Payphone News – The Payphone Project

Payphone Project on the TODAY Show, 1999

the payphone project — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 18:00:02 +0000

I procured a VCR for the purpose of digitizing some of my old VHS tapes moldering away in a bedroom drawer. The VHS tapes filling my bureau drawers are almost all unmarked, but after getting the VCR in January I finally, after many years of intending to, started wading through them. I knew this was…

Unexpected Payphone Find on Atlantic Avenue in Queens

the payphone project — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 16:01:07 +0000

An unexpected payphone find in Ozone Park, Queens, led to a trip through its Streetview then-and-now history from 2007, when the phone probably still worked, through 2022. My video shows what this forgotten Verizon relic looks like today. This is also a test to see if I can get video to play from the top page, not just on the story page.

Iowa Payphone Defends Itself. AP Story from October, 1984.

the payphone project — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 14:21:48 +0000

Funny story about a payphone call that went horribly, horribly wrong.

Is THIS the Last CityBridge Payphone of New York City?

the payphone project — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 23:00:50 +0000

That payphone is supposed to be gone. The City and DoITT made the bizarre and uninformed announcement in May that the last sidewalk payphones of New York City had been plucked from a spot near Times Square. How could they forget this one, and the numerous others that remained until a few months after that echo-chamber of a press event?

Payphone Ramblings, and Some Videos

the payphone project — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 15:24:07 +0000

It’s become a chore, I’m sorry to say, to post content to this website. I don’t like WordPress anymore but it I feel stuck with it. I post more frequently to wsbj.com/sorabji, I believe on account of having set up the post-by-email gateway. It seems so much easier and enjoyable to post outside the WordPress…

[VIDEO] Two Payphone Tours on Pride Sunday: West End Ave. & Times Square/Port Authority

the payphone project — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:03:03 +0000

Looks like someone at the MTA got their knickers in a twist over the everlasting payphone carcasses that litter New York’s subway stations. Gone as of recently are the last two phones from 6th Avenue/Bryant Park, one of which had dial tone until a few weeks before its disappearance. Also goinggoinggone are, as seen in…

PRAY-Spotting in the Movies.

the payphone project — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 21:58:15 +0000

Thanks to Diggy64 in the comments section of 2020’s article “PRAYphones Gone From Midtown Manhattan” we now know that work of the immortal scratchiti artist PRAY made an appearance in 1984’s Brother From Another Planet and other films as well. Here is PRAY’s appearance from that film, at about 44:38. Look for more discussion of…

Another NYT Plug, and: The Doomsday Payphone Is For Sale!

the payphone project — Sun, 12 Jun 2022 15:06:23 +0000

A true end of an era in New York City payphones seems to be upon us. The last of the "Independents" appears to be finally on its way to history. That is, unless a concerned buyer can buy it with the purpose of keeping at least one more working publicly-accessible alive. We can hope for miracles, right?

VIDEO: What Happens When Trying to Make a Call Through CityBridge’s Last “Official” Street Payphones?

the payphone project — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 22:53:40 +0000

I brought out my boss field recorder to get all the audio of what happens when one tries to make phone calls through CityBridge’s West End Avenue phone booths. I’ve done this before but only with partial audio recorded through my camera’s mic. This time I brought a field recorder and a Radio Shack suction-cup thingy used to record phone calls.

Those West End Avenue Phone Booths? Their Payphones Don’t Even Work.

the payphone project — Wed, 11 May 2022 13:25:05 +0000

If you encounter the West End Avenue phones yourself do not be fooled by the dial tone. Attempts to make calls send you to an automated service that appears to let you complete your call using a calling card, credit card, or by calling collect.

The New Link5G LinkNYC Skyscrapers Close-Up [Video]

the payphone project — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 23:14:15 +0000

The Intersection/Google/CityBridge Smart City monopoly continues to fail up. The future of public communications, the next evolution of the payphone, looks like this. Meet Link5G. Some shoddy workmanship and general ugliness. If the LinkNYC rollout was any indication we can look forward to 7 or 8 of these 5G absolute necessities on every intersection in…

77 Water Payphone Carousel Revisited (VIDEO)

the payphone project — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 01:41:44 +0000

I would swear I found PRAY on one of these payphones some years ago. Finding any photos I captured of it seems impossible now. Also, this domain name might be for sale. The content, I'm told, is worth nothing. Maybe the domain name is?

Peter Skiera Reviews Payphone Radio at RecommendedStations.com

the payphone project — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 03:36:06 +0000

Redittors have not been the only people talking about Payphone Radio. Peter Skiera christened his new blog with a lengthy writeup of that radio stream. It is a good piece of writing. I was happy to have plenty of room to represent myself as not quite the incoherent faux-suicidal Joe Frank-wannabe weirdo some Payphone Radio…

VIDEO: When a PBX Glitch Landed Me a Hot Date With a Burlesque Stripper

the payphone project — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 15:06:11 +0000

About a month ago a Reddit user posted the phone number that connects to my Payphone Radio (212-255-2748). The Reddit thread was intended to spur discussion about the audio content heard when calling that number. That is what happened, at least at first.

The Old Payphone Graveyard in Astoria. January, 2003.

the payphone project — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 15:24:16 +0000

In this lot today you also might find air machines, countertop video games, internet-connected jukeboxes, tchotchke dispensers, claw machines, change-makers, etc. Any coin- or cash-fed device you encounter today is quite possibly operated by payphone owners of yore.