Payphones Past

NYC

New Year, Old Payphones

When I first heard about 80s.nyc, a Streetview for NYC in the 1980s, I thought it sounded like inspiration for…

8 years ago

Phone Booths of Astoria, 1960s. Steinway Street Near Broadway.

I spotted these beautiful 1960s Manhattan phone booths while clicking through an underappreciated Facebook group called Astoria Beat.

8 years ago

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

Jorge Vasconcelos: 42nd Street Phone Booths, 1985.

Photo is from November 25, 1985, by Jorge Vasconcelos. Please take a tour of his Flickr stream.

8 years ago

NYC Phone Booth Roundup

Just a few sightings of phone booths around New York, with more to come.

8 years ago

Who’s the Photographer? Woman Using a Public Phone, NYC, 1970.

This image appears on several web sites, none of which give credit to the photographer. Can anybody identify whose picture…

8 years ago

Is it Possible to Call Payphones in New York City and Talk to Whoever Answers?

A follower of the Payphone Project’s Facebook page wrote to ask a question I don’t think I’ve heard in a…

8 years ago

NYC Payphone Customer

A New Yorker using a Titan-branded payphone under the RFK/Triborough Bridge.

8 years ago

Someone Went Payphone Handset Hunting For Easter

It looked to me as if someone had been hunting for payphone handsets instead of eggs on this past Easter…

8 years ago

Lonely Old Phone Booth on Yankee Pier, Governors Island

Seen on Yankee Pier off the east side of Governors Island is, for whatever the distinction might be worth, probably…

8 years ago

New York City: Payphone in a Toilet

Ron Dunn, a new follower of the Payphone Project Facebook Page, yesterday offered up this Pulitzer-worthy shot of a New…

8 years ago

The Payphone Project on “CBS Sunday Morning”

The Payphone Project get about a minute of air time on CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley. Reviews all seem…

8 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

Penn Station Musician Heard Through a Nearby Payphone

Any endeavor which depends on the reliability of the public telephone is imperiled from the start. I was glad to…

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

Payphone User. Third Avenue, NYC. March, 2016.

It's a photo of a man on Third Avenue in Manhattan using a landline payphone. It's not as rare a…

9 years ago

“Hang Up”, a Payphone Documentary, Is Public

"Hang Up", the New York City payphone documentary to which I contributed, is now viewable on the public Internet for the…

10 years ago

NYC Nostalgia: 1980s Payphone Caller

A charming photo from the NYC nostalgia blog in which a 1980s payphone user partly obscures a sign for the…

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

1987: New York City Payphone Users

This photo of two random New Yorkers carrying on unrelated conversations within spitting distance of each other using New York…

10 years ago

Phone Books for Phantom Phone Booths

One of the weird vagaries lingering among NYC's numerous abandoned phone booth locations is the fact that telephone directories still…

12 years ago

The Old Phone Booth On Yankee Pier, NYC

The old phone booth on Yankee Pier is one of the last outdoor, free-standing phone booths in New York City.…

13 years ago

Mapping Payphone Complaints

Something existentially useless about a map showing locations of non-working payphones inspired me to create just such a map. It's…

13 years ago

Wood Phone Booth, NYC. March, 2012.

I thought sure this old wood booth would have been removed since I last saw it about 2 years ago.

13 years ago

Outside the Empire State Building: Payphone Gone

The Empire State Building has no public telephones.

14 years ago

NYC Rotary Dial Payphone Revisited

This is one of my favorite things in New York City. There is the Unisphere. I love that thing. I…

14 years ago

Manhattan Phone Booths Revisited. May, 2011.

I did not have much time to get these photos, and on account of the time-constraints I found myself nearly…

14 years ago

What’s On Top?

This pagoda-topped payphone in Chinatown reminded me of a series of pictures sent to The Payphone Project many years ago.…

16 years ago