, AS IN--- I WAS THERE, I SAW IT, I TALKED ON IT. 

MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH TIDBIT -- THE AREA CODE FOR THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH AT ONE TIME WAS 619 AND THEN IT WAS CHANGED TO 760. 

THE NATURE FREAKS DID NOT LIKE THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH. THE TREE HUGGERS WERE RIGHT WHEN IT CAME TO THE LANDSCAPE AROUND THE PHONE BOX BEING ALTERED, AS IN HUMANS KILL WEEDS.

IT IS A FACT THAT THE AREA AROUND THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH HAD BEEN WIDENED DUE TO THE LANDMARK's MANY VISITORS. TO THE CHAGRIN OF THE SAND AND SCRUB LOVERS, MANKIND WAS TRIUMPHING OVER THE WEEDS THAT BORDERED AROUND THIS STEEL AND GLASS BOX.

DEPENDING ON WHAT YEAR A PERSON WENT TO THE BOOTH,  THEY WOULD FIND THAT THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH HAD OR DID NOT HAVE AN ELECTRIC LIGHT THAT WORKED. THE REASON: THE CUBICLE's LIGHTS HAD BEEN SMASHED, WERE BURNED OUT, OR PILGRIMS HAD INSTALLED NEW ONES.  

MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH GOOD DEED: SOME BRAINIACS ON THEIR VISITS HAD GOT THE POWER RUNNING INTO THE BOOTH AND INSTALLED OUTLETS FOR LIGHTS, THE JUICE CAME VIA THE MAIN WIRE. OR BY WAY OF A CAR ENGINE's INVERTER (CONVERTER). A CHORD WITH JUICE WENT INTO THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH, VOILA, THERE WAS LIGHT AT NIGHT! COURTESY OF A CAR ENGINE AND ITS NON-STOCK GADGET POWER BOX. A BIG THANK YOU TO THE PEOPLE WHO TOOK THE TIME TO WIRE UP THE CUBICLE.

MOST OF THE TIME- THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS LIT BY YOUR OWN BATTERY OPERATED ITEMS. SOMETIMES A LANTERN OR A CANDLE WOULD BE LEFT BEHIND BY SOME GOOD SAMARITAN.

AROUND 1979 TO 1984 THE FIRST BOOM (SMALL AS COMPARED TO THE LATE 1990S PILGRIMAGE) IN VISITS TO THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH OCCURRED.  THIS WAS DUE TO AN ARTICLE THAT WAS WRITEN ABOUT THE BOOTH AND WAS NOW AND THEN REPRINTED AS FILLER IN NEVADA AND CALIFORNIA NEWSPAPERS.

IN THE MID TO LATE 1990s THE NEXT VISITOR BOOM HAPPENED. WITH THE ADVENT OF ZINES - PHOTO COPY MAGS (NOT MAINSTREAM)  + THE BUDDING INTERNET --  THE DESERT TELEPHONE BOOTH BECAME THE PLACE TO SEE.

ALSO, CIVILIZATION WAS CREEPING CLOSER TO THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH. IN THE 1990s ONE COULD SEE FROM DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF THE DESERT THERE WERE A FEW NEW STRUCTURES. AS IN - THESE BUILDINGS HAD NOT BEEN THERE DECADES BEFORE. 

NEAR THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH TOM BROKAW DID A REPORT ON THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH. A REPORTER WENT TO THE DESERT AND DID A SEGMENT FOR A BROADCAST THAT WAS SEEN AROUND THE USA. THE DESERT TELEPHONE BOX WAS BECOMING POPULAR, (PROOF OF THAT) THE HIGH SHERIFFS AT NBC IN NEW YORK HAD NOW HEARD ABOUT IT.

IN ANY CASE FROM THE LATE 1990s ONWARD A FEW TREE CACTUS-HUGGERS DID NOT LIKE THE IDEA OF PEOPLE DRIVING OUT INTO THE DESERT AND CAMPING AT THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH OR STAYING THE DAY OR EVEN A FEW HOURS THERE. THE SAND AND SCORPION LOVERS COMPLAINED ABOUT HOW NATURE WAS BEING INFRINGED UPON BY PEOPLE WHO TREKKED TO THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH.

THESE NATURE BOLSHEVIKS AND THERE CADRE GREW. IN THE EARLY 1970s THESE FRIENDS OF ROCKS AND DIRT HAD STOPPED DESERT RACES OR OFF ROADING IN MANY EMPTY SCRUBLAND AREAS OF NEVADA, CALIFORNIA, ARIZONA, & NEW MEXICO.

HERE IS AN ARCHETYPICAL EXAMPLE OF THESE VENOMOUS SELFISH, ARROGANT, EGOTISTICAL, STUPID, NATURE NAZIS. I MET ONE OF THESE NATURE FANATICS == THIS LADY WAS PROTOTYPE FOR THE LIBERAL TREE HUGGERS / DO NOT STEP ON THE SAND AND ROCKS FANATIC.  MRS. CAROLYN P-----S, WAS A COLORADO TRANSPLANT. HER MINDSET WAS THE TEMPLATE FOR FOR THOSE NO-NOTHING-RADICAL-SAND-PEOPLE WHO FINALY DID IN THE DESERT PHONE.

THIS LADY HAD BEEN AN ELEMENTARY TEACHER (POOR KIDS) AND HAD MANY LITTLE SAYINGS -- ONE IN PARTICULAR -- A SONG SHE WOULD SING-- AND I ONLY REMEMBER THE CATCH PHRASE:" I HAVE NEVER SEEN A ROAD SIGN AS PRETTY AS A TREE".  THIS HYPOCRITICAL LADY WAS A ECO WARRIOR BEFORE THE PHRASE WAS INVENTED. 

ONE TIME I MENTIONED TO THIS MONSTER, I LIKED THE OLD BURMA SHAVE BILLBOARDS, THEY HAD CREATIVE JINGLES. I THEN GOT A LASER BLAST STARE OF DISDAIN FROM THIS CIGARETTE SMOKING, MONEY GRUBBING FREAK.

AT TIMES THIS WITCH WOULD MUMBLE SOMETHING ABOUT MOTORCYCLE POLLUTION AND THE POPULATION EXPLOSION.  LATER I FOUND, ALL OF HER SAVE THE LANDSCAPE IDEALS WENT OUT THE WINDOW WHEN SHE COULD MAKE MONEY.

THIS NATURE FANATIC WAS A TEACHER IN WORD ONLY, SHE WOULD PRETEND TO DO THE WORK OF AN EDUCATOR TO GET A PENSION. APPARENTLY THIS LADY LIKED FLUNKING ELEMENTARY KIDS THAT DID NOT GO ALONG WITH HER CLASSROOM IDEAS ON HOW BAD TECHNOLOGY OR OFF ROAD VEHICLES WERE.

BELOW: After the MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH was taken away, a message was written on the sign. In essence saying the eco warriors were right. NO THE TREE HUGGERS WERE IN THE WRONG!

BELOW: The Booth is gone and age + weather have corroded the sign.

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING -CALLING

THIS MONSTER WOMAN, TOOK HER TREE HUGGER VIEWS FROM HER CLASSROOM TO THE FANATICAL CONSERVATION GROUPS THAT HAD THE IDEOLOGY =  ANYTHING OUTSIDE OF A TOWN IS OFF LIMITS TO HUMANS. THIS LIBERAL FANATIC CHAMPIONED --WESTERN USA --DO NOT WALK ON THE DIRT -- NATURE GROUPS

HOWEVER--THIS STUBBORN-BLOODLESS WOMAN WHILE SHE WAS A TEACHER AND THEN IN HER RETIREMENT WAS A CAPITALIST ALONG WITH HER HUSBAND.  THE DUO MADE MONEY OFF OF LAND SPECULATION IN DIFFERENT STATES AND THAT MEANT THE BULLDOZING OF UNSPOILED LAND FOR DEVELOPMENT. BUT EVERYTHING ELSE THAT DID NOT MAKE MRS. P_____S. AND HER HUSBAND PROFIT WAS FORBOTEN TO THE PUBLIC! 

