A sharp-eyed reader sent me a photo of this old wooden phone booth, spotted inside 473 Third Avenue, at 10th Street, in Brooklyn. The space is under construction, but the new owners seem to have retained the phone booth from the address' previous incarnation.
According to old newspaper records, this was the location of the Third Avenue Pub & Restaurant, at least until 1973. And it was a store of some sort going back to 1900. The property was purchased by someone last December. Plans unknown. Note the intact shelf on the side, used for perusing phone books. Remember phone books?
I wonder if the rack still has the hooks to hold the phone books that would swing up and over onto the table.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen a wooden phone booth before. Thank you for capturing this picture - I must go there when they open!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think it is amazing how you can find so much history about buildings. It really fascinates me because I am a New Yorker and feel like I should know more about this grand city.
Seems like it is there in an odd place. Perhaps the New York version of Doctor Who has materialized in the area, and that is his conveyance.
ReplyDeleteJust realized that there's a wooden phone booth on the lower level of the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington & 25th, near the bathrooms. There are always food festivals & trade shows going on in there, so the public has lots of opportunity to see it. Actually, the whole downstairs is pretty frozen in time.
ReplyDeleteI like old phone booths. Many people see them as unusable now a days, but they could actually make a stunning display or something of the like.
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