Museum of Communications

This place is amazing, not just for the impressive array of early telephone and communications systems assembled here, but for the fact that a lot of it actually works.

The volunteer staff at the Museum of Communications, formerly the Vintage Telephone Equipment Museum, leads tours of the facility and can also be seen restoring and maintaining the equipment. Be sure to get a demonstration of the working rotary telephones, and watch the switches and relays work to connect a call. And for a glimpse of real-time communications long before Twitter — or even before the Internet — check out the museum’s collection of working teletype and tickertape machines.

Details: 7000 E. Marginal Way S., Seattle, near Boeing Field. Open Tuesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., or by appointment. Admission free, donations accepted. museumofcommunications.org

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