June 17, 2011
A couple nights ago, lzzrdgrrl, left a comment saying that I should start taking photos of pay phones, as they soon will be extinct. I thought that was a good idea. And sometime in the last week, Goggla mentioned stopping at the Port Authority, which I also thought was a great idea for a post. So tonight I’m combining the two and I’m going to take photos of pay phones on the way to Port Authority bus station.
It's really a nice night out, perfect summer night in New York City.
And here we have the standard two pay phone set up in a shiny booth. Old time phone booths are long gone in Manhattan and I wonder how long pay phones will be around? I never see any one using them.
Sign that sounds like a porno movie alert!
There's no times at all, just the New York Times.
Shit, the whole front section is roped off, they must be working on it. I wanted to get a photo of the Ralph Kramden statue in front of the Port Authority.
I explained my situation to this nice fellow...
And he let me in for the Ralph Kramden shot. Pow! To the moon, Alice!
Here's the side doors which are the entrance tonight since the front is roped off.
I decided to check out the bar in the bowling alley here. But I wasn't sure where it was so I asked the lady at the Information booth. She told me to go down the hall and up to an escalator. I asked her if it was still open and she said she didn't know. Little Miss Information, indeed!
My three pay phones at the Port Authority.
Here's the escalator...
And here's Frames bar. I went here for the bar crawl last year when it was called, Leisure Time Bowl and it was a little too shiny for me in here. I gave it an okay review because the bartender was nice to me, but it's not a place I'd normally hang out at.
And not much has changed in here. I'd rather be lit at the bar than vice-versa, the bowling alley's right beyond this, let's check that bar out.
Here's the bowling lanes. They too are lit up and there's video screens overhead, which I would find distracting while bowling. I don't think Ralph Kramden would bowl here.
And here's the bar, it looks like something out of a low rent Miami Vice episode.
The bartender was a real low-talker and I could barely understand him as he told me the bottled beer selection. The only thing I heard was, "Corona" so I ordered one of those, here he is ringing it up.
It's brighter than fuck in here, it's the anti-Al bar!
Some of the draft beers available at this bright and shiny bar.
These beer bongs remind me of the time I drank bongwater to see if it would get me high. To any youngsters reading this, take note: It doesn't, you just throw up immediately.
Here's a bunch of assholes people having what appears to be an after-work bowling party.
I'm really glad I can walk away from this.
Meanwhile, back at the bar, it's still kind of sickening. I chugged my beer and got out of there.
Here's two pay phones on my way out of the Port Authority. I've decided the real challenge is to find someone actually using a pay phone, so that's my challenge for the future. Okay, goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow, after dark.
Further reading: Port Authority, ny.com, payphone.com and Smoking Hot Waitress.
You also might like: Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Five Famous Bus Drivers
Ralph Kramden
Neal Cassady
Busdriver
James F. Blake
Professor Dungpie,Fountainhead of Enlightenment!
26 Comments
Reader Comments (26)
That bongwater comment made me laugh out loud. And it reminded me of my college days. Just sniffing bongwater was enough to make one gag. I can't imagine actually drinking the stuff. Thanks for the laughs and memories, Marty.
I agree with Bruce Davis, you drank bongwater? LOL! That bar looks horrible, but I love how you spin things so these posts are always fun. Plus loved the Magic Bus clip. Nice post!
UFB ! that bar IS fugly ! .... I'm glad I've never went in there ... too much other good stuff to do around the Port Authority neighborhood :)
Also .... a Bronx Tale .... (a great movie!) ........... from IMDb:
Lorenzo Anello is the father of Calogero Anello. He is a Bus driver in the Bronx during the 1960's. He fights for the respect of his growing son as a neighborhood crime boss attempts to be a father figure for him. Lorenzo is a man of integrity, and he teaches his son, Calogero that the working man is truly the boss.
@Bruce Davis: I was really drunk and did it on a dare, projectile vomiting followed! Nice to hear from you!
@Barfly: Thanks! Magic Bus is one of my favorite Who songs that show their silly side.
@GENE: I love the movie Bronx Tale! The kid who played the son is in jail right now.
Didn't Obi Wan Kenobi cut off some alien's arm in that bowling alley bar with his light saber once upon a time? The only thing missing from that lit up barstool shot was a bunch of gill faced grey aliens playing funky forties music in the backround. Great shot of Ralphy boy's statue!
I just saw "Neal Cassady" the movie a couple of nights ago. I clicked on the link here and I cannot believe the Furthur bus, sitting in Kesey's yard for over forty years still had air in the tires,,,,the air that Cassady put in it. Unreal. The "Oh say can you see" factor for this bar is a 1,,,,on a scale of one to ten,,,Hate brightness,,,,ruins the buzz. Actor in Bronx Tale became a heroin user and he and another scumbag killed an off duty cop while trying to score dope,,,he's cooked.
I remember the bowling ally from the crawl and it doesn't like it got any better. Good thing on this trip you didn't have to try and go talk to any of the yuppies. Nice that the guy out front let you go in and take the photo. I bet he's a "true" new yorker.
