This starts with the ghost of a payphone gone at the 36th Street subway station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I used that phone and another one upstairs a number of times.

1:19​ is at 56th Street and 4th Avenue in Sunset Park. A “PHONE” sign hangs over a corner which is certifiably PHONE FREE.

2:20​ Bay Ridge Avenue and 4th Avenue in Bay Ridge. I had my quarter ready but this phone was dead, dead, dead. This looks like it would be a PRAYphone but I found no trace of the legendary scratchiti artist’s work. This is the exact vintage phone where she would have left her messages. So we explore the graffiti instead. Jimmy Irish?

4:57​ 4th Avenue near 86th Street in Bay Ridge. This phone’s number, 718-745-9553, is correctly listed on the Payphone Project on this page. Evidently there used to be a FOTOBUSTERS at 401 86th Street in Bay Ridge.

7:05​ I knock around the loose cradle on this moderately vandalized, dial-tone-free payphone. Its number, 718-745-9229, is correctly listed on the Payphone Project among many other listings within this page.

9:07​ This one on 5th Avenue between 79th and 80th Streets in Bay Ridge has a military-grade antenna on top left over from the orphaned free WiFi program that pre-dated the LinkNYC stampede. Also, at 11:15​ I spotted another instance of a little payphone mystery. Why do some phones have the word “LIVE” spray-painted on the sidewalk beneath them? It can’t mean the phone is live, since it’s not and probably hasn’t been for years. Other phones also have their PPT ID spray-painted above the word “LIVE”. I’m sure there is a very boring explanation but I’ve spotted it a number of times lately and do not know what it means.

11:49​ 5th Avenue between 76th Street and Bay Ridge Parkway. It had dial tone but watch me make a rookie mistake and lose my damn quarter. Payphone rule #1: Put the coin in *after* you dial the number, never before. Just because it has dial tone doesn’t mean it actually works. 

The number I attempted to dial, 212-255-2748, formerly (from 1980 to 1995) connected to the old Apology Line. You can watch my explanation of my connection to that number in this video: About That Phone Number, or read about it at “How I Acquired a Coveted Phone Number“.