Remembering the Dime Era of Payphones

There was a time when the most powerful thing you could carry in your pocket was a small, thin sliver of silver. For three decades—from the early 1950s until the mid-1980s—the American payphone was fueled by the humble dime.For younger readers, the idea of being truly "out of touch" is hard to grasp. Today, you are always reachable. But during the Dime Era, once you stepped away from your house, you were essentially off the grid. If you wanted to reach someone, you had to embark on a scavenger h