Working Payphone at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Located at the 82nd Street entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a single payphone, owned by PTS (Pacific Telemanagement Systems), the California-based company that is the leading payphone service provider in the United States. The phone’s number is 212-650-9682. That phone number appears on this page of archived New York City payphone numbers and locations, which indicates that the phone may have formerly been located two blocks away at 79th Street. I spotted three other payphones at the Met but was unable to get close enough to them to get photos. I suspect those phones are abandoned but I will attempt photos of them on my next visit.

Like a lot of PTS payphones the top panel is covered with this brightly colored placard encouraging users to dial 3-key shortcuts to access free services. I did not attempt any of these calls from this phone but a friend and I once dialed *10 from the only working payphone in Central Park. We had an enchantingly charming conversation with a woman who guided us through a prayer and made us feel like everything was gonna be alright.