THIS HYPOCRITE LADY WAS A MOUTH PIECE OR ARCHO-TYPE, AS IN THE TYPE OF MONSTER THAT WAS ABLE TO SWAY THE AUTHORITIES IN WHAT WAS NOT ALLOWED TO BE HIKED UPON OR DRIVEN ON.... YET WITH HER UNSCATHED LAND HOLDINGS, THIS OGRE AND HUSBAND WOULD SELL OR BULLDOZE LARGE PROPERTIES, AND HAVE THEM DEVELOPED. SHE WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME TO THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH IF SHE HAD OWENED THE AREA AND COULD HAVE MADE MONEY OFF OF A DEVELOPMENT. NOT OWNING IT, SHE WAS A FLAG WAVER AND SOPHIST -- MOTHER NATURE IS NOT HAPPY WITH ANYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH THE PHONE BOOTH. THIS VERB-AGE WAS DIRECTED AT ANYTHING THAT WAS MAN MADE IN THE WILDS -- HER IDEA OF HUmANS IN THE DESERT WAS CONTMENT WOULD BE WATCHING BUGS AND SLEEPING IN AN ARROYO.  

MRS. P_____S AND OTHERS LIKE HER -- MADE A LOT OF NOISE ABOUT PLACES THAT WERE OUT IN THE OUTBACK THAT WOULD GET VISITED BY HIKERS OR BIKERS. AS STATED BEFORE THIS "EARTH-DAY" ZEALOT WAS ANTI - ANTI - ANTI HUMANS IN THE WILDS. UNLESS, HUMANS IN THE WILDERNESS HELPED HER BANK ACCOUNT.

SOMEHOW-- RIDING A MOTORCYCLE OR GOING OFF ROAD IN A 4 WHEEL VEHICLE WAS A VERY BAD THING TO DO ACCORDING TO HER AND HER ILK.  BUT THIS HYDRA WOULD SAY NOTHING ABOUT HER BUSINESS DEALINGS, WHICH WAS REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT.

PEOPLE LIKE MRS. P_____S, WERE WOOFERS AND HOWLERS. PEOPLE WITH HER MINDSET, MAINLY HUMANISTS, GOT THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE (BLM) TO DECLARE THE PHONE BOOTH A "NUISANCE ATTRACTION". ALSO A MARY MARTIN -- A HONCHO IN THE GOVERNMENT (MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE)  EVENTUALLY DID IN THE MAGICAL PHONE BOOTH.  

ADDING TO THE RADICAL ROCK PILE IDEALS, WAS THAT SOME DESERT LOCALS DID NOT LIKE THE AMOUNT OF SEARCHERS THAT WERE SEEN GRAILING FOR THE BOOTH IN THE DESERT.

IT WAS BANDIED ABOUT BY THE "DESERT NO TRESPASSING CROWD, THAT THE PHONE BOX BROUGHT DRUGGIES AND NO LIMITS PEOPLE TO THE AREA AROUND THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH.

YES, CAMPOUTS HAPPENED AT THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH, BUT REAL VIOLENCE, AS IN WHAT TOOK PLACE AT ALTAMONT, CALIFORNIA CONCERT IN 1969, DID NOT HAPPEN AT THE MOHAVE (MOJAVE) PHONE BOX. RIOTS THAT SWEPT THE USA IN THE 1960s THROUGH THE EARLY 1970s -- DID NOT - NOT - NOT OCCUR AT THE MPB (MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH). 

SOME LOCALS AND THE NATURE FANATICS  -- ARGUED TO THE AUTHORITIES, THAT VISITORS TO THE PHONE BOOTH LEFT TRASH AND THE GARBAGE BLEW OVER THE DESERT INTO PRIVATE PROPERTY. THESE NATURE NAZIS ALSO CLAIMED THAT ABANDONED CAMPFIRES AT THE SITE WERE A PROBLEM. THERE WERE BONFIRES AND CAMPFIRES AT THE DESERT PHONE CUBICLE, BUT WERE THERE EVER WILD BRUSH FIRES OR ABANDONED FIRES AT THE SITE? I KNOW OF NONE.  ONE STORY HAS IT THAT ONE ABANDONED FIRE BURNED ACRES AND ACRES OF DESERT SHRUBS DURING DAYLIGHT HOURS. I DO NOT KNOW IF THIS IS TALE IS FACT OR FICTION? I WOULD THINK IT IS EXAGGERATION. AGAIN Is THAT TALE  FACT, LIE, HALF TRUTH, HAZY MEMORY,  THE MPB IS LOADED WITH TALES.

FOR THESE REASONS, MRS P._____S' AND HER KIND WON THE DAY --- THE PHONE BOOTH WAS TAKEN AWAY.  MORE LAND WAS FENCED OFF AND THE WILDS WERE FORBIDDEN TO BE DRIVEN ON. BUT LAND SPECULATORS LIKE MRS. P._____S, WHO SMOKED LIKE A CHIMNEY, COULD BUY PROPERTY AND THEN TURN THERE ACREAGE INTO HOUSING TRACTS WITH NO THOUGHT TO FLOOD CONTROL OR THE PRECIOUS WILD LIFE THAT SHE CHAMPIONED. THE IRONY, IS HOW MRS. P_____S, NEVER STARTED A FIRE WITH HER CIGARETTES OR MACHES WHEN SHE WAS OUT IN THE WILDS. MAYBE SHE DID? BUT SHE WOULD NEVER FESS UP TO IT.

THE WRONG PEOPLE GOT THEIR WAY, ADIOS DESERT PHONE BOOTH. HOWEVER --- THAT MAGICAL PLACE STILL LIVES IN THE MINDS OF THOSE THAT APPRECIATED OR VISITED THAT TRACT OVER THE DECADES. 

IT IS OF NOTE THAT SOME MOJAVE LOCALS DID NOT AGREE WITH THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE (BLM) OR PACIFIC BELL's DECISION OF REMOVING THE PHONE BOOTH.

FOR EXAMPLE, TERRY AND LORENE CAFFEE, WHO OWN THE NEARBY CIMA CINDER MINE WERE %100 AGAINST THE BUREA of LAND MANAGEMENT's OR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE DECISION.

TERRY SAID, "THEY DON"T WANT PEOPLE OUT HERE UNLESS THEY CAN CONTROL THEM."

LORENE ECHOED THAT IDEA BY SAYING, "IT STINKS. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR IT.  ISN'T THAT WHAT A PARK IS FOR, FOR PEOPLE TO VISIT? IT ISN'T RIGHT THE PARK SERVICE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO DO THIS, IT's  NOT RIGHT."

IN THE 1960s, 1970s, THERE WERE LESS ROADS OR PATHS IN ALL OVER THE MOJAVE. WITH POPULATION INCREASE (ARIZONA, NEVADA, CALIFORNIA)--ROADS -- TRAILS WILL HAPPEN... 

ON THIS WEBPAGE: NOTE HOW THE POWER LINES, POLES AND PHONE BOOTH AREA CHANGED THROUGH THE YEARS. THE PATH TO THE PHONE BOOTH BECAME LESS WILD, DUE TO THE SEARCHERS -"GRAILERS".  HOWEVER ONE AREA OF SANDY ROAD TO THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH BECAME MORE TREACHEROUS DUE TO THE TRAFFIC LOOSING UP THE HARDENED SAND.

IN REALITY THERE WAS NOT MUCH OFFROAD 4 WHEEL EXPLORATION IN THE LAND AROUND THE PHONE BOOTH. THE TERRAIN COULD BE RUGGED AND ONE DID NOT WANT TO BREAK AN AXLE.

A MOTORCYCLE SAFARI -- WAS DIFFERENT, THEY COULD HANDLE THE TERRAIN.

THERE WERE A FEW HARD CORE CYCLISTS WHO WENT LOOKING FOR THE MYSTICAL TELEPHONE. YES, I AND MY BROTHERS WERE DESERT RATS.

AFTER THE PHONE BOOTH BECAME KNOWN, A SECTION OR  PART OF THE  ROAD TO THE ICON PHONE, COULD  BE TREACHEROUS AS IN GETTING STUCK.  THESE VEHICLES WERE PAVED ROAD PASSENGER CARS.

BY THE LATE 1990s ACCORDING TO SOME -- PERHAPS 25-30 PEOPLE A WEEK WOULD GO TO THE PHONE BOOTH. CORRECT, HIGH, LOW?

DURING MY PREHISTORIC DESERT SAFARIS I OR MY BROTHERS ALMOST NEVER SAW ANYBODY OUT THE WILDS. THE THEME -- THE DESERT WAS BEING DESTROYED  WAS PROPAGANDA.

THE MOHAVE PHONE BOOTH -- DID GET A LOT OF VISITORS IN THE LATE 1990s, BUT THE TERRAIN AROUD THE PHONE WAS TOO FORBIDDING FOR GRAILERS TO GO OUT EXPLORING.

LEFT MAPS-- DO NOT BE FOOLED -- A LOT OF THE ROADS OFF OF THE INTERSTATE ARE BUMPY LANES OR POWER LINE TRAILS.

