The Payphone...and NYC Past

The Payphone...by John S LES

I was in Times Square a few days ago.  While walking around, I saw this strange metallic, boxy thing sitting near the corner of one of the blocks.  It was at first familiar and then a little strange to see, since there wasn't many of them around.  At least not like they once were.  Yep, I'm talking about a payphone booth pictured above. 

Many old timer from NYC will remember the payphone booths down in the subways.  They had accordion like doors that you could close for privacy.  However, most of them were pretty rancid and had a odor of urine in them.  But I do remember them.  Every now and then you might see one of them in an old police movie from the late 1960's or early 1970's.  Heck, I remember when payphones were still dialed using the rotary dialer instead of the push button numbers.

Even more, I still remember when payphones were all located on almost every street corner and when they were actually telephone "booths".  They were booths with doors that you could close and have privacy - or change into your Superman costume.  Those booths eventually gave way to a much simpler telephone booth design.  One that didn't have a door and four walls.  It simply had either short aluminum or Plexiglas side walls for privacy. Nothing else.  That was not quite the same as the old booths, but it was the best that you could get.

There is little doubt that the explosion in mobile phones in the last twenty years has made payphones almost a thing of the past.  Here is a link to a simple Google search for NYC payphone images.  Remember any of those images?

In fact, speaking of the past, an organization called The New Museum launched a project entitled "Recalling 1993" last March in New York City.  You called a toll free number from one of the now 5,000 payphones still located in NYC, and from there you would hear a recording of the 1993 history that has passed at the location of that phone.  The voice recordings where lent by some celebrity actors, publishers and various other New Yorkers who lived and could recall what the City was like in 1993.  This was featured in a CBS News article.  Click here.  There is a link to the recording sample within the article.

It would be a shame if all payphones disappeared in NYC or anywhere else.  They were once a great thing to use as I was growing up.  It is hard for me to fathom that one day down the road, I may have grandchildren with me sitting around a campfire...and they may ask me something like this, "Granddaddy...what was a payphone like?  Did you ever use one of those?"

Yes.  Hundreds of times.

Now whether or not you grew up in New York City...can you imagine those questions becoming an actual possibility?  Well...it's not too far off.

A City That Never Sleeps...And Spirits That Never Quit

It is said that New York City never sleeps.  However, just over a year ago, on October 29th, 2012 the city withstood one of it's toughest natural disasters on record...Hurricane Sandy.  There was additional damages in the surrounding areas of New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island.  Hurricane Irene had hit the same tri-state area just 14 months earlier.  Most New York City dwellers thought that they would avoid the brunt of damage from Sandy, just as they had did for Irene and a handful of other big hurricanes over the past 30 years.  However, that would not be the case this time.

This generation of New Yorker City residents will long remember watching both the East River and the Hudson River breaching Manhattan on it's west, south and eastern shorelines.  They will never forget seeing video footage of subway tunnels, as well as the Mid-town and Brooklyn Battery tunnels also under water.  Lastly, who can forget the horrific flood and fires in Breezy Point, Queens?  There's plenty more to point out and many stories to remember from a year ago.  By the time Thanksgiving had come last year, most of us were simply thankful for food, and for being spared from any greater loss of life or property.

I remember visiting my mother last Thanksgiving.  She still resides in Lower Manhattan.  Yes, by Thanksgiving of 2012, the East River waters had long since receded, however, when you walked around downtown and could still see the waterline on the buildings - it brought it all into prospective.  Seeing the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) generators parked on 34th street, three weeks after Sandy and lines of crookedly parked cars, with condensation filled windows, stretching six or seven blocks - all having signs on them indicating that they were damaged by Sandy and could not be moved - really brought things into perspective that Thanksgiving day.

Here is a link to the Huffington Post Dot com, with some dramatic pictures for those who would like to see some visual reminders of that horrible aftermath.

In spite of it all, New York City is back.    

Just a couple of weeks ago, this past November 8, the Philippines was struck by a typhoon, which packed winds up to 200 miles per hour.  I've known, grown up and even work with friends of Philippian heritage.  On behalf of all New Yorkers and Americans everywhere...I extend condolences and prayers to the survivors and relatives of this disaster.  

This highlighted text is a link to NBC news which will direct you to reputable sites for donations to the disaster in the Philippines.