Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

Just days ago, New York City removed the last of its once-ubiquitous pay phones.

The old booth (actually more of a semi-cubicle) was to be taken to the Museum of the City of New York to be featured in an exhibit on technology of the past.

I tell you, if there’s anything that makes me feel old, it’s realizing that the tech I grew up with is somewhere being pointed to by a smiling museum guide who’s explaining to shocked visitors that people once actually used this to (fill in the blank).

Much as it pains me to do so, here are some nominations for museum pieces designed to depress anyone who remembers 1950.

Console radio: Every living room in America once had a big stand-up radio with booming sound for the family to gather around and listen to “Duffy’s Tavern” or “The Great Gildersleeve.” Of course, any self-respecting kid really wanted to hear screams of terror on “Inner Sanctum,” but “no – it’s bedtime.”

Wind-up phonograph: Generically known as a Victrola, this device had a crank you’d wind to get about four or five minutes of music once you switched it on and put the tone arm down on the thick 78-rpm recording of an opera aria or song labeled a “fox trot.”

Not-so-automatic toaster: This was a metal clamp with a long handle. You’d insert a piece of bread into the far end and hold the thing over the flame in the kitchen coal stove until you saw the desired degree of done-ness. Or, maybe mom would scream that you were burning food that the starving kids in Europe would give anything for.

Hold the phone: Speaking of phone booths, I thought the old home-style telephones were neat. You’d speak into something like a microphone at the top of a stalk while clamping the hearing piece to your ear, just like the reporters in the movies yelling “Hi, Mabel, get me re-write” between puffs on a cigarette.

Just my type: Sure, they made a terrible racket. But, one thing you have to say in defense of the old typewriters is that they lasted at least 50 years, with no one sending you threats that you’ll be outed as a hopeless luddite for not buying a new set of innards every six months or so.

Rolling stock: Old tech, yes, but one of the most useful vehicles ever invented was the coaster wagon. Families used it to haul groceries home from the store and kids used it to race down hills while pretending to be in the Indianapolis 500. Today we buy $45,000 SUVs and endless video games for the same purposes.

Coin changer: If you rode the streetcars or old-time buses, you’ll remember this symbol of power worn by the driver on his belt. Hand over a quarter for a 15-cent ride, and the guy would pop out a dime change for you like magic.

Mimeograph machine: Somehow, I never figured out how to operate one of these copying devices with a crank and drum. But, I swear, if I ever get back to 1955 I’ll ask. In fact, I’ll make my request in carbon paper triplicate.

Is there a message in all this? I think so: hang onto that smartphone that gives you the scores before the games are played and the coffee maker that also starts your car and orders movie tickets. Before you know it, the museum of antiquities will be knocking at your door.

Tom Mooney is a Times Leader history writer. Reach him at [email protected].