TRY THIS Crazy Times, Crazy City, (Not so) Crazy People. (TGIF!)

[Halea]

 

[Nick_Norman]

Cool, I like it. Unusual, at least.

 

[Halea]

Cool, I like it. Unusual, at least.

Yeah it was a fun distraction on a Friday, just like today, around the corner from my office. The photoshoot prep was even more fun to watch.

 

[hawk#1]

Very difficult to even find a phone booth over here, and once you find one, the majority don't even work

 

[tbrummell]

Very difficult to even find a phone booth

A what?!?!?

LOL, OK, I'm not that young.

 

[jerrm]

A what?!?!?

Reminds me of going to Disney World TomorrowLand, probably close to 20 years ago. They had the phone booth of the future - complete with video screen and ROTARY DIAL.

I got a kick out of the retro-future feel. The park designers must have thought otherwise - the entire thing painted a solid color, trying to blend with the adjacent structure.

 

[KNERD]

Reminds me of going to Disney World TomorrowLand, probably close to 20 years ago. They had the phone booth of the future - complete with video screen and ROTARY DIAL.

I got a kick out of the retro-future feel. The park designers must have thought otherwise - the entire thing painted a solid color, trying to blend with the adjacent structure.

Like this one from 20 years ago?

 

[jerrm]

A good contrast of two different visions. The Disney booth was probably designed about the same time as the 2001 version. 2001 released in 1968, Disney World opened in 1971, presumably designed a few years earlier.

With a few style updates, the Kubrick scene could easily be mistaken for someone teleconferencing today. Even Clarke probably considered what we carry in our pockets too much of a stretch to seem believable for a mere 20-25 years in the future.

The Disney booth, with its rotary dial and Western Electric style handset may have looked dated on opening day. I sort of wish I had snapped a photo - but one didn't waist film.

To be fair, much of Magic Kingdom was a carbon copy of CA's Disneyland, so the design may have actually been from the 50's.

 

[Halea]

Speaking of rotary dial and Western Electric phones, back in the mid 60s when I used to live in Europe, one day I landed to Paris Orly airport with my passport completely washed in red wine due to a little accident caused by the guy sitting next to me.
Since my travel route had taken me through Oslo and Moscow prior to my arrival, needless to say that the french border police wasn't very keen about seeing a passport colored in red .
So after questioning me at the airport for 10 minutes they decided to take me to the "Central" (understand the police headquarters in the heart of the city which actually used to be a dungeon in medieval times), in a tiny police car where 4 people could hardly fit.
That car had a wireless phone integrated to its dashboard. It was actually a classic Western Electric phone with a rotary dialer.
During the drive I was asked if I needed to call someone for assistance, to which I replied by saying "no but it would be nice if I could speak with my wife and let her know that I'll be late for dinner". The guy gave me a mean look and said that the phone was for official business only, then he went on dialing the phone number of the US embassy in Paris.
I was completely amazed that it had direct dial capability without going through a manual operator.