I've lived in New York for 12 years, but had never been to the top of the Empire State Building. So I did my duty and went up there. This was not intended to be a payphone expedition, but as long as I was there I figured it couldn't hurt to get shots of the highest payphones in the city.

There are 3 payphones on the 86th Floor Observation Deck of the Empire State Building. They all accept incoming calls, and in fact while I was there two of them rang. I didn't get to the phones in time to answer, but I wonder who was calling.

If there are more than 3 payphones up there, I couldn't find them. There was some renovation going on, so some parts of the Observation Deck were closed to the public. If there were payphones in those areas, I couldn't get to them.

The date was July 15, 2002. It was hot, hazy, and a bit overcast.

On the 80th Floor were a couple of interesting photographs. One showed a ballet dancer in Yankees pinstripes, the other showed the old Lower Manhattan on a foggy day.

There were plenty of reminders about the Twin Towers, both in the presentation of the tourist information and in the conversations among the visitors. People gathered at the south side of the Observation Deck and talked about 9/11, and they snapped pictures of the nondescript skyline that is now Lower Manhattan. The gift shop appeared to have more Twin Towers tchachkes than Empire State Building.

Click on the pictures to see the payphones, and to see the views from those payphones.