Payphone Gone, But Not Forgotten: 21st Street, Outside Bel Aire Diner

I am not sure when this payphone disappeared. It was probably within the last 6 or 8 months. This photo is from the summer of 2007, and was taken from my new defunct WanderLIC site (LIC = Long Island City):

I never used this phone. At times I found myself spying on this payphone if I got a window seat at the Bel Aire Diner on 21st Street and Broadway in Astoria/Long Island City. This payphone seemed to draw the attentions of people who had no intention of using it. There is a bus stop next to this former payphone location. People waiting for a bus would sometimes pass the time by fiddling with this phone. Fiddling means: picking up the phone, needlessly listening for a dial tone, dialing a non-existent phone number (like 1234567), and hanging up. Some folks idly picked up the phone to look busy or distracted in the way people commonly use cell phones as a crutch, to make themselves seem important and distracted. I used to see this behavior in the subways. If someone felt threatened or nervous they would pick up the nearest payphone, pretending to be somehow connected to someone or something who could aurally witness any incident and thus thwart the dastardly plans of the would-be mugger. Here is the Bel Aire Diner payphone in November, 2009:

I never used this payphone. Having never personally documented it beyond these photos I did not expect to be able to share its former number. A bit of sleuthing around my own web site, however, reveals that its number was (718) 728-9682. A payphone by that number stood at this spot for decades. Today all that remains are two metal posts and a hole in the sidewalk: