NYC Payphone Video Roundup.

I have not posted to this site in a while. I know, it’s horrible, all this opportunity to share what I know and think about payphones and public communication devices all going to waste.

Well, not quite. I’ve been helping out an artist friend in scouting out locations of payphones throughout the 5 boroughs, for use in a project he’s been working on for a couple of years. Most of the phones we find are abandoned, derelict, and in most cases have not worked in years.

I don’t know where that project will ultimately land but it’s been surprising and gratifying to discover that my obscure, otherwise useless knowledge of where to find abandoned payphone locations could bring so much joy into someone’s life.

I’ve also been having a lot of fun over on YouTube, sharing videos of my flâneur-esque wanderings about NYC and occasionally beyond, usually looking for payphones but taking in whatever else comes along. I’ve filled a New York City Payphones Playlist with over 100 videos documenting payphones mostly in the 5 boroughs, with a few in New Jersey.

I also maintain, somewhat begrudgingly, an ongoing collection of payphones as seen in movies and on television. I say begrudgingly because the subject of payphones in cinema has been done, done, and redone. My interest, then, is in finding scenes no one else has found, or scenes where I might have some observation to make about how accurately the usage of the payphone was depicted. I also look for scenes where I can determine whether the phone was a prop or a real-world device. In the latter case the phone’s former physical location might even be listed on my website.

 

Who Left This Bronx Payphone Behind?

Here is a recent discovery of an abandoned phone at a bus stop in the Bronx. I suspect this one was owned by either NYTEL or MetTel, two independent payphone service providers that bailed out of the business long ago and which used this style of clamshell enclosure with the rounded top and blue signage.

Most abandoned phones like this have been stripped of identifying information which would have indicated who left this phone behind.

The Payphones at Macy’s Herald Square.

Guess how many payphones I found at Macy’s Herald Square? And also, the old wood escalators are pretty cool. When Macy’s renovated some years back they made sure not to modernize them, which I thought was a class move.

The phones left today have been dead for years. I see no chance of them coming back to life.

The numbers shown on these phones are 212-502-5445, 212-947-3268, and 212-502-4594. The phones are found on the 7th floor in the up escalators, and on the 4th and 1st floors of the down escalators. I also have a number of older photos documenting Macy’s payphone past.

Payphone Handset Busted. No Respect.

This short video shows that the last working outdoor payphone in Astoria got some abuse, and could be down for the count. This phone came back to life 6 or 7 months ago, but had behaved temperamentally, sometimes working and sometimes not. Its dial tone was just a single pitch, not the usual two-toned interval of a perfect 4th.

This damage to the handset probably cost this payphone’s owner more money than the phone made in coin revenue since it came back to life. This is why coin revenue from payphones today is referred to as “hobby money.”

If you need a working payphone in Western Queens your best bet is the Queensbridge Houses, where two PTS survivors remain in service as of this writing.

Penn Station Payphones Downsizing

Reliable sources tell me the Penn Station payphones, which numbered 7 when I passed through last week, will be downsized. It remains to be seen if this means all the phones will go or just some of them.

It’s a far cry from the Penn Station Payphone Ghetto housed dozens upon dozens of PTS phones, most of them non-working. In recent years there has been an on-site payphone technician with an office at Penn Station. I don’t know if that will continue to be true after the downsizing.

It’s a somewhat sad situation, I think, taking payphones away from people who, for whatever reason, rely on them. Virtually any time I pass through Penn Station I see someone using one of those phones, which have been about as dependable as any I know of in the city.

People who use and rely on these phones are going to miss them when they are gone. As evidenced by my observations the truth of the matter is that people would still use payphones if only they could.

The remaining phones at Penn Station are in the lower-level LIRR section.

I also paid a visit to Little Island at the old Pier 55. Honestly, I just did not get it. I suspect the dense crowds made subtleties of the place hard to appreciate, but I also found the views of the Hudson River from the summit to be rather homely. The live performers were good to see.

Flushing Main Street 7 Train Station Has Dial Tone. You Are Welcome.

I played a part in getting the old payphone in Flushing back online. In this video I also check on what appears to be the last remaining CityBridge payphone enclosure in Flushing, dead, derelict and abandoned. I call it the Chili Phone because someone left an empty can of Campbell’s Chunky Chili on top of it. By my estimate if it’s not Hormel canned chili then it’s not real canned chili.

CityBridge and its contractors have been removing these dead enclosures at a rapid clip after removals paused on account of the pandemic. At this point estimates say less than 200 of these outdoor sidewalk payphone relics remain throughout the 5 boroughs, mostly in Manhattan. I recently had occasion to canvas Staten Island and The Bronx, where I found zero CityBridge enclosures.

That’s all for now. There are plenty more payphone videos where this came from at my YouTube New York City Payphones Playlist.