The Vanishing of Public Phone Booth

The phone booths, the darling of the American Hollywood movies is disappearing from gas stations and shopping plazas and in front of super-markets. With the widespread of cellular phones many gas stations and shopping plazas have moved the phone booths or the public phone stands.
The face of our lives are changing.

The Last Phone Booth In New York City

Posted by Scout on July 7th, 2009

There are only four outdoor phone booths left in Manhattan – and they’re all on West End Avenue. That’s it: four.

This one is at 101st Street:

This is at the corner of 100th Street:

This tree-shrouded booth can be found at the corner of 90th Street.

Finally, this is at 66th Street.

And that’s it.

If you happen to pass by, I seriously advise you to stop in one of these booths while they’re still around. Note that someone still cares enough to keep the overhead light in proper working order. Close the door (be amazed that they even have doors), and you’ll find yourself in a veritable fishbowl plunked down in the center of Manhattan. The walls actually keep out a good amount of sound, and it’s surreal to look out at the world around you with something you don’t usually get on a busy Manhattan avenue: personal space.

It’s funny to think how the idea of an enclosed space to have a phone conversation now seems like an incredible luxury. I have a feeling these are only still around due to a neighborhood advocacy association, and I cannot praise them enough for keeping the phone booth off the extinction list.

This site has tons of pictures of phone booths, both from New York and throughout the world, for anyone interested. Forgotten-NY has a great article on other rare phone miscellany around the city.

 

http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=852