New York Public Telephones: There’s Nothing More New York
Once in a while in my research a charming cultural relic surfaces, such as this peppy New York Telephone commercial from 1987. This 60-second television spot shows several actors recreating real-world scenes of people using payphones in ways once common in New York. Read More »
Donald Trump: Fix Your Payphone
This payphone was at the center of what was (to me, at least) a very amusing incident which occurred during the last week of December, 2015. Read More »
This Payphone Survived the Blizzard
This payphone stood strong throughout the second biggest snowstorm in NYC history. Read More »
Rogue Payphone Sighting in Brooklyn
Rogue payphone sightings in New York have become quite rare. I spotted this on in Brooklyn a few weeks ago. Read More »
A Streetview Tour of Houston’s Many Payphones
Houston, Texas, boasts the nation's 2nd largest payphone population. A StreetView tour shows areas where they can be found every couple of blocks. Read More »
Shroud of a Link: Citybridge Meets Its Deadline. Sort Of.
This mysteriously shrouded rectangle is all we get to see for now of the first Links, the free WiFi hotspots and multipurpose digital depots expected to replace thousands of NYC's outdoor payphones. Read More »
“The Payphone Millionaire” – A Short Film With a Seasonal Message.
This seasonally tinctured film from IYOBOSA STUDIOS tells the story of "Laura from the Bronx", who answers a ringing payphone to play the fictional game of "The Payphone Millionaire". Read More »
The Bronx Zoo Goes Payphone Free
Signs throughout the Bronx Zoo promise its visitors public telephones in a number of locations. Lies, all of them. There are no payphones anywhere at the Bronx Zoo, contrary to signs like this one which promises a payphone at section B5, aka the Dancing Crane Plaza. I did not have time to case the entire place. On […] Read More »
Christmas Through a Payphone: “O Holy Night”
Whenever I hear a subway busker or street musician performing I look for the nearest payphone. If one is nearby, and if it works, I call a number to leave a recording of the sound. It is a very hit-or-miss pursuit with a lot of wasted quarters. Read More »
“Hang Up”, a Payphone Documentary, Is Public
“Hang Up”, the New York City payphone documentary to which I contributed, is now viewable on the public Internet for the first time since its premiere last year. I attended the first public showings of “Hang Up” in NYC theaters. Once I got over the gobsmacked weirdness of seeing my aging face on a gigantic movie screen […] Read More »
Payphones on the American Landscape: Josef Hoflehner, Photographer
Josef Hoflehner's photo, taken this calendar year, shows a living, breathing, dial-tone-enabled payphone on a snow-caked boardwalk of Lake Erie, Ohio. Read More »
The Missing Links: What Will They Really Look Like?
Let me be the first to say it: Citybridge's Link devices look pretty flippin' ugly. Thousands of these hulkish, intrusive slabs of advertising, should they actually invade city streets in such quantities as promised, would make today's payphone enclosures look inconspicuous and even charming by comparison. Read More »
On eBay: A Payphone From the Donut Shack in Lexington, Kentucky
Data from The Payphone Project connects a rare green-colored 3-slot payphone made by the Automatic Electric Company to a place called the Donut Shack in Lexington, Kentucky. Read More »
NYC Nostalgia: 1980s Payphone Caller
A charming photo from the NYC nostalgia blog in which a 1980s payphone user partly obscures a sign for the "Queensboro Ave." subway stop, a station and streetname I've never heard of. Read More »
“Mark Thomas Knows Pay Phones.”
Mark Dent at BillyPenn.com penned a nicely done piece on the surprising quantity of payphones actively in service in Philadelphia. I visited Philadelphia some months ago and remember being somewhat surprised at how easy it was to find payphones there. I even spotted a couple of people using payphones. Sightings of people using payphones are […] Read More »
Adele’s “Hello” Video: It’s All About The Phone Booth
Pundits and techies pounced on the appearance of a flip phone in the video for Adele’s latest song “Hello”, calling it all kinds of ridiculous. According to director Xavier Dolan, however, it is the grizzled, overgrown British K2 phone box which appears later in the video that has far more significance. Read More »
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Payphone Project on Twitter
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Qualcomm Spills LinkNYC's Guts | Light Reading lightreading.com/components/com… via @Light_Reading -
RT @PCMag Is LinkNYC an ISP? Maybe Just a Little pcmag.me/a/2499060
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1987: New York Public Telephones: There’s Nothing More New York - news.payphone-project.com/news/2016/02/n… via @payphonenews https://t.co/R9kAGe1L1o
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Can Privacy Coexist With an Internet Kiosk? - governing.com/blogs/bfc/col-… @GOVERNING
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Phone booth near the bottom of the world. #Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, #Argentina pirancafe.com/2016/01/30/pho… @pirancafe https://t.co/UY87Xo6kB4
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Donald Trump: Fix Your Payphone - news.payphone-project.com/news/2016/02/d… via @payphonenews @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/xKprpeKOTu
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"An attack is inevitable" - A Primer on LinkNYC, New York City’s Fast, Free Public Wi-Fi: shar.es/1hNPr1 via @planetizen
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Should disconnected landlines be able to connect to 911 like cellphones? - capebretonpost.com/News/2016-01-2…
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First Ad Campaign On The NYC Link Kiosks - bit.ly/208e4Jl @mp_BenFred
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What Happened to Burlington's Pay Phones? sevendaysvt.com/vermont/what-h… @aliciafreese
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Confusing Love Story: I Quit Texting My Boyfriend for a Week. You Won't Believe What Happened Next - cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/… @Cosmopolitan
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New York's Free Wi-Fi Is Fast, Free and Super-Secure, But It Comes at a Price by @RuthReader mic.com/articles/13330… via @micnews
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Is free public Wi-Fi really worth it? | TechFinancials.co.za bit.ly/1nlPZgp via @TechFinancials
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The heavy price we pay for 'free' Wi-Fi theconversation.com/the-heavy-pric… via @ConversationUS
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Emily Greenberg's "Public Privacy Hotline" uses a motion sensor to “ring” at passersby - emilygreenberg.net/publicprivacyh… https://t.co/FtBgPH0JNA
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Coney Island Karaoke, Heard Through a Payphone
