More than 5 years ago — in November 2019 — our Pic of the Day was not a typical beautiful Westport scene.
It was the abandoned, rusted shell that once held a SNET pay phone, at the Merritt Parkway Exit 42 commuter parking lot.
(Photo/Bill Dedman)
I wrote then: “It’s been a while since anyone used a pay phone. It’s been longer since SNET removed the phone from this commuter booth.
“In fact, who even remembers SNET? It’s now part of Frontier.
“So Frontier, if you’re listening: You bought this eyesore. Please be a good neighbor, and haul it away.”
That was not the phone booth’s first appearance on “06880.” As far back as April 2009 — one month after this blog began — I ran this photo:
They eyesore is still there. It’s not getting better with age.
The other day, Charmian Hall sent another view:
(Photo/Charmian Hall)
She wrote, “It would be great if we might find a reader who knows how to go about requesting its removal.”
Indeed it would. Barack Obama had been president for less than 3 months the first time I ran a shot of the phone booth. And it looked then like a relic from the Ford administration.
SNET ceased to exist in 2005 — nearly 20 years ago. Frontier’s MO for phone booth removal seems the same as for their obsolete utility cables: We can’t be bothered. We don’t care. Not our problem.
Is it a major issue?
No. Climate change, the Mideast and the price of eggs are all more important.
But is it a quality of life issue?
Yes. There’s no good reason Westporters need to see this every day.
Nor should it be the first impressions visitors have of our town, when they pull off the parkway.
So I’ll repeat Charmian’s request. If anyone knows how to get rid of this eyesore, please click “Comments” below.
Or do it yourself, with an acetylene torch.
Westport will thank you.
Frontier probably will, too.
Sometimes throwing things are not always the best. These phone booths are part of the Towns history. Having our local artists revamp them back to life would be the best option. Doing would now make them a form of tourist attraction.
Love this idea.
Go, Miggs!
Great idea!
This could be the Rosetta Stone for the Telco Age
That phone book at 41 saved me years ago when I ran out of gas, don’t laugh at me, on the merrit 1/2 mile from the exit 41. But I knew that phone book was there so I put the car in neutral and coasted down the merrit, off the exit, and rolled (slowly) all the way to that phone booth. I remember knowing where all the phone booths were in town.
It bothers me that you would suggest to torch it, esp given the LA fires.
Superman is counting on the phone booth
Maybe turn it into a book exchange
I’ll admit to secretly liking the ghost booth. It’s a lonely sentinel from what seems like a million years ago. Phone booths were part of the cultural landscape. If I were a Frontier exec, I would do something completely unexpected: I’d have the booth fully restored – complete with a period appropriate, fully functional payphone. I’d just update the badging from SNET to Frontier. I’d make no announcement about the booth’s restoration and instead wait for it to be discovered organicly. The resulting coverage would be priceless.
But that won’t happen. Not at all. Frontier is my immediate neighbor and thus I’m painfully aware of the company’s corporate culture and maintenance posture. The weather envelope of its once attractive brick building downtown is in a state of advanced decay. One side is actually covered with poison ivy. Who does this? Even the cooling equipment in the back which is critical to maintaining phone and internet service is rotting and leaking water.
I could go on but it must be said that there are many fine Frontier employees on the frontline struggling to keep this budget starved legacy business going. Perhaps the pending takeover of Frontier by Verizon will bring light where it’s needed.
This is small potatoes. Take a look at the hundreds of poles around town such as in the post road east project area with the tops cut off because the electric lines were moved to the new poles to enable the road widening effort with the remaining old stumps bringing the project to a standstill because the communication giants have a lease on them and no interest in removing and/or relocating their accumulations to the new poles to allow the removal of the unnecessary remaining half posts
Contact Frontier directly:
Frontier Communications’s executive customer service contacts
Primary Contact
Charlon McIntosh
EVP, Chief Consumer Operations Officer
1919 McKinney Ave.
Dallas, TX 75201
charlon.mcIntosh@ftr.com
Secondary Contact
John Harrobin
EVP, Consumer
1919 McKinney Ave.
Dallas, TX 75201
john.harrobin@ftr.com
Chief Executive
Nick Jeffery
President and CEO
1919 McKinney Ave.
Dallas, TX 75201
nick.jeffery@ftr.com
Can also try OfficeOfThePresident@ftr.com
Interesting, isn’t it, that the phone company does not to have a phone number.
Someone in the Westport area must know Nick Jeffery, president and CEO of Frontier Communications, or one of the other leaders. The headquarters was in Norwalk until moving to Dallas in 2023, with many employees staying in Connecticut and working remotely, according to corporate announcements.
Here’s the board of directors:
https://newsroom.frontier.com/board-of-directors/
And the executive committee:
https://newsroom.frontier.com/executive-committee/
And the contact for investor relations:
https://investor.frontier.com/resources/contact-investor-relations/default.aspx
Or we can move on to Verizon Communications Inc., which announced in September that in 2026 it is buying Frontier for $20 billion.
This ghost phone kiosk is sure to be top of mind in their plans.
Restore it. Preserve it. A relic of the past in a pinch for communications.
Restore it. Preserve it. Sure.
But be sure to get three bids.
Publish them on 06880.
And then we can all have a good laugh.
A better idea would be to move it to the Westport Museum of History and Culture (where Culture is History).
What would pay phone call even cost?
I remember when it was a dime unless you dialed the operator and asked her (yes, in those sexist, misogynist days of yesteryear you had to be a female to get an operator’s gig) to “reverse the charges.” That’s why it would be so appropriate to restore the phone booth (“Oh NO!!! Not ANOTHER O6880 Gofundme”) and put it on display in the Hall of Shame at the Westport Museum of History and Culture: “Where Culture IS History”
From a preservation standpoint, the restored payphone’s highest interpretive value involves conserving it in its original setting. With that said, there used to be a similar payphone right in front of the Frontier building on Myrtle Avenue in downtown. As it happens, the cement pad for it is still there right beside the sidewalk. There’s no shortage of foot traffic. That could be pretty cool. And the phone would likely be safer.
You’re right. I hadn’t thought of that (I never think of anything).
Many people today have never even seen a payphone in person so the novelty/excitement factor would be pretty high. I might be wrong but I’m thinking that a colorful, fully restored, illuminated phone kiosk in front of Frontier’s downtown central office would be an inspired tip of the hat to the company’s analog roots – and possibly marketing gold.
How about getting it designated as an Historic Property which application would ask for $ for cleaning it up, re-installing the phone itself, and then protecting it with an unbreakable plexiglass container, along with a sign, etc. A Go Fund Me campaign is in order. Still, it is owned by Frontier, but eminent domain action will take care of that.