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An Ode to the U.K.'s Red Phone Boxes

Before cell phones, these booths were places for making collect calls and collective memories.
relates to An Ode to the U.K.'s Red Phone Boxes
Olivia Harris/Reuters

Even if you have never set foot in the United Kingdom, you know what the red telephone box looks like.

It swings from keychains in miniature form; it decorates throw pillows and by-the-month planners. So commodified has the red phone box become that it’s hard to remember it once served a purpose beyond backdropping tourists’ photos.