IF YOU LIKE THIS KIND OF LORE, SCHEDULE A TOUR WITH ALLAN, HIS PRIVATE TOURS ARE FILLED WITH SANTA FE YARNS AND TALES THAT ARE SIMILAR IN THEME TO THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH SAGA. 

ADVERTISE HERE = 
santafewriter@me.com
ALLAN's PRIVATE SANTA FE TOURS = 505-986-5002 or 505-231-1336

One thing I never heard concerning or linked to the MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH. Was that somebody at a party at point X USA or POINT Y USA, calls the desert phone . While on the desert line, a robbery happens at  at their shindig 

WHEN THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH STARTED TO GET KNOWN, I AND A FEW OTHERS SPECULATED THAT THE GUN FIRED RIDDLED METAL FRAME WAS GOING TO BE BLOWN UP BY SOME GUY WITH BAD ATTITUDE.  A DYNAMITE STICK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WOULD END IT ALL.  OR SOME HELL RAISERS WOULD USE THE PHONE BOOTH AS A HEARTH OR FIRE STARTER FOR A GIANT BONFIRE.

IF THAT DID HAPPEN, THE BOOTH BEING TORCHED OR BLOWN UP AND THEN REPLACED, I WAS UNAWARE OF IT.

FROM THE 1970s ONWARD THE BOOTH AT TIMES BECAME A TARGET AND ITS GLASS WAS SHOT OUT AND ITS DOOR WAS PULLED OFF.

HOW MANY DOORS, LIGHTS, PLASTIC/METAL COLORED SIDES AND WINDOWS THE BOOTH WENT THROUGH IS UNKNOWN.  ACCORDING TO ONE TELEPHONE MAN, MA BELL (CALIFORNIA BELL) GAVE UP IN TRYING TO KEEP THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH GLASSED.  REPAIRS OR CHEKS ON THE BOOTH WENT FROM ONCE A MONTH TO EVERY TWO MONTHS, DUE TO HOW THE OBLONG BOX WAS BEING STRIPPED OF IT's PLASTIC AND PHONE BOOKS, ETC.

CONSEQUENTLY, THE MOJAVE-BOOTH-BOOTH THROUGH THE DECADES WAS REPAIRED, IN A HALF HAZARD WAY. THIS MEANT THROUGH THE YEARS THE PLASTIC COLOR SIDINGS OR TRIM,  DID CHANGE COLOR BE IT RED OR BLUE.

IT IS A FACT, THE BOOTH DID TAKE A BEATING, NOTE THE BULLET HOLES IN THE DIFFERENT PICTURES. BUT THE GOOD ENERGY OF THAT PLACE, I THINK PREVENTED THE VANDALS FROM COMPLETELY OBLITERATING THE MPB.  

HOWEVER, AS IN UP UNITL WHAT?  THE MID 1970s, THE MPB STILL HAD GLASS WINDOWS AND THE PLACE HAD NOT BEEN THOROUGHLY ATTACKED. YES - A FEW GLASS PANELS WERE REINSTALLED BY MA BELL IN THE 1990s

PEOPLE WHO LEFT THERE MARK AT THE BOOTH, AT FIRST DID NOT DO THIS BY SACKING IT. FOR EXAMPLE, ONE FELLOW WHO IS NO LONGER ON THIS MORTAL COIL, "VULTURE", WHO WAS THE "KING OF THE BRODIES", WOULD LEAVE HIS MARK BY MAKING A BRODY IN THE GROUND WITH HIS FOUR WHEEL DRIVE TRUCK.

THE BRODIE OR BRODY (DOUGHNUT CUT INTO THE DIRT BY SPINNING A VEHICLE'S TIRES AT HIGH RPM) WOULD LAST FOR A MONTH OR MORE IN FRONT OF THE PHONE BOX, THERE ARE A FEW PHOTOS ON THE SITE THAT SHOW THAT "THE BRODY KING" HEAD BEEN THERE.  LEFT: NOTICE A BRODY LINE LEFTSIDE OF MPB.

THE POINT BEING:  PEOPLE WHO WENT TO THE MPB DURING ITS EARLY YEARS, FOR TEH MOST PART, THEY DID NOT PILLAGE THE BOX, AS SOCIETY CHANGED AND THE YEARS FLEW BY, THAT THEME CHANGED.

AS A COUNTER TO THE VANDALISM AND THE CRIMINAL ELEMENT THAT CAME TO THE BOOTH-- MORE CREATIVE GRAFFITI CAME TO THE PHONE  BOOTH ALONG WITH GIFTS LEFT, AS IN PRAISE OF THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH AND TO THOSE THAT VENTURED TO IT.

SPENT AND UNSPENT CANDLES, BULLETS, AND CASINGS, ALONG WITH ARROWS, STUFFED ANIMALS, CHAIRS, AND WRITTEN MESSAGES WERE LEFT ON OR INSIDE THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH. YES THOSE ARE ARROWS AND STICKS ON THE LEFT PHOTO.

THIS MAGICAL PLACE WAS ABOUT 75-85 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LAS VEGAS NEVADA. THE  BOOTH's POPULARITY GREW MAINLY FROM THE MID 1990's ONWARDS.  DURING THE LAST YEARS OF THE CENTURY, THE PHONE BOOTH BECAME A CULT LOCATION.

AS STATED BEFORE THE PHONE WAS ORIGINALLY A    S.O.S. STATION--- A LINK TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD. IN SOME WAYS, MAYBE YEARS AFTER IT's INSTALLATION, SOMEBODY CALLING IN OR CALLING OUT OF THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH  --  GOT THEIR LIFE SAVED BY WAY OF A CONVERSATION OR BY TAKING THE TRIP TO THE MPB. 

THE MOJAVE EXTENDING NORTHWARD INTO DEATH VALLEY. IN THIS DESERT A NUMBER OF CANTEEN SITES WITH LARGE SIGNS WERE SET UP IN THE EARLY 1960s. THE WATER CANISTERS AT THESE LARGE SIGN LOCATIONS WERE BURIED A FEW INCHES UNDER THE DIRT OR SAND. THESE SITES WERE PUT INTO PLACE DUE TO A STRING OF DEATHS THAT HAPPENED IN THE MOJAVE.

SOMETIMES, THE DESERT WOULD ATTRACT VISITORS, WHO HAD NO IDEA JUST HOW MERCILESS THE CLIMATE WAS. THESE  PEOPLE DID THERE BEST WITH THE CONDITIONS ONCE THEY GOT THERE, BUT FROM THE GET GO-- THEY WERE AT A DISADVANTAGE. THESE GREENHORNS WOULD SOMETIMES GO CAMPING AND THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THE WADIS AND THEIR STAMINA WAS NOT UP TO SNUFF.

A FEW TIME THESE NOVICES WOULD GET LOST OR THEIR CAR WOULD BREAK DOWN IN THE OUTBACK etc. THE IDEA; THESE EMERGENCY OASIS'S WOULD SAVE PEOPLE's LIVES. SADLY THESE WATER CANTEEN SITES WERE PRETTY MUCH THOROUGHLY DESTROYED BY THE LATE 1960s BY VANDALS. THE WATER STORAGE UNITS WERE DUG UP, EMPTIED OR HOLED.

AS FOR THE PHONE AND IT NOT FUNCTIONING. AT TIMES THE DESERT PHONE WAS BROKEN BY A RUFFIAN-- THAT TYPE OF ACTION, WAS A RARE THING. 

WHEN THE PHONE WAS OUT OF ORDER, WATER TENDED TO BE THE CULPRIT. YES, IT DOES OCCASIONALLY RAIN IN THE DESERT. WHEN IT DOES STORM, THE WATER COMES DOWN IN GOOD QUANTITIES. WITH THE BOOTH's GLASS KNOCKED OUT AND THE ROOF BULLET HOLED, THE PHONE WOULD GET WET AND GIVE OUT. WATER OR LATER RUST WOULD DO IN THE DEVICE.  CLICK ON LEFT ICON FOR  FOOTAGE OF WHAT A MOJAVE MONSOON CAN BE LIKE.

ALSO DUST, SAND, HEAT AND WINTER MOISTURE WOULD FOUL UP THINGS AND CAUSE THE PHONE TO BREAK. REMEMBER THE PHONE BOOTH WAS GUTTED, WHEN THE WIND BLOWS IN THE DESERT, IT IS A SANDSTORM DELUXE.  

LEFT 2-ICONS - CLICK ON THEM-- SHORT VIDEOS ON A SANDSTORM IN THE MOJAVE. SOMETIMES, THE STORMS ARE WORSE THAN WHAT WAS TAPED. WITH NO WINDOWS, THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH TOOK DAMAGE  WHEN IT STORMED.

