– People often went here to call their girlfriends. You wouldn’t always do it in the living room. The red kiosk stands where it has always stood, surrounded by mountains in the small village of Bjørke. But it is not a given that it should be there. Among those you can thank for that is Perry Bjørke. – I was driving down here when I discovered lifting straps at the kiosk. They had been here to take it, but one of the bolts holding it in place was bent. It was just luck that they had to go and get angle grinders. The residents of Bjørke had for a long time lost parts of what they saw as their local environment. First they lost the grocery store, then they lost the post office. The small village at the very heart of the Hjørundfjord in Sunnmøre felt isolated. So when Telenor suddenly came in 1997 to remove the telephone kiosk because it was becoming too expensive to operate, the glass spilled over. It was Perry who first discovered that the kiosk was about to be picked up. He went straight to the village office and informed the others. The word spread in the village, and in just a few hours large parts of Bjørke had turned up for a joint charity. Photo: Pål R. Hansen / NTB They blocked the telephone kiosk with heavy agricultural implements. Eventually four large stones were transported to which it was chained. They organized guard plans so that any attempt to enter the kiosk would be met with resistance. – We had simply had enough, says Perry. History has made the telephone kiosk in Bjørke perhaps Norway’s most famous, and put the village on the map. It became a symbol of district rebellion, and separate postcards were printed with a clear message: – We got a lot of tourism in the years that followed. We advertised with the slogan “Travel to Bjørke and call home to mother.” In the end, the kiosk in Bjørke was allowed to stay. The local population won over Telenor. But it is not just here that the little red has meant a lot to the village. The box on the street corner – It is very important to me. Marianne Hafte is standing at the telephone booth, which in practice is the center of Sira. The small village is quietly located, but with regular traffic from the Southern Railway. – We used to say that we would meet at the kiosk. In the center there were two kiosks side by side: the telephone kiosk and the kiosk at the store. Below the center is the school that Marianne attended. She has lived in Sira for most of her life and feels a connection to the village. From the phone booth you can see the convenience store, the train station, and what was once a post office and house of worship. – I hope the kiosk will remain standing. It is part of the village, and it also looks so nice, says Marianne. The red box is recognizable to most people. Architect Georg Fasting can be thanked for the iconic design. Through an architectural competition in 1932, Oslo Telefonanlegg wanted to find a design for its new telephone kiosks. They had several requirements: It should be able to stand all year round, and snow and ice should not prevent the door from opening. A kiosk should not cost more than NOK 1,000 and to avoid theft and vandalism, you should be able to see from all angles what was going on inside. The winner was Georg Fasting’s design with the name “RIKS”. Photo: Telemuseet / Teknisk Museum, Kristoffer Søvik / news The first RIKS kiosk was placed on 29 November 1933, at Akershuskaia in Oslo. The 90-year-old still stands on the quay at the fortress. Photo: Telemuseet / Technical Museum, Kristoffer Søvik / news The demand was great. “Everyone” wanted a kiosk on their street corner. At most, there were up to 6,000 red telephone kiosks throughout the country, and among them the kiosk at Sira. – We were lucky to have our own kiosk in the village, because not everyone had one, says Marianne. Human tinned box In the village, the kiosk was a natural meeting point for Marianne and as a child it could offer good entertainment. She remembers that they played the game “How many can we fit in the telephone booth today”. In the library, they read about a world record in the Guinness Book of Records, which consisted of piling as many people as possible into a phone booth. – When we actually had one in the village, we had to try it. The world record for stacking the most people in a phone booth is 25 people, according to the record book, and was set in 1959 by South African students. The trend became so popular around the world that students skipped classes to practice new techniques. The Norwegian record is 20 people, and was set in Narvik in 1993. Photo: Roger Danielsen / Fremover The children at Sira also used it to call a small list of free numbers, such as “Frøken Ur” which told what time it was. If Marianne was so lucky and had a little money, she could also prank famous people. – Of course, we called some boys in the class. Empty shells in the landscape The telephone booth at Sira was allowed to remain. The kiosk in Bjørke and at Akershuskaia did the same. It was decided that 100 kiosks in the country should be protected and looked after. The selected ones stand at train stations, ferry docks, in village centers and at intersections between public transport, and can be found in every county. At the same time, several telephone kiosks were retired. In a warehouse in Vestby, the country’s red veterans are standing. Most come here to be dismantled and used as spare parts. They will keep the remaining kiosks alive. Others can be refurbished and perhaps given a second chance. The remaining kiosks were left as empty shells in the landscape. Many were worn, rusty and dilapidated. Until 2016, the protected telephones will also be disconnected from the network. Even in the protest village of Bjørke, the lights are turned off and the buzzer tone is gone. Saving the life of an old friend – Our telephone kiosk was a bit in disrepair and was not used for anything, says Anne Veierland, on the island of Veierland. Visitors have to take a small ferry to get to the small island in Vestfold, where residents mostly get around by bicycle and wheelbarrow. Only 90 permanent residents live here. And a red phone booth. The kiosk at Veierland was actually one of the hundred protected, but was removed from the list and replaced. Then it was forgotten and eventually quite dilapidated. Some locals decided to take matters into their own hands, and refurbish the old veteran. They wanted to turn it into a mini library. Anne is a leader in the charity on the island, and has followed the process. – We already have small mini-libraries around the island, so it became a goal to make the phone booth nice and place books in it as well. It was when they contacted Telenor about paint that they were put in touch with Foreningen les. They had taken over responsibility for the kiosks, through the so-called reading kiosk project. The association les took over the renovation work for the initiators on the island. Before the people at Veierland knew it, they had painted the kiosk, installed bookshelves and installed lights. All reading kiosks in Norway are connected to a “sponsor”, a person or group who will be responsible for making sure it looks good and is always filled with books. Local libraries are often responsible, but on the small island the Veierland Velforening has taken on the responsibility. New life – We had a desire to get mini-libraries in place in all counties in the country. At the same time, there was a desire to use the telephone booths for something new, says Vibeke Røgler, general manager of Foreningen les. In four years, 125 reading kiosks have appeared across the country. – We were really only supposed to fill the hundred protected kiosks, but the demand has been so great that we have continued with the unprotected kiosks and have actually placed ten extra phone kiosks from our warehouse. Among the new ones is the association’s “own” kiosk outside their premises at Sentralen in Oslo. – Everyone wants a reading kiosk in the neighbourhood. Among the reading kiosk’s regular users is Ekim Diren. – I always look in when I pass a phone booth. Today he stopped by Bislett in Oslo, at the intersection between bus and tram. He himself has no relation to what the telephone kiosks were before, but actively uses the reading kiosks. He says that he has also placed his own books back on the shelves. – My best discovery has to be when I found a collection of works by Henrik Ibsen. The Lesekiosk project will make people want to read more books. At the same time, the kiosks were refurbished and looked after. The goal is also for everyone to have light installed using new solar cells on the roof. But the project is not finished yet. In a short time, some reading kiosks in Oslo will go through a trial project with sound installations, where you can pick up the phone and hear local stories. Vibeke finds it exciting to be able to hear stories and look out of the window at the place being told about. There are now more telephone kiosks than when the dial tone disappeared. Now these can get the sound back again, and the red attractions can continue to create new stories. Fagerborg, OsloBryggen, BergenBjørke, VoldaTønsberg stationRådhuset, OsloHamresanden, KristiansandSagene, OsloKlosteret i BergenVeierland VelhusVigelandsparken, Oslo What is your best phone booth memory? Feel free to share it here: Hello! Welcome to dialogue at news. 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The telephone kiosk turns 90 years old – soon it can get its sound back – Documentary
