Payphones Past

citybridge

Manhattan’s Last Outdoor Phone Booths: What’s The Deal?

One of the more oddball moves by the CityBridge consortium was its replacement of Manhattan's classic American Airlight style phone…

8 years ago

StreetMessages.com: The Domain Name That Got Away

An abandoned payphone outside the abandoned headquarters for StreetMessages.com provided an amusing antidote to a fresh appearance of that defunct…

8 years ago

Rare Sighting: Payphone Repairman

I spotted something rare. A public pay telephone repairman at work, keeping New York City's payphones safe and sanitary.

9 years ago

Talking on the Telebeam — But For How Much Longer?

People still use payphones. I spotted this woman talking on a Telebeam payphone today. Telebeam's continued existence, however, may be…

9 years ago

Another Classy LinkNYC Customer

With about 300 of an expected 10,000 units installed and activated the rollout of LinkNYC is starting to feel like…

9 years ago

LinkNYC Revisited, and Reconsidered

When Links first appeared I was happy to give them half a chance on æsthetic merit. But their numbers greedily…

9 years ago

LinkNYC’s GSOD, and the Infrastructure Underneath.

If this kind of infrastructure interests you then feast your eyes on the underlying foundation of a LinkNYC device. Links…

9 years ago

Payphone Down. Broadway in Astoria.

This Citybridge payphone suffered a fatal blow last week. Today all traces of this payphone are gone.

9 years ago

Link.NYC’s Free Phone Calls: You Get What You Pay For

I have used CityBridge’s Link devices a number of times since they went into active service a few weeks ago.…

9 years ago

718-271-9306. Broadway & St. James Avenue. Elmhurst, Queens.

This clamshell payphone at the corner of Broadway and St. James Place in Elmhurst, Queens, still bears signage from when…

10 years ago

Shroud of a Link: Citybridge Meets Its Deadline. Sort Of.

This mysteriously shrouded rectangle is all we get to see for now of the first Links, the free WiFi hotspots…

10 years ago

The Missing Links: What Will They Really Look Like?

Let me be the first to say it: Citybridge's Link devices look pretty flippin' ugly. Thousands of these hulkish, intrusive…

10 years ago

61st St. and Roosevelt Ave. Woodside, Queens 718-429-8216 Van Wagner, LLC. Photo by David Moore.

Another phone similar in style to this one (somewhat unusually embedded in a blue wooden box) used to exist nearby…

10 years ago

Citybridge Rising: The Missing Links

Citybridge, the consortium of telecom and advertising companies awarded a monopoly franchise to replace New York City's outdoor public pay…

10 years ago