Page by Page, They Disappear
What’s one of the town’s biggest disappearing acts? The phone books attached to the 11,000 “pay-phone enclosures” ( nee phone booths) throughout Los Angeles.
Sometimes they disappear page by page. In other cases, they are ripped from the cables that bind them to their booths.
Why? According to Pacific Bell’s Lee Weatherspoon, no one knows why whole books are stolen, however:
* The first pages to go are listings for locksmiths, towing services, garages and mechanics.
* Other popular pages are for florists, restaurants or hotels.
Who are the culprits?
* Some car phone users have grabbed pages rather than deal with the expense of calling Directory Assistance.
* One creative San Diego locksmith let his fingers do the tearing as he removed pages with competitors’ ads.
“That’s effective but illegal,” says Weatherspoon, who notes that public phones--mostly located on commercial strips--are maintained on a 45- to 60-day schedule. The most common problem? Replacing the phone book, of course.
