Ladies, why waste time trying to find Mr. Right on the cold and impersonal Internet when true romance awaits just around the corner at the nearest payphone? Meet 40-year-old Malik Turner: He's into tigers (and cats!), Ferraris, video games, threesomes and foursomes; he is gainfully employed and his hobbies include "riding the subway." AND. HE. IS. AVAILABLE! His contact info can be found in the NY Post today because a reporter discovered Turner's rigorous personal ad posted in Hell's Kitchen. So what are you waiting for? Pick up the phone and call now—for your convenience, he's taped his digits to a payphone. more ›

What’s worse than texting while driving? Texting at all! Doctors (not just one) have named a new affliction caused by constant mobile messaging: it’s called text neck. According to WCBSTV, symptoms of text neck can include headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, gastrointestinal issues, loss of lung capacity, pinched nerves, and spine degeneration. "I personally feel that this is going to be the next epidemic, because mobile technology is advancing and everybody, from the youngest to the oldest, is using some sort of handheld device," said Dr. Dean Fishman. To avoid neck stain lift your phone to eye level, and only text for five-minute interval (as if!). Or try using a pay phone. more ›

In our advanced age, street pay phones are often thought of as grimy relics of a bygone era—something between a public toilet and a closet-sized museum. Still, measured up against touch-screens and T9, they seem incredibly romantic. One pay phone outside of a Queens courthouse still swallows its fair share of quarters, and a Times reporter spent a week eavesdropping from the sidewalk. As one might expect, lots of people called after their run-ins with the law. “I do drugs,” said one man. “I got caught with them.” Others conduct their shady dealings. “Nah,” one young man said after hanging up, “you didn’t see me use that phone.” “Loneliness, loneliness, loneliness,” responded another man when asked why he was calling. He'd tried to reach his son, but was met by an automated response. See a map of the city’s payphones by zip code after the break. more ›

Remember phone booths? Not pay phones, but the actual booths you got into in order to access that phone. Well, according to Scouting NY there are only four left in all of Manhattan! Because who needs privacy anymore? Well, maybe Clark Kent. But when movies film here they often have to recreate their phone booth scenes with props. Sigh, just another little thing dropping off the landscape of the city. This site has a great archive of pay phones and booths around the five boroughs, and Forgotten NY takes a nostalgic look back on booths of the past. If you want to see a rare booth in person the remaining ones are at 101st, 100th, 90th and 66th streets. more ›