DURING THE WINTER, THAT COLD CONDITIONS CAN RESULT IN A LIGHT FROST.  THE FROST IS A RARE THING, THE POINT BEING, THE WEATHER IN THE DESERT IS EXTREME.

SO "MA BELL" (TELEPHONE COMPANY) THROUGH THE DECADES DID HAVE TO REPAIR THE PHONE. NOTE IN THESE PICTURES THE DIFFERENT PHONE  MODELS. THE  PHONES EITHER BROKE BY WAY OF USE AND THE ELEMENTS, OR THEY WERE PURPOSELY DESTROYED.

ACCORDING TO A GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT, ONE DESTROYER OF THE PHONE, AND I ONLY FOUND THIS OUT AGES AFTER THE PHONE WAS PULLED FROM THE DESERT, WAS A MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH NEIGHBOR.

IN A 2004 MOJAVE ADMINISTRATION HISTORY (DOCUMENT), AND THESE GOVERNMENT REPORTS GATHER ALL KINDS OF FACTS. MARY MARTIN, (ENEMY OF THE PHONE BOOTH) WHO WAS THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE MOJAVE RESERVE (THE AREA WHERE THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS LOCATED), CLAIMED THAT MOJAVE RANCHER TIM OVERTON WOULD OCCASIONALLY CUT THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH's PHONE WIRE. ACCORDING TO MARTIN, OVERTON WOULD NEVER ADMIT TO THE DEED PUBLICLY. WHY WOULD THIS MAN CUT THE PHONE's CORD?

ONE OF THE ROADS THAT RAN TO THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH RAN PAST HIS DIRT ROAD DRIVE WAY, OR RAN CLOSE TO OVERTON's FRONT DOOR. WHEN VOYAGERS WOULD GET STUCK IN THE SAND ON THIS PHONE BOOTH ROAD IN THEIR NON-4WHEEL DRIVE VEHICLES. THE UNPREPARED GREENHORNS WOULD WALK OVER TO OVERTON's, KNOCK ON HIS DOOR AND ASK FOR HELP.

MARY MARTIN  CLAIMED, OUT OF REVENGE FOR BEING BOTHERED, OVERTON DID THE ACT.  SNIP, SNIP WENT THE CABLE TO THE HANDSET. DID  THIS RANCHER THINK THIS ACTION WOULD STOP PEOPLE FROM VISITING THE PHONE BOOTH? IT DID NOT, AND THERE WERE MANY WAYS THIS RANCHER COULD HAVE MADE PROFIT OFF OF HIS LOCATION.

FOR EXAMPLE: OVERTON COULD HAVE MADE A FORTUNE  BY CHARGING HIGH PRICES TO TOW PEOPLE OUT OF THE SAND. ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS BUY A GOOD WINCH, AND HAVE A RELIABLE 4 WHEEL DRIVE VEHICLE AND BIG MONEY COMES HIS WAY. BY THE LATE 1990s, A LOT OF PEOPLE WERE VISITING THE PHONE BOOTH AND A NUMBER OF THE VISITORS' VEHICLES WERE GETTING STUCK IN THE SAND. LIKEWISE, OVERTON COULD HAVE SOLD COLD DRINKS FOR HIGH PRICES.

YES, THERE WERE PLACES  BY THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH THAT WERE SANDY LANES. IF YOU DID NOT KNOW HOW TO DRIVE IN SAND, YOU COULD GET STUCK. OF COURSE IF YOU WERE IN A 4 WHEEL DRIVE VEHICLE, OR ON A MOTORCYCLE, THE DESERT LANE WAS A PIECE OF CAKE. IF YOU WERE IN A NON ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLE, IF YOU LOWERED THE AIR PRESSURE ON YOUR TIRES, YOUR CHANCE OF GETTING STUCK WERE LESS.

LOW AIR PRESSURE IN TIRES? IN THE SAND, DEPENDING ON THE VEHICLE, IF MORE TIRE RUBBER MEETS THE SAND, DUE TO LESS AIR IN THE TIRES, YOU GET BETTER TRACTION IN THE SAND. THIS MEANS LESS CHANCE OF BOGGING DOWN.

AS FOR MARY MARTIN, A GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE KNOWING ABOUT VANDALISM TO THE MPB, AS IN WHO SABOTAGED THE PHONE. I WONDER IF SHE WAS PRO-SABOTAGE. IN THE END OF THE MPB's LIFE, MARY MARTIN WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAD "1984-BIG BROTHER POWER" AND ENDED UP MAKING THE DECISION OR RUBBER STAMPING THE DECREE TO YANK THE PHONE FROM THE DESERT.

IT SEEMS MARY MARTIN AND THE PREVIOUS MENTIONED MRS. P______, AND THE OTHER NATURE FANATICS WERE ALL OF THE SAME MIND SET.  MANKIND IN THE DESERT IS A NO-NO.  DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO KEEP HUMANITY FROM  VISITING THE SANDY WILDERNESS. WHAT DID MARY MARTIN THINK ABOUT THE PHONE LINE BEING CUT BY RANCHER OVERTON?  WELL, SHE DID SPEARHEAD THE REMOVAL OF THE BOOTH.

ONE TIME, THE WHOLE HANDSET WAS MISSING. DID THE PERSON WHO CUT THE LINE, TAKE THE PHONE HANDSET? OR DID A DISAPPOINTED VISITOR SEE THE DESTRUCTION AND TAKE A KEEPSAKE?

SUPPOSEDLY AT TIMES A PHONE PART WOULD GIVE OUT BECAUSE A LIGHTENING BOLT WOULD  HIT THE BOOTH DURING A STORM AND FRY THE INNERS OF THE PHONE. THAT IS A GOOD STORY, I WONDER IF IT IS TRUE. BUT AT THIS ENCHANTED PLACE IN THE DESERT, ANYTHING WAS POSSIBLE. CLICK LEFT  STORM ICON FOR  FOOTAGE OF JUST HOW VIOLENT A LIGHTENING STORM CAN BE IN THE MOJAVE.

AS THE SITE BECAME POPULAR AND WAS VISITED MORE OFTEN - MID 1990s ONWARD.  IN MY OPINION LESS VANDALISM HAPPENED TO THE PHONE-BOOTH. NOW THERE WERE PEOPLE CAMPING AT THE PHONE BOOTH AT NIGHT OR VISITING THE PHONE BOX DURING THE DAY. CONSEQUENTLY, THEYSE GRAILERS THWARTED BAD DEEDS TO THE MPB. (GUNSHOTS)

IN OTHER WORDS, THESE VOYAGERS WOULD NOT LET WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE PHONE CUBICLE BE DESTROYED FURTHER. THE PHONE BOX BY WAY OF THE PILGRIMS BECAME A PLACE THAT WAS RESPECTED. 

PRIOR TO THE MID 1990s, VISITORS TO THE BOOTH HAD LEFT MEMENTOS ON THE METAL FRAME ALONG WITH GRAFFITI. BUT FROM THE MID 1990s ONWARD, TREKKERS WOULD PLACE PHONE LOGS INSIDE THE BOX. WOULD THESE JOURNALS BE COLLECTED BY THE OWNER, I DOUBT IT. WHO KNOWS WHO TOOK THEM, ANOTHER VISITOR?

THE ACT OF MAKING A LOGBOOK OF CALLS COMING INOT THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH OR THE ACT OF LEAVING A TELEPHONE LOGBOOK AT THE SITE MEANT A DIFFERENT KIND OF THINKING WAS GOING ON WITH THE NEW BREED OF VISITORS WHO CAME TO THE DESERT. THESE NEWBIES WANTED TO DOCUMENT FROM WHAT FAR OFF PLACES PEOPLE WERE COMMUNICATING FROM.  

PARAPHRASING JANE GOODALL FROM HER AFRICAN PRIMATE 1960s DOCUS, "THE CHIMPANZEES HAVE ELEVATED THEMSELVES INTO A HIGHER TRIBE MENTALITY."  

THIS THEME (LOGBOOKS) - DOCUMENTATION WAS NILL UP  UNTIL THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH BECAME THE "IT" PLACE.  

FOR THE "OLD BREED" THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS ALWAYS THE "IT" PLACE.  BUT THE "OLD BREED"  WAS NOT AS SENTIMENTAL AS THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS.

WITH THE "NEW BREED; THERE WAS AN OUT POURING OF EMOTION FOR THE BOOTH. SURE THE BOOTH HAD BEEN DECORATED AND HONORED PRIOR TO THE 1990s,  BUT FROM THE MID 1990s ON --- THE MOHAVE BOOTH BECAME A CULT ICON TO THE WORLD. THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS A 1990s THAAAAAANG, EVEN THOUGH IT HAD BEEN AROUND FOR DECADES.

