Times Square Webcam Payphones Revisited

UPDATE: JULY, 2014. THE TIMES SQUARE PAYPHONE WEBCAM IS GONE. THE PAYPHONES ARE STILL THERE. EARTHCAM.COM REMOVED THE CAMERAS SOMETIME THIS YEAR. AS FAR AS I KNOW THERE ARE NO WEBCAMS POINTED AT PAYPHONES ANYWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES. CONTENT BELOW IS FROM 2011.

The payphones at Broadway and 46th Street in New York City’s Times Square seem to be objects of particular fascination for many people. I assume this is because Earthcam points a live webcam at them, inspiring some to imagine that it might be possible to call these phones and watch live as some random person answers.

Photo from Earthcam.com (You have to click “Cam 2” on that page to see the live Times Square Payphone Webcam)

Alas, as I discovered in 2006, it was virtually impossible at that time to call those payphones and reach a random passer-by. This was on account of how the phones were configured to almost completely reject incoming calls. It could be done with some planning but it seemed like reaching anybody at those payphones was a long shot.

Today even that little window of opportunity is closed, and it appears to be altogether impossible to make incoming calls to these phones.

For some reason that Times Square Payphone Webcam story from 2006 had been getting a lot of pageviews. On account of that (and because I was going to be in the area anyway) I headed out to Times Square to re-visit these payphones at the Crossroads of the World.

In 2006 there were three payphones here, owned by Verizon. Today there are two, and they were acquired by Titan as part of the deal announced August 19, 2010, in which Titan “agreed to acquire 1,900 payphones at 1,300 kiosk locations in New York City from Verizon.”

When I snapped this picture I was focused on the payphones and I honestly did not realize the three women standing there were waving their hands. I now realize that they must have been posing for the Earthcam camera which is pointed at them, and which was located right over my head. The woman on the right, talking into a cell phone, was probably coördinating with someone far away, telling them to get to the Internet and see them at Earthcam’s Times Square Webcam.

Here is the Earthcam camera which points at these payphones, and another Earthcam camera (the one on the bottom) pointing north.

I was able to get at the payphone on the left to verify that its phone number is still (212) 840-9479, but I never got at the second payphone, on account of a woman standing in front of it for no apparent reason. She and her friend (the man kneeling down) were filming or photographing Times Square, and I did not have time to wait around for them to finish up their payphone-hogging work for to access the payphone and re-verify its number. This is no great loss, as I’ll be back around soon enough.

These are, as far as I know, the only payphones in the United States that are clearly visible from a live webcam. In 2006 I knew of one other Times Square area payphone, partly visible from a live webcam, outside of a Charley O’s at Broadway and 49th Street. The payphone is still there (and so is the Charley O’s), but that cam appears to be offline.

Another payphone once viewable via live webcam was on the Boardwalk at Ocean Gallery World Center in Ocean City, Maryland. That payphone is now gone, though the webcam is still live.