It was a derelict booth on the Muggle-filled streets of London that served as Harry Potter’s connection to the Magical world. Clark Kent ducked into one to transform from a mild-mannered reporter into Superman.

Phone booths — and the payphones in them — are ingrained in popular culture. But they’re disappearing, victims of the smart phone.

When everybody’s got the Internet — and yes, a phone call — in their pocket, are payphones even needed any more?

Judging by the numbers, the answer increasingly seems to be no.

According to a 2015 study by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, there were roughly 53,000 payphones across the country in 2013, down from approximately 73,000 in 2008, an average 5 per cent drop per year. The number of calls plunged even more quickly, dropping 19 per cent each year.

The CRTC also estimates that roughly 16 per cent of payphones in Canada will be removed each year.

But while most people shrug, some aficionados mourn the disappearance of a bygone era.

“They are part of the city infrastructure, almost invisible,” says Joshua Nelson. “(Toronto’s) payphones may not be British payphones but they are still iconic.”

Growth in wireless means payphones are a declining business throughout Canada, said Caroline Audet, Senior Manager of Media Relations, Bell. However, she added, Bell continues to ensure payphones are available, especially in high-traffic locations like hospitals, airports and shopping centers.

“Bell is the largest operator of payphones in Canada with several thousand locations, but we don’t disclose the number of payphones we have in market or comment on future plans,” Audet said. “Given the public nature of payphone usage, we don’t have details on specific demographics, however, we contributed to CRTC’s 2015 report on payphones.”

According to the report, Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership and Bell Canada were maintaining 636 payphones that hadn’t been used in the previous 13 months, and 10,501 payphones with revenues of less than 50 cents per day during the same period. These low usage phones accounted for 15 per cent of the companies’ total database.

Nelson takes pictures of payphones as part of his Bell Payphone Project. Although he’s been photographing payphones for about “six or seven years,” he started an “official” account only about three years ago. He also held an exhibition through June 2016 at the Toronto Public Library Show, Yorkville branch of payphone pictures he had taken.

He’s taken pictures of about 600 payphones in Toronto, and has about 3,600 followers on his Instagram account. While he gets a lot of submissions, almost all the pictures on his Instagram account are his, Nelson says. Although, he adds, people can submit photos to the page using the hashtag, #bellpayphoneproject.

When not photographing payphones, Nelson manages two companies: An interior creative design firm and a digital branding startup.

Payphones, Nelson says, have a nostalgic appeal. He remembers collect calling his friends from payphones when he was younger. He thinks of them as meeting places.

“It’s a stabilizing element.”

Unlike stamp collectors, who are attracted by radically different designs, Nelson admits that the phonebooths themselves — and the phones — are largely the same. Instead, what’s different is the backdrop, ranging from the glitzy RBC Plaza on Front Street, to the sporting feel of the Air Canada Centre, to more remote locations.

There’s a serendipity to how Nelson finds the payphones he photographs. He bicycles to work and around the city – doesn’t own a car — and always takes a different route. That way he gets to see more of the city and all it has to offer, including payphones in nooks and crannies as well as in odd places.

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So far, the prettiest payphone location is a little flowery patch on Queen Street West. The most unusual location — in Nelson’s view — is the clothing-optional beach at Hanlan’s Point.

“Where will people keep their change?” Nelson asks with a chuckle.

One of the loneliest payphones Nelson saw was on the corner of Church Street and Gloucester Street. In a bank of three phones, two were recently removed so only one remained, alone, and “looked really sad,” he says nodding his head.

And, there’s some irony to his photographs, he says with a laugh. “I realize I’m taking pictures of this technology with the very technology that’s snuffing its life out,” says Nelson says picking up his iPhone.

There’s a palpable enthusiasm in his voice as he speaks about payphones. “It’s so strange to know that there is a guarantee that they will be gone… It’s future nostalgia.”

Still, despite spending so much time documenting them, Nelson admits his enthusiasm for payphones goes only so far. He hasn’t used one in more than a decade. “I don’t know anyone’s number.”