DURING THE MPB's ZENITH OF VISITS, GOOD SAMARITANS WOULD SWEEP OUT THE BOOTH's FLOOR. EXPOSING (SURPRISE) A METAL BOTTOM.  

WITH THE ADVENT OF ZINES-THE START OF THE INTERNET THE DAYS OF THE OLD BOOTH BEING ALONE IN THE DESERT AND OCCASIONALLY BEING VISITED BY A DESERT RAT ON HIS MOTORCYCLE OR IN A BAJA BUG WAS OVER. AMERICANS FROM COAST TO COAST CAME TO SEE THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH. THESE PIONEER-GENERATION X PEOPLE BRAVED THE SAND ROADS IN REGULAR CARS NOT DUNE BUGGIES. 

SOME OUTDOORSMEN -- BIKERS - JEEPSTERS GOT ANGRY AND THOUGHT THE PLACE IS RUINED WITH ALL THESE NEW MPB VISITORS.

THINGS CHANGE, NOTHING STAYS THE SAME. THE MAJORITY OF THE NEW VISITORS - FOR THE MOST PART WERE NOT ON THE SAME MENTAL REALM AS THE OLD DESERT RIDERS, AS KNOWING WHERE SECRET TRAILS, ABANDONED MINES, AND DESERT RUINS WERE LOCATED.

HOWEVER, IN OTHER WAYS, DARE I WRITE IT, THE NEWBIES WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THE DESERT, RESPECTED THE MOJAVE-PHON-BOOTH MORE THAN THE OLD BREED BY WAY OF THIER OFFERINGS TO THIS CULT PHONE CUBICLE.

QUESTERS BY WAY OF THE INTERNET, MAGAZINES, WORD OF MOUTH, HAD TURNED THE MPB INTO A WORLD LANDMARK.  THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS FROM THE LATE 1990s HONORED AROUND THE GLOBE.  AND, AND, AND, THAT IS NOT BAD.

IN THE SNAPSHOTS, NOTICE HOW THE  GRAFFITI CHANGED OVER THE YEARS.  DUE TO  HUMANS AND NATURE, THE MARKINGS ON THE MPB DID NOT LAST. IN SOME WAYS THE NOTES LEFT ON THE FRAME ARE RATHER LIKE A METAPHOR FOR LIFE, NOTHING LASTS FOREVER.  BUT WHILE THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH EXISTED, IT WAS AT TIMES OR A LOT OF THE TIME,  A PLACE OF WISDOM AND FUN.

ABOVE LEFT & LEFT ARE TWO LATE 1990s VIDEO ON THE MPB. THE LEFT IS A NEWS BROADCAST. THE BOTTOM LEFT IS SHORT MOVIE ABOUT THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH, IT IS RATHER  GOOD.

BOTH BROADCAST AND SHORT DOCU WERE MADE AFTER THE DESERT PHONE HAD BEEN DISCOVERED BY THE WORLD.  

NOTE HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE NOW TRAVELING TO THIS LOCATION, PLUS HOW MANY STRANGERS WERE CALLING IN. AS STATED BEFORE, PRIOR TO THE LATE  1990s, FEW PEOPLE  KNEW OR VENTURED OUT TO THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH.  THOSE THAT WENT WERE  BIKERS, THE BAJA BUG, OR DUNE BUGGY PEOPLE, a.k.a. DESERT RATS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF TIMES, WHEN THE PHONE LINE WAS NOT OPEN, IT WAS BECAUSE THE PHONE WAS IN USE, OR IT WAS BROKEN; AND THEN- FOR SOME ODD OR BAD REASON, A SOLO USER WOULD LEAVE THE PHONE OFF THE HOOK. ONLY WHEN SOMEBODY GOT TO THE BOOTH AND PUT THE PHONE BACK IN PLACE WOULD THE LINE WOULD BE OPEN.  

NEAR THE END OF THE PHONE BOOTH's EXISTENCE, THE VAST MAJORITY OF TIME WHEN THE LINE WAS NOT OPEN, IT WAS BECAUSE SOMEBODY WAS CALLING IN OR OUT.

BY THE MID 1990s THE SECRET WAS OUT! PEOPLE WANTED TO CALL FROM OR TO, THE EDGE OF THE WORLD!

IN THE LATE 1990s DUE TO ZINES AND MAIN STREAM MEDIA,  WAVES OF PILGRIMS VISITED THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH. CONSEQUENTLY ON BUSY DAYS, THE CALLERS HAD TO WAIT IN LINE TO USE THE PHONE. WERE THERE FIGHTS TO USE THE TELEPHONE?

I DO NOT KNOW OF ANY, I AM SURE SOME PEOPLE GOT GRUMPY.  WAITING TO USE A DESERT PHONE AMONGST MAYBE 30 PEOPLE,  MOSTLY STRANGERS, COULD BE DIFFICULT. THE 

LEFT ICON: COMMERCIAL FOR GREY GOOSE VODKA.  IT CAPTURES THE MAGIC OF TRAVELING TO THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH OR THE ENERGY AT THE MPB . 

CLICK ON ICON BELOW ----- MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH SOUND...

RING-RING. WHO IS AT THE END OF THE LINE?

NOBODY IS AT THE MPB. SO - IT IS A SAD RING -BECAUSE NO PICK UP.

 AT THE DESERT PHONE, DAY OR NIGHT.  YOU could be VERY SURPRISED, AS IN, WHO YOU TALKED TO.

THE ONLY TWO THING THAT DID NOT HAPPEN AT THE DESERT PHONE BOOTH OR THERE IS NO PHOTO EVIDENCE OR EYE WITNESS ACCOUNTS  OF THESE THINGS HAPPENING; IS THE 1950s FAD OF SEEING HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN SQUEEZE INTO A BOOTH….AS IN SARDINES PILED UP ONE ATOP THE OTHER, 1950s STYLE.

ALSO THE LOVE LOCK FAD DID NOT CATCH ON AT THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH. WHAT IS THE LOVE LOCK?  PEOPLE PLEDGE THEIR LOVE TO A PERSON OR ITEM, THEY THEN WRITE THEIR NAME OR INITIALS ONTO A PADLOCK. THE PERSONALIZED  LOCK IS CLAMPED ONTO A PIECE OF METAL OR CABLE AND ITS KEY IS THROWN AWAY.

THE LOCK WITH THE NAMES OR LETTERS IS NOW PART OF THE METAL FRAME OR BEAM.  OTHER LOCKS BY OTHER PEOPLE ARE PUT ONTO THE OBJECT, AND IN TIME A WALL OF PADLOCKS  MAKE UP A CERTAIN AREA. 

THIS FAD BECAME POPULAR IN EUROPE DURING THE LAST YEARS OF THE DESERT PHONE BOOTH. METAL BRIDGE RAILINGS AT ROMANTIC SITES, WERE FILLED WITH INSCRIBED PADLOCKS. 

MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH: NEW IDEAS & THEMES!

THE LOVE LOCK IS A CUTE IDEA, ANYBODY CAN DO THAT.  LATCH A LOCK TO A PIECE OF METAL WITH INITIALS OR NAMES.   

THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH WAS NOT CUTE IT WAS RUGGED, LIKE THE LAND IT STOOD ON. MAYBE THAT IS WHY THE PADLOCK FAD DID NOT TAKE ROOT IN THE DESERT.  VERY FEW PADLOCKS WERE EVER LEFT THERE.

THROUGH THE DECADES THE PHONE BOX WAS SHOT TO PIECES BUT THE  METAL BOX SURVIVED AND BECAME AN ICON.  I CAN NOT THINK OF ANY OTHER PHONE BOOTH THAT WAS BLASTED AND PILLAGED SO MANY TIMES, THEN REPAIRED. DECADE AFTER DECADE, THE PHONE BOOTH KEPT BEING THAT MAGICAL PLACE -- IT EXISTED!

ALSO, NO GROUP OF EGOTISTICAL ARTISTS NEVER DID TRY TO MAKE A STATEMENT AT THE LOST PHONE BOOTH BY PUTTING CHAINS OR HOSES AROUND THE FRAME AND THEN PADLOCKING THE STRUCTURE CLOSED. 

NEW WAVE ARTISTS OF DECADES PAST TENDED TO DO WHATEVER IT TOOK TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THEMSELVES BY THEIR ANTICS, DISGUISED AS ART. 

IF A MISGUIDED OBNOXIOUS ARTIST HAD TRIED TO ROPE OFF OR CHAIN OFF WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE BOOTH, A VISITOR WITH BOLT CUTTERS WOULD HAVE LIBERATED THE PHONE BOX BY CUTTING THROUGH THE CHAINS, CABLE, AND LOCK.

