Rogue Payphone Going, Going, Gone.
The far end of the parking lot at an abandoned Sports Authority in Long Island City was, truth be told, a really cool place to make a phone call.
How I Acquired a Coveted Phone Number
Certain phone numbers are iconic in my life. 212-255-2748 is one such number.
My Take on the 1-800-GOLF-TIP Mystery
Is the (800) GOLF-TIP mystery really all that mysterious? I suspect one very likely culprit: The Professional Golfers Association.
No Phones on the New Kosciuszko Bridge Walkway
There are no public telephones of any kind on the new Kosciuszko Bridge. If anything bad happens you should hope your cell phone works.
My Near-Foray Into Digital Vigilantism
An overheard recitation of one woman's phone number inspired a brief attempt at letting her know she left a lot more up for grabs than just that.
Phone Numbers
Just some deliberately vague comments about a coveted phone number I recently acquired, with discussion of how to make sense of online phone number lookup resources.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Bronx
A memorable encounter with the NYPD on the RFK/Triborough Bridge pedestrian path revolved around that crisis prevention/suicide counseling telephone I helped get installed in August. I am still processing the meaning behind the machinations.
Payphones at the St. George Terminal, Staten Island Ferry
A trip to Staten Island turned up a surprising quantity of working payphones at the St. George Terminal. I found 11 phones in all, and at some point in the past there would have been as many as 24. I imagine the ferry boats themselves may have had payphones on board at some point.
Penn Station Payphones Disappearing
Development work at Penn Station has forced removal of about a ½ dozen working payphones. One of these phones was among my most-used devices to record sounds of nearby subway buskers, like Shobo Kubo and others.
A Response to the “WE NEED MORE PAYPHONES” Vandal
The "WE NEED MORE PAY PHONES" vandal is not alone in feeling the absence of traditional public telephones. Once in a while the vandal gets affirmative feedback, demonstrating that others among us feel the wholesale routing of all public telephones is a step too far.
Payphone To God…?
There is a "Payphone To God" at a bar in Chicago. Also, notes on payphone-centric projects such as Futel, Mind Dial, and Recalling 1993.
Payphones on the Water? Also, the Nicasio Reservoir Payphone Mystery Solved.
A photo of an unusually-located payphone on a Florida lake inspired me to verify its authenticity, and to follow up on another payphone-on-the-water question I raised a few years ago.
Finally, There is a Crisis Counseling Phone on the RFK Bridge.
My thanks to THE CITY, and Gabriel Sandoval, for amplifying my long-running concerns about the lack of a suicide counselling hotline telephone on the RFK (née) Triborough Bridge. I could hardly believe my eyes when I found a crew of MTA workers installing the device last week.
Found a Rotary-Dial Payphone From When All of NYC Was Still (212)
I got over my fear of being ridiculed for asking about such things. I staked out an old rotary dial payphone at an NYC eatery, asking permission first of a cashier, then of the store's manager, to enter into a strcture marked "Employees Only". . The cashier responded with the predicted dismissive "No." She was overruled. The manager had no problem with it.
The Apology Line Revisited
Inspired by new contacts with an interest in the subject, I wrote down some reflections on my involvement with the Apology Line in 1993 and 1994. I also dug up some of the paperwork from that project I still have on hand, including the stickers I printed and the magazine I helped create.
USPS Blue Mailboxes: The Next Vanishment
It's not that mailboxes are vanishing. Instead we are losing distinct stamps of age that showed how some humble little USPS dropboxes had been in place since the Eisenhower administration.
Payphones vs. LinkNYC: The N11s Compared.
Access to 211, a community outreach service provided by the United Way, has been hijacked on a significant quantity of CityBridge payphones. Calls to 211 now connect to services promising gift vouchers and free vacations in exchange for taking a survey.
Phone Booth Hunting in Old School Yearbooks
Phone booth hunting in publicly posted college and high school yearbooks turned up some interesting stuff. Until the mid-2000s, if not beyond, most high school and college campuses had payphones of some sort, so their appearance in yearbooks seemed like a sure thing.
PRAY at Beyond the Streets
It may not have been authentic PRAY, but I appreciated seeing one of my all-time New York City heroes get some respect at a Brooklyn street art exhibit.
LinkNYC’s Loudspeakerphone: A Failure With Precedent
LinkNYC's loudspeaker interface erases some of the most common maintenance headaches of the traditional payphones. But at what cost?
No Dial Tone at Grand Central Terminal
PTS's New York City payphones have been known to not work for months on end before coming back alive. This time it feels different, at least with regard to the company's payphones at Grand Central Terminal. I fear the end is nigh for public telephones at the Terminal.
Inbound Calls Now Allowed to Australia’s Telstra Payphones
Australia's 1800 payphones now allow for incoming calls. Combine that with Telstra's Australia Payphone Locator and I came up with a recipe for randomness.
The “WE NEED MORE PAY PHONES” Vandal(s) Never Stop(s)
Whatever I might think of the means I have to respect the determination and hand-crafted work of whoever keeps placing "WE NEED MORE PAY PHONES" stickers on NYC's payphones hither and yon.
To Whoever Gets the Job of Franchise Inspector at DoITT
In my never-ending quest for new ways to be ignored I have applied for the job of Franchise Inspector at DoITT, the City agency that administers LinkNYC and the old payphones. I don't think I have a chance, but here are some tips for whoever gets what should be my job.
Lost a Coin to a New York City Payphone? That’s Too Bad.
Now I know what happens when you a New York City payphone swallows your quarter. It keeps it. Or rather CityBridge, the owner of all outdoor payphones in the city, Keeps the change. It cannot be much of a cash cow but it seems fair to ask where that free money goes.
Interesting Day on the Payphones
A couple of unrelated encounters on a Sunday afternoon proved once again (not that it was ever lost on me) that people other than me still use payphones.
Free Payphones in Winnsboro, South Carolina
So what if it's a longshot? If this actually connects it would be pretty cool. Anyone in the vicinity of Winnsboro, South Carolina, is welcome to take away a couple of old payphones, at no charge, so long as you have the ability to remove them. Click for details and contact info.
Payphone Project DOB: December 5, 1995?
I found evidence of the day this website was born. It appears to have occurred either after midnight on December 5, 1995, or else on December 6. This posting from one of my earliest websites makes it look like I started writing the night of December 4, then kept on writing until after midnight. The filename…