In the summer of '61, when Dr. Berg took this photo of the Esso station at Second & Orange, gas cost about 30 cents a gallon. (As I recall, they didn't charge you for air for your bike tires, either.) This was a familiar place for me, as we lived down this block, not far from Sussex Avenue.

Photo courtesy the NPL Berg Collection.

ahhhh...that phone booth was a favorite of mine...in those days you could spit on a penny...drop it in the nickel slot... bang on the coin return as it chimed thru and wa-la dial tone!
They don't make 'em like that anymore.....

There was a less messy way to make a call:
stick a safety pin into the cord and just tap the
side of the phone with the head: voila! Dial tone!
The phone company must've gotten wise to that,
hence the metal shielded cords.