The Mojave Phone Booth was a payphone located in the Mojave National Preserve, 15 miles east of Baker, California. It gained a following in the late 1990s when folks saw the phone booth website exposing the phone booth visitors started dialing in at the phone booth to hear the other end answered. The booth, placed in the 1960s, initially sat in a location to serve miners and ranchers in the off-the-beaten-path region. It was a run-of-the-mill payphone, first a rotary dial model and then a push button model. It gained a phone number, (714) xxx-xxxx (later changed to 619 with updated area codes for current times).
In the late ’90s, a web surfer named Godfrey Daniels discovered its presence and posted its phone number. Word traveled rapidly through web forums, and visitors started hiking into the desert to dial in, converse, and even answer the phone. Some visitors even pitched a tent nearby to converse with strangers dialing in from all over the planet. It became a surreal social experiment, with stories of deep conversation and chance encounters.
Due to concerns of the National Park Service, under whose administration part of the Mojave National Preserve lay, in 2000, it took down the booth in May. Officials cited concerns over the environment and the danger posed by its presence in a delicate environment and for visitors. Still, its legend lives in pop culture, with a short film, books, and ongoing nostalgia for those who remember it.
For over two decades gone, the Mojave Phone Booth lives in legend, a reminder of digital-era chance, proving that we can make chance encounters and meaningful contact even in most off-the-beaten-path locations.