The Mojave phone booth stood alone at a remote desert crossroads in what is now the Mojave National Preserve, originally installed in 1948 to serve cinder miners and other local residents near Cima Cinder Mine. As its equipment evolved from a hand-cranked magneto telephone to a payphone and then a touch-tone phone, its isolation made it increasingly distinctive. In 1997, publication of its number transformed it into an internet-era curiosity, drawing callers and visitors who gathered to answer strangers’ calls. Removed in 2000 because of visitor impact and other concerns, it endured as a symbol of chance connection, remote pilgrimage, and early online culture.