Paying our respects to the pay phone

[My photo from Second Avenue at St. Mark's]

Interesting piece in the Times today ... Manny Fernandez does a day in the life of a vanishing part of our streetscape: The pay phone ... He talks with different folks using a pay phone on Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens... A few facts from the article:

The Queens Boulevard pay phone is one of 16,358 on the city’s sidewalks, according to the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, the city agency that regulates them. The total has steadily decreased as cellphone usage has proliferated — 33,335 in 2000, 28,971 in 2004, 16,358 today. There are thousands more inside bars, restaurants and private buildings that the city does not regulate.

Verizon, which owns many, though not all, of the city’s pay phones, operates about 7,000 on the sidewalks and another 18,000 in subway stations and buildings.

My favorite pay phones -- today, at least -- are at the Subway Inn.

Polishing up the Pee Phone

Yesterday, a man was busy cleaning up the Pee Phone on Avenue A and Seventh Street...He was cleaning the glass, scrubbing off some graffiti...generally just making things cleaner...



...so that we all can see these...



More Pee Phone Photos:
Pee Phone: Still Gross Yet Sexy as Hell! (Slum Goddess)

Strange Happening Atop the Infamous "Pee" Phone at 7th Street and Avenue A Wednesday Night (Neither More Nor Less)

Pee Pee Phone On E7th St.& Ave. A (Melanie)

One more thing: No more pay phones at the old LSD spot

Back on Jan. 13, I wondered how long the pay phones outside the former Love Saves the Day store would last...



I have my answer: They were removed this week.