Nevada
Payphones were once everywhere, but now just a few are left in Las Vegas
They were once on street corners, at bus stops, in convenience stores, courthouses and casinos.
In the pre-cell phone era, everyone from executives to children to criminals used them.
But the golden age of the payphone ended many years ago as cell phones took hold, becoming ubiquitous and affordable.
Today, few remain and even fewer are in use. A recent Las Vegas Review-Journal search for payphones in the Las Vegas area found five: one at Centennial Hills Hospital, another at the Clark County detention center, two at Jerry’s Nugget and one on display at the Mob Museum.
Early history
The first time the phrase “pay phone” appeared in the Review-Journal, at least according to the digitally searchable archives, was February 12, 1931.
The story was a brief about a pay phone stolen by thieves “evidently bent upon taking from it whatever money there might be in the machine.” It ran under a photo of a remodeled gas station and next to an article about a peddler of a “narcotic weed” called “marihuana.”
The payphone’s history stretches back to 1889, when the first one was installed on a corner in Hartford, Connecticut after being invented by William Gray.
Ron Knappen, who wrote a book about payphone history and owns a Wisconsin-based company called Phoneco that sells payphones to customers like a prop company and a museum, said early payphones were bulky wooden machines called “pay stations.” In rural areas, people might have to turn a crank to contact the operator.
A call cost a nickel in the 1910s and 20s, he said, increased to a dime in about 1940 and eventually jumped to a quarter.
The survivors
At Centennial Hills Hospital, there’s still a payphone near the emergency department. A four minute call costs $1, which one can pay with coins or a credit card.
Hospital spokeswoman Gretchen Papez said its intended users include people who don’t have cell phones or whose phone batteries have died. The phone is owned by WiMacTel, which didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Officer Robert Wicks, a Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson, said the Clark County detention center has a non-working payphone in the booking area.
Next to the restrooms at Jerry’s Nugget Casino in North Las Vegas, there’s a payphone that’s missing its receiver and has an out-of-order sticker covering part of the coin slot. A second payphone in an entryway appears to be in better shape, but no longer has a dial tone. A WiMacTel label advertises local calls at a rate of 50 cents for 15 minutes.
Martha Diaz, a casino manager, can remember when people made calls on the phones frequently, but said she hasn’t seen someone use them in about eight or nine years.
But at the Mob Museum, a payphone is still a popular attraction.
The museum has a phone booth that was once in the Four Deuces, the Chicago headquarters of Al Capone, said Claire White, the museum’s director of education. The museum acquired it from a collector in 2019 for an amount she said she could not disclose. The booth contains a 1920s payphone, but not the original one.
“There’s always been a connection between payphones and organized crime,” White said. Using a payphone was a way to avoid wiretapping, she said.
Most of the museum’s artifacts are behind glass, but visitors are allowed to get in the booth and open and close the door.
“It’s definitely one of the most unique artifacts we have on display,” she said.
It’s also one of the museum’s most popular sites for photos.
Big business
Before they were relics of the pre-digital age, payphones were lucrative.
“They made obscene amounts of money and then all of a sudden, they didn’t,” said Las Vegas attorney Robert Bolick, who represented a payphone company called Pay Phones of Nevada.
Gregory Balelo, who is still listed as an officer of a company called Interwest Payphone in state records, said his small company once had about 150 to 200 payphones, mostly in indoor locations like casinos, taverns and convenience stores. Interwest was incorporated in 1987.
Most of its income came from casinos, he said, but business was also good in the employee areas of hotels and in sportsbooks. Long distance calls were lucrative too.
The business began declining around 2000 as cell phones became cheaper and more reliable. He got rid of his last payphone in about 2008 and thinks it was probably at the South Point.
“It was part of my life for a long time and it was very good to me,” Balelo said of the payphone business.
And payphones can still inspire nostalgia.
Posters on Las Vegas Reddit threads have attempted to track down payphones and share sitings. Some of the suggestions for where a person might find payphones are tongue-in-cheek: “in jail” or “Back in the 1990s.”
Balelo said he still has some payphones that he hasn’t scrapped and recently found some handsets in storage.
“I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away,” he said.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com, especially if you know of a payphone we missed. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom addressed Nevada Democrats who packed a Las Vegas brewery Wednesday evening for a discussion about his upbringing, his political life and efforts his state has taken to combat the Trump administration agenda.
Newsom, who has been floated as a possible White House contender for 2028, sidestepped a quip from former Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak who introduced him as the next U.S. president amid cheers from the crowd.
“I’m very grateful for your friendship, and a friendship that’s only strengthened over the course of the last year or so,” Newsom told Sisolak.
Book tour stop
The event, which served as a book tour stop for the California governor, was organized by the Nevada Democratic Party. It took place at Nevada Brew Works near Summerlin.
Nevada Assemblymember Daniele Monroe-Moreno, the state party chair running for North Las Vegas mayor, moderated the discussion.
It was part of the party’s Local Brews + National Views series that’s been bringing Democrats for similar discussions at intimate venues. Past speakers have included former President Joe Biden, Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Criticizing President Donald Trump, Newsom spoke about the immediate aftermath of the 2024 general election.
“We were handwringing, a lot of finger pointing, and a sense of weakness,” Newsom said. “And just incapable of dealing with this moment, this existential moment.”
He said he is taking account for what he described as his own complicity.
