When I went to an NYC Open Data powwow at Civic Hall last month I had no idea there would be phone booths at the place. Civic Hall is a shared co-working space, the likes of which have become popular among freelancers and the self-employed (like me) over the last several years. I did not know until getting there that Civic Hall is a co-working space. Given its name I thought it had some association with The City.

I remembered seeing mention that co-working spaces installed cell phone booths so workers could have some privacy (and be less annoying to others) while talking on their cell phones. From what I’d read I expected these shared work space booths to be modern soundproofed units, such as those made by Framery Acoustics and other companies. I would not have expected traditional wood phone booths like these. I guess it’s a retro-chic thing.

The paint job makes them look fresh and new but these booths appear to be of the same decades-old vintage as the wood phone booths at the New York Public Library, where we filmed the spot for CBS Sunday Morning. This booth contained what I think was an authentic 3-slot payphone but I couldn’t get a close look at it. I might have tried for more and better pictures of these booths but someone was delivering a speech just a few feet away. I thought it would be rude or conspicuous to go into full photo shoot mode. I had to leave before the event ended. I’ll be back at Civic Hall another time.

It seems like I am seeing phone booths all over the place these days. Times Square, as has been widely covered, is the temporary home for three of the four phone booths that formerly stood on West End Avenue in Manhattan. The booths at Times Square are part of an art installation called Once Upon a Place, by Aman Mojadidi.

I have stepped into those booths a number of times and answered the ringing phones. When answering one of these phones you hear the voice of an immigrant telling their story about coming to America. There are about 70 stories to be heard.

I hate to say it but I find Once Upon a Place to be something of a letdown. If the reactions of others I’ve seen stepping into these booths were any indication then I don’t seem to be alone in this assessment.

Many of the stories are not told in English. One could argue for the æsthetic merit of keeping the stories in their original tongues if only to illustrate how many languages are spoken in New York. But Once Upon a Place is not just an experiential art piece. It is a documentary storytelling project. For the stories told through these phones to be not just heard but understood it would seem appropriate to dignify the speakers and the time they gave to the project with the services of translators.

Some of the stories are also quite lengthy. Standing in one of these enclosed booths for extended periods of time can become uncomfortable, as is consistent with my less-than-nostalgic memories of using phone booths.

Still, it was interesting how visitors to Times Square seemed to gravitate toward the booths, as countless selfies and photos have been taken in and around them. People seem to be drawn toward the booths as if they are old, familiar friends.

I noticed something new when I passed by the booths last week. A small piece of plastic had been stuck into the coin slots of the three payphones. These were not present when the booths were first put in place.

I interpret this to mean that people actually deposited coins into these phones thinking they were there for the purpose of making phone calls. These lost coins must have been reported to someone who alerted either the artist or someone else who placed these objects.

Passers-by might gravitate to the Times Square booths but the same can’t be said of another phone booth that went up a couple of weeks ago. Ring Your Rep is a gimmicky installation at the Standard Hotel in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, by the High Line. The intention is to encourage political activism by making it easy for passers-by to pick up a phone and connect to their state’s congressional representatives or senators.

I stood by for several minutes (admittedly not long enough to make a comprehensively informed conclusion) but no one seemed to notice this booth even with its garish hat and LED messages encouraging one and all to “Take a stand.”

I found the point of the project to be a little clumsy but the refurbishment of the phone booth itself makes for an interesting visual piece. Until now I don’t think I’ve seen a phone booth with 2-way mirrors on its doors (great idea for privacy) and I’m reasonably certain I’ve never seen a booth crowned with a wraparound LED screen streaming text.

It was near the Standard hotel phone booth that I made yet another phone booth discovery, this one totally by chance. At The Park (118 10th Avenue) I went downstairs and, as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. It was a phone booth. There are two of them, in fact, both inhabited by abandoned Verizon payphones. Neither phone had a dial tone.

One of the numbers shown – (646) 336-1589 – is disconnected. The other number seems to have been reassigned to an individual.

Assuming it’s always as dark in this area as when I passed through I would think these phone booths at The Park go unnoticed by most people. The payphone in this booth is hilariously high in the air.

It was reported this week that BT (British Telephone) is getting rid of some of its phone boxes but the same can’t be said for the folks at Kaufman Astoria studios in Queens, New York. A couple of months ago I noticed the appearance of four British K6 style phone boxes outside a space that has been turned into an outdoor pizza place. Someone at the Landmark Café, which opened in early August, thought it appropriate to decorate the premises with British phone boxes.

I asked around for opinions and anyone I talked to seemed to have the same reaction: Huh? Kaufman-Astoria Studios and Astoria itself for that matter do not have any particularly British affiliation or heritage. There are plenty of Brits in Astoria – there are plenty of virtually every nationality in Astoria – but it is not exactly Englandtown.

I guess you can’t go too far wrong with using British phone boxes as decorative pieces. Maybe the boxes were just taking up space in a studio props closet and someone sought to put them to better use.

Whatever the case no one will be making phone calls in these boxes. They are purely decorative. After dark they have been lighting up 35^th Avenue with a light show:

I don’t mind saying that I just don’t get it, and it was somewhat gratifying to find that others are similarly confounded.

The booths are decorated with illustrations of famous Hollywood figures and arrows pointing toward various destinations. If the owners of this place haven’t gotten crap for this already then they almost certainly will. One of the booths bears this arrow, pointing toward Manhattan, labeled “NEW YORK CITY”. That arrow should be pointing down at the ground. A certain element of New Yorker might think otherwise but Queens is as much a part of New York City as Manhattan and the other boroughs.

A set of K6 British phone boxes used to exist outside the now-defunct Telephone Bar & Grill in the East Village. Those are gone but at least one other British phone box remains in the wilds of New York. A 50th Street entrance to 437 Madison Avenue is home to this handsome beast which contains no phone and is labeled “SECURITY”. I wrote about this phone box last year.

As mentioned in that story from last year there was and possibly still is this K6 box being used as housing for an ATM machine at 1 Bedford Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

That’s all for now. I have more sightings of phone booths around New York to report. Stay tuned.