Step Inside, and Back in Time, and Dial Away

"The cost structure led companies to start putting in smaller cubicles that were less expensive to maintain," Nichols said. "By 2000, all the new installations were cubicles or pedestals."

And under the Americans With Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, phone booths no longer met national accessibility standards.

Pay phones without booths also are vanishing. There were more than 2 million pay phones in the United States in 2000, but the number plummeted to just more than 1 million by 2006, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

During that period, the number of cellphones in use in the country jumped from 90.6 million to 217.4 million, according to the FCC.

Nevertheless, Arlington's telecommunications throwback, which still sports a blue Bell logo, has a loyal following.

"People use it a lot," said Jesse Blount, a mental health advocate at Clarendon House, who can see the phone booth, which is near North Irving Street and 10th Street North, from his desk.

Blount said it is used mostly by people who work nearby and by construction workers in the area. Clients who arrive at Clarendon House, a psychosocial day center, when it is closed make calls there, he said. Blount has used it on occasion when he wanted to make a private call.

"It's necessary, even though it's pretty shabby," he said. "I think they've forgotten about it."

Blount said it is surprisingly safe, though, considering how dilapidated it is.

"You'd think you'd see people trying to do drugs in there or have sex, but none of that ever happens," Blount said. Arlington police reported no phone booth-related incidents.

It's been there so long, in fact, that it's become a bit of a neighborhood plaything.

Julia Casciotti, a 17-year-old senior at Washington-Lee High School, grew up on the next street over. She and several girlfriends -- five at last count -- have crammed into the booth to take pictures of themselves after sleepovers. Over the years, she has also gone in there to play, making pretend calls, "pushing all the buttons and calling the operator."

"It's always just been there," she said. But Casciotti admitted that she's never used the phone -- she's had a cellphone for years -- and hasn't seen anyone else use it.

Daniel Leblanc, 22, has, though. And it kind of freaked him out. He has never used a pay phone.

Leblanc, an intern on Capitol Hill who lives in an apartment nearby, walks by the booth on his way to and from the Metro. Leblanc uses a cellphone and, like many young people nowadays, doesn't have a landline at home.

"The couple times I've seen people using it, I've thought, 'That is really strange,' " Leblanc said. "Frankly, I wondered, 'Don't those people have cellphones?' "