New York City once had over 30,000 public payphones scattered across its five boroughs. They sat on street corners, in subway stations, outside bodegas, and mounted on the walls of diners and bars. At their peak in 1960, approximately one million payphones served the metropolitan area. Today, they’re nearly extinct, and replaced by sleek LinkNYC kiosks and the smartphones in everyone’s pocket. But in their final years, Manhattan’s payphones became unexpected canvases for guerrilla art and community connection.
The last public payphone in New York City was removed on May 23, 2022, from Seventh Avenue near West 50th Street in Midtown. The event was ceremonial. City officials lifted the battered silver receiver one final time before workers carted the booth away. That phone now sits in the Museum of the City of New York’s “Analog City” exhibit. It’s a relic of the pre-digital age alongside rotary phones and ticker tape machines.
The payphone’s demise was gradual. The LinkNYC program launched in 2015. It began systematically replacing payphone kiosks with Wi-Fi hotspots offering free internet, phone calls, and device charging. The first Links appeared on Third Avenue at East 15th Street and East 17th Street in the East Village. Each sleek black monolith promised gigabit Wi-Fi with a 150-foot range. It was funded entirely by advertising revenue from the screens built into each unit. By 2020, nearly 1,900 Links had been installed, with plans for 7,500 total.
But before they vanished entirely, Manhattan’s payphones experienced an artistic renaissance. In 2017, Caroline Caldwell and RJ Rushmore launched “Art in Ad Places.” It was a 52-week guerrilla campaign that replaced advertising panels inside payphone kiosks with original artwork. Using a $10 security screwdriver purchased online, they opened the advertisement housings and installed prints by artists including Shepard Fairey and Molly Crabapple.
The project launched with a piece by Adam Wallacavage. It was installed at Metropolitan Avenue and Lorimer Street in Williamsburg. Each week brought new installations. They transformed commercial spaces into miniature galleries. The project deliberately operated without permits. Part of its statement was that public space had been so thoroughly colonized by advertising that reclaiming it required subversion.
Artist Jordan Seiler took a different approach with “Talk To Me.” This 2022 project networked five payphones (one in each borough) to call only each other. Pick up a phone in Manhattan, and you might be connected to a stranger who happened to lift the receiver in Brooklyn or the Bronx at the same moment. The project received an Awesome Foundation grant and generated countless unexpected conversations between New Yorkers who would never otherwise speak.
Perhaps the most moving was “Once Upon a Place.” This 2017 installation by artist Aman Mojadidi was commissioned by Times Square Arts. Three phone booths in Times Square played recorded stories from 70 immigrants. They represented countries including Bangladesh, Mexico, Yemen, Ghana, Russia, and Tibet. Mojadidi spent three years collecting these oral histories, which played on loop for anyone who stepped inside and lifted the receiver.
Despite the official “last payphone” removal ceremony, working payphones persist throughout Manhattan. The most famous survivors are the four “Superman booths.” These are enclosed phone booths of the type Clark Kent used for costume changes. They’re on West End Avenue at 66th, 90th, 100th, and 101st Streets on the Upper West Side. These privately owned booths have been maintained by building owners who appreciate their nostalgic value.
Mark Thomas has operated The Payphone Project website since 1995. He documents surviving payphones worldwide. He noted that the “last payphone” removal was somewhat “contrived.” Private payphones remain in lobbies, restaurants, and subway stations throughout the city. A working payphone can still be found in the 14th Street-Union Square station. Its coin slot and receiver are fully functional for anyone with quarters.
The LinkNYC kiosks that replaced payphones have generated their own controversies. The highest-earning advertising locations generate significant revenue. These are near Times Square, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and the New York Times Building. But privacy advocates have questioned the data collection capabilities of devices that track Wi-Fi connections. The enclosed phone booths that once offered privacy have been replaced by open tablets that broadcast every call.