THROUGH THE YEARS THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH GOT UNIQUE OFFERINGS. WHY THE PRESENTS? BECAUSE OF THE ENERGY THAT BEAMED FROM THAT CUBICLE AND PHONE. 

THE DESERT PHONE BOOTH WAS NOT A ROMANTIC PLACE, LIKE A PARISIAN BRIDGE. THE PHONE BOX WAS A LOCATION -- THAT MARKED WHERE CIVILIZATION ENDED, AND WHERE ADVENTURE AND SOMETIMES, WHERE ENLIGHTENMENT BEGAN. 

THE HAUNTED WITH GOOD ENERGY TELEPHONE BOOTH SAW ALMOST EVERYTHING; ADVENTURERS, LOVERS, VANDALS, ROMANTICS, AND SOME  VERY UNIQUE PEOPLE.  

LEFT - ONE GUY STANDS ALONE, AS FAR AS NOT BEING ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH. THAT MAN WAS SLIM TEXICAN, RICK KARR-- WHO ACCORDING TO LORE AND SOME FACT, AT AGE 51 IN 1999--STAYED AT THE BOOTH FOR 32 DAYS. THIS MAN TALKED TO PEOPLE WHO CALLED IN. KARR LIVED OUT OF A SMALL RED TENT, AMONGST THE WEEDS, AWAYS FROM THE PHONE BOOTH --SMACK IN RATTLESNAKE COUNTRY!

HOW THIS GUY DID NOT GET BIT BY RATTLESNAKES IS A GOOD QUESTION.  A DIVINE FORCE WATCHED OVER HIM.  AND OF COURSE THE PHONE BOOTH's GOOD MOJO RUBBED OFF ON HIM OR HIS SLEEPING AREA!

RICK KARR TALKED TO PEOPLE FROM AROUND THE WORLD & TOLD THEM --  AT TIMES -- TO REPENT --- THE MAN WAS ON A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY.  KARR, NOW AND THEN WOULD QUOTE THE BIBLE, IN ORDER TO ILLUSTRATE HIS MESSAGE.

LEFT -THEN THERE WAS "DESERT CHAD", WHO ALSO CAMPED OUT AT THE PHONE IN THE LATE 1990s. SOME WIERD BEARDS, SAY THAT KARR AND CHAD WERE ONE IN THE SAME. EL WRONGO! KARR HAD A PANHANDLE TWANG, HE WAS ORIGINALLY FROM AMARILLO, TEXAS;  BUT CAME TO THE BOOTH FROM BULLHEAD CITY, ARIZONA. DESERT CHAD, HAD NO ACCENT, HE WAS FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND WAS A RATHER YOUNG LOOKING FELLOW.  CHADRACK!  CHAD! DESERT CHAD, WAS A GOOD GUY WHO HAD THAT--LISTEN TO HIM ON THE OLD ART BELL SHOW -- THE SHOW WAS POSTED ON THIS WEBSITE -- (ART BELL COAST TO COAST)  WHEN YOU LISTEN TO CHAD -- YOU CAN TELL HE IS FILLED WITH GOODWILL AND WAS LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST.  DESERT CHAD -- WISHING YOU THE VERY BEST -- THE WORLD NEEDS MORE  GOOD SOULS -- LIKE YOU!

ON ONE OF DESERT CHAD's SOLO ODYSSEY's TO THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH, HE MET UP WITH A FILM CREW.  CHAD WAS THE GUIDE AND HISTORIAN FOR THE GROUP. THE WORLD NEEDS MORE DESERT CHAD TYPES, HE WAS AN ALL AROUND TERRIFIC GUY.

LEFT- DESERT CHAD LEFT HIS MARK ON THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH ALONG WITH MISTRESS CARRIE, WHO IS A THROWBACK TO THE 1960s THIRLL SEEKERS! BELOW LEFT IS "MISTRESS CARRIE" WHO IS THE MUSIC DIRECTOR & AFTERNOON DRIVE HOST OF WAAF 97.7 or 107.3 BOSTON www.waaf.com 3-7PM EASTERN….

I THINK GODFREY DANIELS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED THE "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS" OF THE PHONE BOOTH. YES, I AND SOME OTHERS KNEW OF THE PHONE BOOTH DECADES BEFORE DANIELS, WHO AT AGE 34 IN 1997 DISCOVERED IT. HOWEVER, I AND THE DESERT RATS WERE LIKE THE VIKINGS OF OLD, WE KNEW ABOUT "THE NEW WORLD", BUT WE DID NOTHING WITH IT.   

THE AGE OF DISCOVERY CAME ABOUT DUE TO DANIELS - THE MPB's CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.  

DANIELS THROUGH THE BUDDING  INTERNET OF THE 1990S -- LET THE REST OF THE WORLD KNOW WHAT A WONDERFUL PLACE THE MPB WAS.  DANIELS WHO WAS A ZINE FELLOW -- IN ESSENCE,  TOLD THE "OLD WORLD" ABOUT THE "NEW WORLD" -- AND THE "NEW WORLD" WAS THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH. THE RUSH WAS ON FOR PEOPLE TO GO OUT AND FIND IT AND SOMETIMES CAMP OUT BY IT.  WITHOUT DANIELS PEOPLE WOULD NOT HAVE FOUND THE MPB - READ HIS BOOK!

OVERNIGHTERS HAPPENED AT THE MPB. FIREPITS WERE DUG AND SOMETIMES SCRAPS OF WOOD WAS BROUGHT IN. THE MATERIAL THAT WAS NOT USED WAS LEFT BEHIND FOR THE NEXT CAMPFIRE. 

AT ONE TIME, IN THE DESERT YOU WOULD ONLY FIND BIKERS LIKE ME AND BAJA BUG PEOPLE + JEEPSTER, BUT THOSE DAYS WERE NOW OVER.

PEOPLE WITH ADVENTURE IN THEIR HEART, WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THE DESERT TOOK WHATEVER VEHICLE THEY HAD, EVEN IF IT WAS NOT A GOOD ROUGH TERRAIN AUTO, AND OFF THEY WENT TO FIND THE PHONE BOOTH.

TO ME, THIS WAS THE AMERICAN SPRIT IN ACTION. NOVICES AND CITY PEOPLE DID NOT LET THEIR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE STOP THEM FROM FINDING THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH.

I THOUGHT THE PHONE BOOTH HAD A ODD, STRANGE--BUT GOOD ENERGY. APPARENTLY SO DID OTHER PEOPLE.  GODFREY IN MY OPINION WAS A 1990s "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS", NOW THAT IS QUITE A CLAIM.   BUT THE FACT IS, GODFREY TOLD THE PEOPLE WHO HAD ADVENTURE IN THEIR HEART BY WAY OF THE INTERNET, THAT THERE IS A "COOL" PLACE OUT WEST. GOT GUTS-- GO TO IT, THE MPB.  LIKEWISE, COLUMBUS TOLD THE COMMONS IN EUROPE, THERE IS A RUGGED BUT WONDERFUL LAND ACROSS THE BIG WATER. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

IN THE FUTURE, I AM GOING OT HAVE TO WRITE A FICTIONAL SCREENPLAY ABOUT THE MPB AND THE CHARACTERS THAT VISITED THAT PLACE.

ONE GUY, WHO WOULD GIVE TOURS TO THE BOOTH in 1999 WAS 63 YEAR OLD TOW TRUCK DRIVER CHARLIE WILCOX.  TOW TRUCK DRIVERS HAVE GOT TO BE TOUGH, THEY WORK IN ALL KINDS OF WEATHER. SO IT WAS APPROPRIATE THAT THE GUIDE TO THIS MAGICAL ISOLTAED WILD PLACE -- WAS A TOW TRUCK DRIVER. 

KEEP SENDING ME PHOTOS OF YOUR TIME AT THE HAUNTED WITH GOOD ENERGY MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH!!!!!! SO I CAN POST THEM. I AM IN THE PROCESS OF TRYING TO FIND SOME OF MY OLD B/W PHOTOS, BUT I THINK THE PHOTOS ARE LOST FOR GOOD.

LEFT: THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH ALWAYS HAD INTERESTING GRAFFITI OR DECALS.

ANOTHER TALL TALE HAD ACTOR, "THE KING OF COOL" STEVE McQUEEN IN THE LATE 1960's RIDING HIS MOTORCYCLE IN THE DESERT AND FINDING THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH. "THE KING OF COOL" WAS AN ADVENTURER.  SO, IS THIS YARN LIE OR TRUTH?

