Jakarta Payphone.
Instagram photo by Cassandra Massardi View this post on Instagram #phonebooth #vintage A post shared by Cassandra Massardi (@cassandramassardi) on May 8, 2014 at 6:46am PDT
NPR’s Marketplace: A Day In The Life Of A Payphone
The Payphone Project gets a shoutout in a 3-minute spot from Thursday’s Marketplace, on National Public Radio. This piece sheds some light on how and why New York City’s supply of payphones greatly exceeds demand, and addresses the city’s plan to put Wi-Fi antannæ on every payphone in town. This interview also gave me another…
Is New York’s “Free Wi-Fi Everywhere” Plan Realistic?
Last month the city of New York reïssued its dataset and map of public pay telephone (PPT) locations. The dataset was originally published after Superstorm Sandy, an event which prompted me to resubmit my erstwhile ignored request for release of this data several months earlier. I do not assume I was the only influence in…
Payphone Hiatus (Or Not)
The Payphone Project will be on auto-pilot for the next few weeks (or months) as I re-introduce the “Daily Payphone” feature from The Payphone Project’s Facebook Page. Every weekday since last year I’ve curated a series of carefully selected images of public telephones, phone booths, and anything to do with payphones around the world (with occasional…
The RFK/Triborough Bridge’s LifeNet Phone: It’s Still Not There.
A few years ago I contacted New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority to inquire about a curious piece of signage near the midpoint of the Bronx-bound RFK/Triborough Bridge. Motorists and pedestrians entering the Bronx from Queens are greeted with a highly-placed (but not highly inspirational) message: “LIFE IS WORTH LIVING”. The sign, directed at emotionally…
The Forgotten World of the Payphone Hustler
The days of the "payphone hustler" at New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal are long gone, but their memory survives in an interesting essay by Gisela Bichler and Ronald V. Clarke.
All Quiet On The Payphone Front
Lack of content updates at The Payphone Project site belie activities going on behind the scenes. A variety of other pursuits, some payphone-related and others not, have absorbed most if not all of my overextended mental and temporal energies the last several weeks. After much consternation (induced by generally bad planning) a long-anticipated change to…
Pay Phone Hidden Inside a Jersey City Business
Val Vashon writes again with this payphone discovery in Jersey City, New Jersey. While walking to the laundromat in Jersey City during my recent visit for the Super Bowl, I noticed this sign above Henderson Lumber Mills: I had assumed that this was above a long missing phone booth. But the roll up door was open,…
1943: WOrth 2-8354, Rotary Dial Payphone
Shorpy.com features a 1943 photo of a young sailor using a rotary-dial payphone marked with a phone number in the old Telephone Exchange Name format.
Val Vashon: Payphones Across America
Val Vashon writes: "I had to drive a TV satellite truck from Washington State to New Jersey for Superbowl coverage for the local station that I work for. Tried to take a few pay phone pictures along the way."
Glamour Job: MTA Subway Payphone Inspector
I spotted this gentleman some months ago, performing a job I did not think actually existed. A Metropolitan Transit Authority Subway Payphone Inspector is seen here punching in a series of test codes to verify the functionality of a public telephone TDD/TTY device at the 14th Street/Union Square subway station.
Surrender This Envelope To Get A $10 Rate
Manhattan payphones are being vandalized with stickers bearing a seemingly mysterious message. What does it mean?
Chicago’s Vanishing Pay Telephones (2007)
This story, from Chicago's WGN television, is from 6 years ago but in many ways it could have been produced today.
“left to twirl a gap-toothed dial in some phone-booth”
"left to twirl a gap-toothed dial in some phone-booth". From "Postscriptum", by Joseph Brodsky.
“Squeeze-Play Craze” Reaches Nebraska – April, 1959
The "Squeeze-Play" was the phone-booth-stuffing fad of the 1950s, made most famous by Life Magazine photographer Joe Munroe's iconic image. Here is another take on the phenomenon, by "The Daily Nebraskan" reporter John Hoerner.
Montreal Payphones
Having watched the precipitous decline of public telephones in New York City and throughout the United States I found it strangely gratifying to visit Montreal -- a town where the payphone infrastructure is, by comparison, frozen in time.
(212) 473-9148. McSorley’s Old Ale Pub. Vacuous Bloombergia Tourist Hell Hole.
(212) 473-9148. McSorley’s Old Ale Pub. Vacuous Tourist Bloombergia Hell Hole. This payphone accepts incoming calls. Happy at least to have had legitimate NYC reason to be here tonight. Next thing you know I will be riding the G train. Wait, what?
Phreaking the Telebeam. October, 2013.
Youngsters catching up on their obsolete hack0r skillz
The Phone Box (Poem)
A poem by Jax Leck.
Seattle: Dial a Downtown Office Building!
Val Vashon checks in again from Seattle, Washington, with a random collection of payphones from the downtown core.
Disappeared Phone Booths
I was surprised to find that this video contains a shoutout to the Payphone Project. Who knew? Look for it at 1:55.
Not Just For Dancing
"Danskins are for breaking dates late, making late dates and calling collect."
Mutant Payphone Keypad
Here is something you don't see every day, and which you probably would not notice even if you did see it. It is a payphone keypad with a slight problem. It has 2 * (star) keys, and no # (pound).
Deadphone News: Washington State
Val Vashon, who recently reported that there are still some working payphones in Seattle, writes again with less inspiring payphone news. This dispatch includes photos of a couple of full-size phone booths that are completely abandoned.
Old Style Wood Phone Booth Sighting. July, 2013.
I spotted this old-style wood phone booth (with a working payphone inside) at an NYC dive bar. This booth has probably been at this spot for over 50 years.
Abandoned Payphone: Sports Authority
A close up look at an abandoned payphone once owned by Telaleasing Enterprises, a subsidiary of Davel Communications.
1961: Bird Nesting in a Phone Booth (Bell Telephone Advertisement)
A robin decided to build her nest in the shelter of a public phone booth. To give her peace and quiet, local Bell telephone men quickly installed another phone nearby.
Wisconsin: Old-Style Phone Booth Spotted at the DOT
A friend of the Payphone Project writes from Madison, Wisconsin, to share photos and comments about an old-style phone booth hidden from public view in a government building.