It had to happen eventually. In fact I’d been starting to think CityBridge or its contractors forgot these two phones had been left behind. But no. As of last week the last two CityBridge payphones in Astoria are gone. These phones, as seen in the second part of this video, bore etchings of PRAY, the legendary scratchiti artist from the 1970s and ’80s.
Want more New York City payphone videos. Hit my YouTube payphone playlist.
Somewhat incredibly one of these payphones had dial tone as recently as February. Until that was no longer the case people still used that phone. I have photographic proof in this Tweet from January, about a month before the phone lost its dial tone. People would still use payphones if it were possible for them to do so.
Dude talking on what is the last working payphone in all of Astoria/Long Island City. pic.twitter.com/IzIVr0mvoV
— Payphone Project (@projectpayphone) January 25, 2021
With the Steinway Street phones gone your only options for working outdoor public phones in Western Queens now come down to a phone at a strip mall on 21st Street and 33rd Road, or else two payphones outside the Queensbridge Houses.