Payphones Past

Payphone Gone: 35th Avenue in Astoria

17 years ago

This payphone picture was originally posted to my New York City Payphones gallery in the late 1990s. This payphone virtually…

Ghosts of Phone Booths Past

17 years ago

Sometimes I think I see ghosts of phone booths past. Outlines. Shadows. Tracings of where full booths once surrounded and…

The Letterman Payphones Revisited

17 years ago

I call these the Letterman Payphones. The first picture shows a group of payphones as they looked circa 1999. The…

Blackout Payphone Revisited

17 years ago

Tomorrow is the anniversary date of the Northeast Blackout of 2003. That was a memorable day for me in many…

Brooklyn Phone Booths

17 years ago

My friend Rachel directed me to these beautiful old phone booths at the Brooklyn Public Library. The lights are out…

1271 6th Avenue Payphones, Then and Now

17 years ago

These payphones at 1271 6th Avenue are long gone. The first picture shows a cluster of three payphones in either…

El Charrito, El Gallito. Then and Now.

17 years ago

These pictures show a payphone at 33rd Street and 34th Avenue in Astoria. The first picture is from 1999, the…

Who Uses Payphones Any More?

17 years ago

Someone asked me recently "Who the heck uses payphones any more?" My response: Poor people and tourists. As someone in…

Payphone Confidential: Rotary Dial Payphone, NYC, 2009

17 years ago

This grainy photo, taken with a Treo cell phone camera, shows a real rarity. This is a fully functional rotary…