As recently as yesterday I told someone that the largest quantity of payphones under one roof in New York City is probably found at Penn Station, the world’s busiest transit hub. Roughly 15 phones, mostly embedded into the walls of the building, were found throughout the lower level, with four standalone clamshell phones upstairs. I used the lower-level phones frequently to feed content into my Payphone Radio.

In making my comment about Penn Station’s payphone abundance I had obviously forgotten my observation from July, when I noted the placement of this blue panel over a spot for a couple of payphones used to be. Similar payphone removals had occurred in the vicinity.

This photo, from yesterday, shows that the march of progress continues, with the removal of one of my most-used payphones at Penn Station.

Redevelopment work at Penn Station has forced out not just a quantity of payphones near the LIRR arrivals/departures but also a number of businesses. The Penn Station payphone I used most frequently was on the wall behind the blue scaffolding seen in the photo above. McDonald’s, which formerly occupied the space behind the gate on the right, had to close shop, as did nearby restaurant Tracks and a number of other businesses throughout Penn Station.

The payphone adjacent to the McDonald’s was a boss phone to use for recording because of its closeness to the musicians performing nearby. Listen to how Shobo Kubo sounded earlier this year through the crackling landline conduit of a Penn Station payphone:

Working payphones still remain in the area of LIRR track 17, and at a couple of other locations in the lower level of Penn Station. One hopes the carcasses of the removed payphones were returned to their rightful owner, either for use elsewhere or for much-needed spare parts for other phones. All the payphones at Penn Station are owned by PTS (Pacific Telemanagement Services), the nation’s largest payphone service provider.