WORDS OF WISDOM: NOTHING LASTS FOREVER, THINGS CHANGE!  LIVE IN THE PRESENT, DO NOT WAIT ANOTHER YEAR OR MONTH TO DO SOMETHING.  STOP MISSING OUT ON LIFE OR EXPERIENCES.

GO FOR THE GUSTO! TAKE A CAMERA TO RECORD YOUR ADVENTURE. YOU MAY NOT GET ANOTHER CHANCE TO VISIT THAT PLACE OR BE WITH THOSE SPECIAL PEOPLE OR THAT SPECIAL PERSON.  NOTHING IN THIS LIFE IS GUARANTEED. DO NOT HAVE ANY REGRETS OF I SHOULD HAVE VISITED THIS PLACE OR GONE THERE.

THE RIGHT BELOW NIGHT PHOTO IS LATE 1990s.  NOTE THAT THE PHONE LIGHT IS WORKING, IT IS NOT SHOT OUT OR PULLED. THAT IS A CLUE AS IN YEAR OR DECADE. BECAUSE THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS REPAIRED BY GOOD SAMARITANS IN THE 1990s.  FROM AROUND 1997 ONWARD THE DESERT BOOTH -- BECAME A HAPPENING PLACE!  THE BOOTH's LIGHT IS POWERED BY WAY OF A CAR ENGINE THROUGH A CONVERtER OR INVERTER... IS THERE GLASS ON THE BOOTH IN THE NIGHT PHOTO? NO, IT IS A TRICK OF LIGHT.  BELOW: AN OFFERING, BUT SOMEBODY PUT THE OFFERING, THIS PLASTIC PINK FLAMINGO PHONE BOOTH GIFT ATOP A NEARBY TELEPHONE POLE.  I DO NOT THINK THE WIND BLEW IT UP THERE!

IN ITS INFACY, THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH DREW THE OUTBACK EXPLORERS. WHEN THE PHONE BOX BECAME FAMOUS, IT ATTRACTED THE WILD, THE MILD, THE SEEKERS, THE BYSTANDERS, THE TRUTH-ERS AND THRILL SEEKERS. NO MATTER WHAT, YOU HAD TO HAVE  MOXY TO GET THE TELEPHONE. 

IN MAY OF 2000, THE HAUNTED DESERT TELEPHONE BOOTH WAS REMOVED.

PRIOR TO IT BEING HAULED AWAY, THE PHONE BOOTH HAD BECOME A MECA FOR ADVENTURERS AND ECCENTRICS-- WHY?   THE PHONE IN ESSENCE AT THE EDGE OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE.  PEOPLE ARE CURIOUS ABOUT LIMITS AND BARRIERS. ALSO,  A PHONE CALL TO THIS BOOTH WAS LIKE CALLING FAR OFF MARS.  

FOR THOSE THAT DID NOT WANT TO ROUGH IT, BUT WANTED TO SEE THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH, THERE WAS A TOW TRUCK DRIVER WHO HAD A SENSE OF HUMOR (CHARLES WILCOX). FOR A FEE WILCOX  WOULD BE YOUR GUIDE AND DRIVE YOU TO THE MAGICAL PHONE BOOTH. LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH CAPITALISM, THE WORLD NEEDS MORE CHARLES WILCOX TYPES.  

LEFT PHOTO - CHARLES WILCOX MAKING A CALL AT THE BOOTH.  WHAT BECAME OF GOOD OLD CHARLES?  THS NEWS IS A DECADE PLUS OLD, (TRUE OR FALSE HEARSAY?) --  BUT THE MAN WITH THE TOW TRUCK WAS LIVING IN CALIFORNIA, AT HIS DAUGHTER's PLACE. IF I REMEMBER RIGHT, SAN DIEGO? ALL THE BEST FOR YOU CHARLES!  

AS STATED NEAR THE TOP OF THIS PAGE,THE PHONE BOOTH WAS INTENDED TO BE AN S.O.S. LINE FOR RANCHERS AND MINERS OF THE AREA WHO HAD NO PHONE LINE.  ACCORDING TO CAMP FIRE TALES OR LEGEND, EMERSON RAY A MOJAVE RESIDENT, IN THE 1940s BADGERED MA BELL TO PUT A PHONE IN THE DESERT, IN CASE SOMETHING BEFELL THE MINERS OR RANCHERS OF THE AREA. 

SO IS EMERSON RAY THE GENIUS BEHIND THE MOJAVE  PHONE, WHICH LATER BECAME THE  DESERT PHONE BOOTH? MAYBE? NO MATTER WHAT GOES THE STORY, THE TELEPHONE POLES AND LINES WERE GOING UP IN THE DESERT DUE TO THE WORLD WAR II THREAT OF BATTLE ON THE PACIFIC COAST. A BACKUP TELEPHONE LINE WAS PUT IN PLACE, BUT THE PHONE IN THE DESERT GETTING SERVICE FROM THE NEWLY INSTALLED CABLES? THAT COULD VERY WELL BE EMERSON RAY's BRAINWAVE.

SHORTLY AFTER THE PHONE's INSTALLATION, CIRCA 1940s, THIS PHONE BECAME KNOWN AS A LIFE LINE FOR THOSE WHO GOT LOST IN THE DESERT. NEED HELP, FIND THE SQUAWK BOX.  

WITH THE ADVENT OF MOBIL PHONES, THE PHONE COMPANY DEEMED THAT THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS NOT PROFITABLE ENOUGH, SO PACIFIC BELL BRAINWAVES SIGNED THE DEATH WARANT FOR THE DESERT PHONE.

BUT THE LOGIC THAT THE BELL COMPANY USED WAS FAULTY OR THERE REASONING IS A LIE. FROM THE MID 1990s, PACIFIC BELL OR MA BELL COULD HAVE RAISED THE PHONE CALL RATES TO THE HIGHEST LIMIT AT THIS LOCATION. AS IN VISITORS WOULD HAVE TO FORK OVER A LOT OF COIN TO GET THE LINE OPEN AND MAKE A CALL FROM THE DESERT PHONE BOOTH.

YES, THE VOYAGERS TO THE DESERT WOULD HAVE PAID A HIGH AMOUNT FOR A CALL, ONCE THEY GOT TO THE MPB, AND THEY WOULD HAVE PAID IT. 

IN THE EXTREME, THE BELL COMPANY COULD HAVE HAD A PHONE COP THERE IN THE VICINITY OF THE CUBICLE MAKING CHANGE AND WATCHING OVER THE BOOTH.  

LIKEWISE -- TO CALL INTO THIS PHONE THE BELL COMPANY COULD HAVE  ADDED A TREMENDOUS SIR CHARGE TO THE PHONE CALL. THE CURIOUS WHO CALLED IN WOULD HAVE PAID THAT SIR CHARGE.

THE DESERT PHONE COULD HAVE BEEN A GOLD MINE FOR PACIFIC BELL. BUT THE CORPORATE SUITS DID NOT THINK THINGS OUT. 

ALSO THE TREE HUGGERS DID NOT LIKE THE IDEA OF THE DESERT BEING TRAMPLED UPON OR DRIVEN OVER BY PILGRIMS IN SEARCH OF THE PHONE!   THESE NATURE FANATICS HAVE NO SOUL. COMBINED TOGETHER, CORPORATE PENCIL MEN AND THE NATURE GESTAPO, MADE FOR THE END OF THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH.

AS YOU STUDY THE PICTURES YOU CAN SEE THAT THE GEOGRAPHY AROUND THE PHONE BOOTH DID CHANGE THROUGH THE DECADES. THE MORE PEOPLE THAT VISITED BOOTH, MEANT THAT THE BAREN AREA AROUND THE PHONE EXPANDED. HOWEVER, EVEN WITH THE INFLUX OF PEOPLE, THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH WAS LIKE GOING TO THE MOON, IN HOW REMOTE IT WAS.

THE REMAINS OF CAMPFIRES CAN BE SEEN IN SOME OF THESE PICTURES.  THE CAMPERS  MAINLY CAME DURING THE 1990s.

IN ONE OF THESE PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE, AND I AM NOT SAYING WHICH, MY NO LIMITS DECEASED  SISTER AND NO RULES DECEASED HUSBAND PUT THERE "ID MARK" ONTO THE BOOTH.   MY LOOP HOLE, IF I AM IN A COURT OF INQUIRY----- "YES, I WAS (SUPPOSEDLY) OUT IN THE DESERT WHEN THIS HAPPENED, BUT MY MIND FOGS". THAT IS MY ALIBI. I THINK "SUPPOSEDLY" GETS ME OUT OF THE LURCH FOR "SQUEALING", HA-HA.  OR I CAN SAY, WELL -- THE COUPLE WHO PUT A BIG JOHN HANCOCK ON THE BOOTH, THOSE TWO WERE NEAR DUPLICATES IN SO MANY WAYS TO MY OUTLAW SISTER AND HUSBAND. THEY COULD HAVE BEEN CLONES?  YEAH, BAD HUMOR.