“This happened on my watch. This is all happening on our watch,” Newsom said. “And so I realized that I needed to be better.”
That included his advocacy to redraw California’s Congressional map after Trump called for the same in Texas, he said.
“They’re not screwing around, nor are we,” he said about Trump and his administration. “All of us.”
‘You’re giving us a voice’
Newsom spoke out against the surge of federal immigration enforcement operations in California and later Minnesota, calls from the Trump administration to nationalize elections, and cuts to government funding due to the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act.
He said that pushback against Trump’s policies, including dozens of lawsuits filed by California, were making the president retreat on some of his proposals and policies.
“You’re filling the void, you’re giving us a voice, you’re giving us courage,” he told the crowd. “For things to change, we have to change. And it’s changing.”
The Republican National Committee reacted to Newsom’s Las Vegas visit. Earlier in the day, Newsom attended a private Boulder City event.
“Democrats are selling out to the spoiled, phony rich kid governor from California for years,” RNC spokesperson Nick Poche wrote in a statement. “President Donald Trump and Republicans are delivering major tax cuts and keeping Nevadans safe, unlike Democrats.”
The national Republican Party also criticized California’s policies, and tied them back to Nevada Democrats.
Most of Newsom’s remarks weren’t specific to Nevada. He didn’t take any questions from media.
Polling shows Newsom and Vice President JD Vance leading in hypothetical races for their parties’ nomination. That includes a survey of likely Nevada voters conducted one by Emerson College Polling in November.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – It’s time to “free your heels” and embrace Tahoe’s winter recreation at the Nevada Nordic Freeheel Festival on March 7. Whether you’re a seasoned pro at cross-country skiing or snowshoeing, or you’re trying to get your feet wet, Saturday’s event is teeming with nature, brews, and camaraderie.
Travel North Tahoe Nevada (TNTNV) is teaming up with Nevada Nordic, Tahoe Multisport, Alibi Ale Works, UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, Nevada Division of Outdoor Recreation and other local partners in the wondrous Tahoe Meadows, providing attendees a chance to engage with outdoor recreation experts, check out free cross-country and snowshoe rentals, and more.
“We’re excited to see the Nevada Nordic Freeheel Festival enter its second year, building on last year’s strong community response. In collaboration with our local partners, this event is thoughtfully curated with residents in mind – offering free equipment for the day, expert instruction, locally crafted brews, and other experiences in a welcoming setting,” said Andy Chapman, President and CEO of Travel North Tahoe Nevada. “It’s designed to make it easy for residents to get outside, try something new, and bring people together. Events like this reflect the spirit of North Lake Tahoe and what’s possible when our community comes together.”
Along with opportunities to test out free demos and rentals, there will be live music, beer tasting and races.
Tahoe Meadows is known for its gentle trails, and is a popular spot for snowshoeing due to its flat terrain. This event, located near Chickadee Ridge, will offer stunning views of the surrounding mountains.
This family-friendly event is on the second to last day of the 10-day SnowFest winter festival that’s been taking place in the North Lake Tahoe area. It starts bright and early at 9 a.m. and will close out at 2 p.m.
“Nevada Nordic is thrilled to be a part of SnowFest again this year,” said Meghan Pry, Nevada Nordic Board Member. “We love sharing our passion for cross-country skiing and watching our community grow. We are proud to keep winter recreation accessible by offering free access to our 20km trail network. This is the perfect opportunity for our community to gather together and free our heels!”
For more information about the Nevada Nordic Freeheel Festival or to check out the SnowFest schedule, visit tahoesnowfest.org.
A swarm of earthquakes has been rattling a remote stretch of central Nevada near Tonopah, including a magnitude 4.0 quake that hit near Warm Springs Tuesday morning.
Seismologists said the activity is typical for Nevada, where clusters of earthquakes can flare up in a concentrated area. “This is a very Nevada-style earthquake sequence. We have these a lot where we just see an uptick in activity in a certain spot,” said Christie Rowe, director of the Nevada Seismological Lab.
The latest magnitude 4.0 quake struck east of Tonopah near Warm Springs. The largest earthquake in the swarm so far has measured a 4.2.
What has stood out to researchers is the fault involved. Rowe said the earthquakes are occurring along a fault stretching along the southern edge of the Monitor and Antelope ranges — and that it was previously unknown to scientists. “We didn’t know this fault was there. It’s a new fault to us — not to the Earth, obviously — but it was previously unknown,” Rowe said.
For now, the earthquakes have remained moderate. Rowe said the lab would not deploy additional temporary sensors unless activity increases to around a magnitude 5 or greater.
Seismologists said they are continuing to watch the swarm closely as Nevada works to bring the ShakeAlert early warning system to the state. The program, already active in neighboring states, can send cellphone alerts seconds before shaking arrives. “For me, it’s a really high priority. That distance to the faults gives us enough time to warn people — and that can make a big difference in reducing injuries and damage,” Rowe said.
Seismologists encouraged anyone who feels shaking to report it through the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Did You Feel It” system, saying even small quakes can help scientists better understand Nevada’s seismic activity.
Experts said the swarm is worth monitoring but is not cause for alarm. They noted that earthquakes like the 5.8 that hit near Yerington in December 2024 typically happen in Nevada about every eight to 10 years, and said they will continue monitoring the current activity closely.
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