I have a bunch of other videos of payphones around New York City and New Jersey on YouTube. Subscribe to my channel for that and a bunch of other stuff.

I made it up to Rutherford, NJ, via NJTransit on Saturday. Rutherford did not seem too promising for payphones at first, but I should have started with Rutherford proper, not East Rutherford. Decayed, abandoned, beleaguered payphones carcasses of yore still linger in a few spots, mostly along Park Avenue.

The most interesting find of this tour was an abandoned ETS payphone. I don’t remember seeing one of those in this part of the country. ETS Payphones was an Atlanta-based company run by one Charles Edwards, a charismatic religious type who fleeced thousands of investors out of more than $400 million dollars.

ETS was a great big Ponzi scheme that put thousands of payphones on the streets just as cell phones were beginning their stampede over the payphone’s relevance. Some investors lost relatively little, others lost everything. A web search of “ets payphones charles edwards” turns up plenty of background.

Here are some play-by-play comments from my trip to Rutherford.

0:01 – On my way to RUTH’FD. Seems they could have double-apostraphized this one, with another ‘ between the F and D: RUTH’F’D. Also, a funny joke I heard from the daily prayer line I called from a payphone at Penn Station. I mean, I thought it was funny.

1:59 – Yet another Little Library. These things are everywhere. A few weeks ago I had a memorable encounter with someone who found something I left at one of these and, because I had rubber-stamped it with my name and contact info, they contacted me. It was exhilarating, and I need to write out that whole story.

2:29 – Barber’s pole! I have an ever-expanding playlist of barber’s poles on YouTube. You are welcome.

2:36 – The band marched on.

2:54 – Riggin Field is not a cemetery, but that is what I thought it was as I approached. It looks like a beautiful and well-maintained public sports facility. I ended up wandering way the hell out to BJ’s on Dubois Street. Crossing Highway 17 felt like crossing an Interstate. 

4:04 – Back in Rutherford, where payphones started showing up. This abandoned pedestal stands at 73 Park Avenue.

5:16 – A more intact phone, sans any branding, right around the corner from the pedestal, at Park Avenue and The Terrace. I could not read this on sight but from playing back the video I see the born-on date is January, 1992. At least I think that’s what it says.

7:05 – Are Rutherford’s emergency fire call boxes supposed to work? I do not know but New York City’s callboxes are maintained at great expense despite virtually zero usage. 

8:34 – I was just getting ready to turn back toward the NJT station when I spotted what turned out to be the find of the day. A rare ETS payphone. ETS was a full-bore fraud, one of the biggest scams to ever hit the payphone business. ETS’s “business” was a brazen Ponzi scheme that fleeced countless investors out of millions. This payphone was almost certainly a product of that Ponzi scheme, and some poor shlub probably lost a lot of money on this phone.

13:03 – An abandoned Verizon clamshell where a payphone used to be. Someone left a penny on top of this one.

14:27 – Abandoned Bell Atlantic clamshell outside Mario Auto Service. In the following clip I realize that this location was suggested to me by Ian, in comments on an earlier YouTube video. After spotting that Bell Atlantic clamshell I remembered he’d made some suggestions, so I found them on YouTube. I found this one on my own but saw that he’d also suggested Rutherford High School. I had to take a pass on that one on account of time. It was about 3:20 and if I’d missed the 4:08 train I’d have been very unhappy.

This ends with some sights and sounds from the East Rutherford Street Fair, where I spent $7 on a stick of street meat that would have cost $2 anywhere else. I don’t care for street fairs, especially crowded ones where virtually no one is wearing a mask.

Also, when rolling through Secaucus back to Penn Station I spotted would could well be a working PTS TTY payphone. Will have to revisit to figure out how to get at that sucker without paying another fare.