I COULD BE WRONG, BUT I DO NOT THINK THE CATTLE GUARD NEAR THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH LOCATION WAS NOT INSTALLED TILL THE 1950s. 

NO MATTER, WHEN THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH WAS REACHED OR FOUND-- %99 OF THE TIME A GOOD TIME WAS HAD.  AS YOU CAN SEE BY THESE PICTURES, TREKKERS WOULD LEAVE OBJECTS BEHIND, MESSAGES ON THE BOOTH, MEMENTOS OR BULLET HOLES IN THE FRAME.

ONE WONDERS HOW MANY TIMES THE PHONE WAS DESTROYED OUT OF IDIOCY OR BY DESPERATE PEOPLE WANTING COIN.

A LOT OF THESE PICTURES HAVE BEEN SENT TO ME OVER THE YEARS.  AGAIN, IF YOU HAVE ANY SNAPSHOTS SEND THEM MY WAY.  

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THE BOOTH AND THE GRAILERS AT TIMES WERE SERENADED BY PILGRIMS WHO BROUGHT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS WITH THEM. THE TROUBADOURS HAD GUITARS, OTHER TIMES A CONGO DRUM OR HARMONICA.  THERE WERE ALL KINDS OF STORIES OF HOW THE BOOTH WAS CELEBRATED IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS, BE IT: MUSIC, GIFTS, VOODO DANCING, & TOASTING.

ONE MURKY YARN; IS IT A LIE, A BOLLIXED UP TALE WITH THE WRONG CHARACTER, AN EXAGGERATION, OR THE TRUTH? BEFORE THE MOJAVE-TELEPHONE-BOOTH BECAME FAMOUS, WILD MAN PERCUSSIONIST, CHONGO LOPEZ (DECEASED), WHO WAS ALWAYS IN TROUBLE WITH THE AUTHORITIES AND CIVIES, BROUGHT HIS BONGOS TO THE DESERTED PHONE BOX AND HOWLED SONGS WHILE HE SLAPPED OUT HIS MUSIC.  

THIS OUTLANDISH TALENTED ENTERTAINER WAS THE KAISER SOZE OF ANTICS AND DRUMS, OF DECADES AGO. WISH I HAD SOME PICTURES OF OLD CHONGO!

LESSON IN ALL OF THIS, TAKE PHOTOS, IN TIME THEY WILL BECOME PRICELESS MEMORIES! PEOPLE AND PLACES DO NOT LAST FOREVER, EVERYTHING HAS A LIFE SPAN. AS IT SAYS IN THE BIBLE< EVERYTHING HAS A SEASON.

I NEVER THOUGHT THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH WOULD GO THE WAY OF THE BUFFALO, BUT IT DID.  I KNEW BETTER, EVERYTHING, AND I MEAN EVERYTHING, ONLY HAS AN X AMOUNT OF TIME IN THIS WORLD!  SO, DON'T WASTE ANY OF YOUR PRECIOUS TIME! ENJOY THIS LIFE AND GROW YOUR SOUL!

FROM THE MID 1990s ONWARD -- ALL WALKS OF LIFE VISITED "THE HAPPENING" MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH!

THE BOOTH HAD MANY DIFFERENT PHONES. NATURE & HUMANITY TOOK ITS TOLL ON THEM!

Some visitors to this site & those that visited the booth ages ago, thought the MOHAVE PHONE BOOTH was askew. Through the decades the phone booth was battered by the wind and by people.  

The top of the booth was perched on and pilgrims posed as acrobats while hanging onto metal the frame. Maybe the booth at times was a few degrees or many degrees off. However, many photos angle wise are deceiving, THE MPB was not The Leaning Tower of PISA.

Yes, the box did have a few bullet holes, but look at the pictures, at a certain point in time the booth became a NON FREE FIRE ZONE.  I AM GLAD I was wrong, at one time it occurred to me that the metal beams would be cut down by point blank shotgun fire. As mentioned before-- if the whole box was replaced, due to vandals,  I did not know about it.

Yes, those are bullet holes.  But by the late 1990s, decals, graffiti and decorations to the MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH incorporated the holes into a mosaic of art or I WAS HERE logos... The pilgrims honored the Phone box as a counter culture icon.

ABOVE: WHAT YEAR?  ANSWER (I THINK-SUPPOSEDLY) = LATE 1990s. THE CLUES THROWS YOU OFF. IT LOOKS LIKE THERE COULD BE GLASS ON ONE SIDE OF THE PHONE BOOTH, A MIRAGE.

THE MONKEY WRECH GANG FLAG GIVES THE PHOTO ANOTHER PERHAPS FALSE CLUE. MONKEY WRENCHERS CAME INTO BEING IN 1975.  THE EDWARD ABBEY GROUP.

AS FOR THE BOAT -- IT LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF THE OLD NOW DESTROYED "POP"  -PACIFIC OCEAN PARK = AN AMUSEMENT PARK IN L.A. THAT CLOSED DOWN IN 1967. THIS IS A BIG MAYBE.  IS THE BOAT FROM THE "POP", AND WAS IT KEPT IN SOMEBODY's  BACKYARD UNTIL?  THEN PUT ATOP THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH IN THE LATE 1990s? IF SO, THEN THE BOAT FOUND A GOOD ANCHORAGE.

THERE IS A JOY & MELANCHOLY TO THESE PICTURES--

A COUPLE OF THESE PICTURES ARE CIRCA 45 YEARS OLD.

SOME OF THE PHOTOS ARE-- 40 PLUS YEARS OLD. 

OTHERS = 30 PLUS YEARS & THE LAST OF THESE PHOTOS WERE TAKEN IN THE YEAR 2000.

THE YEARS ROLL ON & SOME OF THESE PEOPLE THAT WERE PHOTOGRAPHED  AT THIS MAGICAL PLACE ARE NO LONGER IN THIS WORLD. 

BUT IN THESE PHOTOS  THESE PEOPLE WERE HAVING FUN, LIVING AN ADVENTURE.

LETS HOPE THE WONDERFUL ENERGY OF THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH STAYED WITH THE PHOTOGRAPHED & THESE THRILL SEEKERS ARE ALL --STILL-- FILLED WTIH ZEST AND GUSTO!

AFTER ALL __THESE PEOPLE CAME LOOKING FOR THE MAGICAL PHONE BOOTH AND FOUND IT!  THEY WERE NOT FORCED TO JOURNEY OUT INTO THE DESERT -- THEY CHOSE TO!  

I MAINTAIN - THE MPB HAD THE LAST VESTIGES OF 1960s USA ENERGY - THAT ERA WAS MAGICAL

BLESSINGS TO ALL OF YOU WHO MADE THE TRIP!  OR ARE CAPTURED BY THE ENERGY OF THIS PLACE OF DECADES AGO.

KEEP THE GOOD MOJO ALIVE & STAY STRONG!

GOT PHOTOS OF THE OLD PHONE BOOTH--SEND THEM -- santafewriter@me.com

IF YOU GOT TO THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH, LEAVE YOUR MARK -- YOU MADE IT THERE, AGAINST GREAT ODDS!

NORTH OF THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH IS TOP SECRET AREA 51.  CLICK ON ICON -- BELOW -- HOAX OR TRUTH? YOU DECIDE? IT SOUNDS CONVINCING TO ME… GREAT ACTOR OR PRANKSTER OR DA TRUTH.  MYTH OR PRANK OR LIE = DID THE CALL COME FROM THE MOJAVE-PHONE-BOOTH?

BELOW: THE PLAQUE THAT WAS ON SPACE PROBE "PIONEER 10". IN 1972 THE CRAFT WAS LAUNCHED. THE INSCRIPTION SHOWED MALE & FEMALE, THE SPACESHIP & THE MAP OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. BELOW RIGHT; THIS PLAQUE WAS PLACED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH.

BELOW AUDIO- DESERT CHAD WAS A GOOD GUY WHO MADE A NUMBER OF EXPEDITIONS TO THE BOOTH--MAINLY BY HIMSELF.  CLICK ON ICON BELOW- TO LISTEN TO -- "DESERT CHAD" -- ON "THE ART BELL SHOW". THE INTERVIEW STARTS ON 203:46  --- ENDS AT 241:52 /THIS MAN CAMPED OUT AT THE PHONE BOOTH & TELLS WHAT HAPPENED WHILE HE WAS THERE.  

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