Funny post Marty! Assholes are people too. Too bad about the public pay phones - maybe we'll miss them next time there is a massive blackout
WTF? This is not how I remember the bar or the bowling alley at all...are you sure you were in the Port Authority and not that new-fangled $75 a game place that looks like it belongs in Vegas? If I'd known it had been all upscaled like that, I wouldn't have suggested it...sorry. I will cross this off my already very short list of reasons to go to Times Square.
Hilarious post, Marty! But that bar is waaaaay too bright. And what's up with those beer bongs? Are they just yards with bases so you don't have to hold them the whole time? And, if they are, what a douchey way to drink a yard.
Hey, you should go to that "Spin" club sometime. Maybe you'll run into enduring hottie Susan Sarandon. I'll be SHE wouldn't wuss-out a yard by using a base. Sheesh!
Great post.
The vanishing pay phone.
(but they could keep researchers busy for decades with all the new diseases found on them)
Love the Ralph Kramden Statue!
I agree with Gene "A Bronx Tale" is a classic.
I have to add Otto, the Bus Driver from "The Simpsons"
Otto: (preparing for his driving test) Alcohol Increases your Capability to Drive...
Otto: (checks the answer) False? Oh, man!
@Jaws: The Ralph Kramden statue is the only reason to come here anymore.
@Al: I didn't know there was a Neal Cassady movie, I'll have to look for it online. Who plays Cassady? He was a genius speed freak!
@kari: The guy out front was a real nice guy. I think he thought I was a clueless tourist and he went out of his way to be nice to me.
@Handel: I hear you about the pay phones, one more thing that will soon be gone from the landscape.
@Goggla: They redid the whole thing and now it's like a disco bowling alley, really horrible.
@Biff: I will stop at the Spin club. Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins used to live in my neighborhood and I used to see her all the time. She was really nice and would always say hi if I said hi to her. And she looks fantastic. Since they've split up, I never see her, I guess maybe she moved.
@"Boris:" Thanks and thanks for the Otto addition! Great line!
This stuff will also make you puke. http://www.bongwatersoda.com/
Did you ever read "Closing Time" by Joseph Heller? It's the follow up to "Catch-22", and the Port Authority Bus terminal figures prominently in it, especially when it becomes the site of a society wedding. Great stuff.
Bongwater, great band, horrible soft drink.
I may not be a mild mannered reporter, but phone booths are already gone, and soon payphones in general (Zod). Where's your superman now Nietze?
@Biff: Those "beer-bongs" are just "Hip" gravity pouring pitchers.
@MAD: Was going to suggest you go to "Back Room", which used to be Lansky's Lounge; but upon further inspection, Tim Robbins sold his share. Oh well, they do serve drinks out of tea cups and don't allow in people under 30 or wearing fur. (Swizzle Stick?)
I used to like that you could have a friend call you at a pay phone. It wouldn't actually ring, but if you picked up the receiver after they'd dialed the #, it worked!
@Mike Hunt: I'm going to go into full Jerry Seinfeld mode and say, "Who were the ad wizards that thought that "Bongwater" is a tantalizing name for a soft drink?"
@Katrink: I've never read "Closing Time" but will now. Thanks for the tip!
@csp: I'll have to check that out, thanks!
@Spike: I never knew about that trick! My goal now is to get a photo of someone actually talking at a pay phone!
hard to post any new observations when i get so late...damn wrok rules 'bout 'puter usage...so in the name of redundancy great post!...will try to get to a couple pics of pay phones in this 'hood to you....yeah i spewed "rutgut 45" all over every object around when i read that bongwater bit...
Condoms aren't completely safe. A friend of mine was wearing one and got hit by a bus.
Bob Rubin
rr
@rr: Glad you got a laugh out of it! Great quote, but who's Bob Rubin? Hilarious quote!
Bob Rubin is a good guy who currently resides in Hollywood.
rr
I think I had a futuristic nightmare about a place like that a few nights ago. Once I realized that I look best backlit, I had to confine my drinking pleasures to dimly lit locales. Nobody in that crowd looks like they're over 25 - in age, not IQ.
I found the pic you took of the after-work "party" that has the girl with the "HELP ME!" look on her face to be particularly funny. I think you caught a moment of private sorrow and helplessness - which doesn't sound funny at all. But then I go back and look at the pic, and it is indeed funny.
And, I'm sorry, but if you're in NYC and you can't think of anything better to do than go bowling in a sea of neon and drink beer from one of those pitcher towers... That's not funny at all.
@Uncle Waltie: I agree, nothing better than a dimly lit bar, like say...The International! Sip ahoy!
@Tomatic: I wondered if anyone else would notice it! That cracked me up too! And you are spot on about the anything better to do!
I had to use a payphone a couple of years ago when my cell died and all of a sudden I realized I had used a cell for so long that I didn't know my own husband's work number-I'd always used the speed dial. Pretty sad. Also, pay phones are always greasy/slimy. Yuck.
@Britta: I don't remember anyone's number either, if I lose my cell phone I'm in big trouble!