When grief calls: Auburn’s newest phone booth provides a space for those missing loved ones
By Denzen Cortez
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AUBURN, California (KCRA) — If you could pick up the phone and speak to someone you’ve lost, what would you say?
Behind Auburn City Hall, a newly installed phone booth is giving people a place to do just that. Known as a “wind phone,” the installation features a disconnected payphone where visitors can speak aloud to loved ones who have died. While no calls are actually made, the phone offers a quiet space to share memories, express grief or say words left unspoken.
The Auburn installation is the only wind phone listed in the Sacramento area on the My Wind Phone map, which documents more than 480 across the United States.
The concept originated in Japan and has since spread to communities around the world.
Daniel Araujo first proposed bringing a wind phone to Auburn in September 2023 after discovering the concept in an article. He came across the article while looking for a crossword puzzle, a pastime his grandmother, Anna, enjoyed before she died of cancer in 2015 at age 72.
The project took approximately three years to complete with help from the Auburn Arts Commission.
The installation includes a donated vintage phone booth and an old payphone from Auburn City Hall. City records show the Arts Commission worked on securing the booth, identifying a phone and preparing the installation site.
Araujo credited conceptual artist Grace Kelso and fabricator and installer Steve Lint for their contributions. He also thanked Arts Commission members April Maynard, Brian Fries, Doreen Drake, Mary Pivetti and Barbara Muskat for helping make the project possible.
A plaque on the booth reads, “It’s okay to not be okay,” reflecting the project’s goal of encouraging people to express their grief.
“This is a place where, you know, it’s okay to not be well and talk about it with people,” Araujo told KCRA 3.
The wind phone is a permanent installation behind Auburn City Hall at 1225 Lincoln Way. It is free to use and accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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