As a symbol of communication, refuge or romantic longing, the pay phone is an enduring cultural icon.
With the rise of mobile phones over the past decade, pay phones have been disappearing. New York City had a high of 35,000 pay phones in the late 1990s. Today, there are only about 11,400, according to the city. Nationwide, the number of pay phones has dropped from approximately 2.1 million in 1999 to around 425,000 today.