NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans is in the process of removing dozens of blighted sites that many people likely have memories of, but have long abandoned.
Pay phones have been out of commission for years. Soon, they and their kiosks will be out of sight in New Orleans.
“They’re just a symbol of blight, they demonstrate a lack of interest and we’re trying to make every little bit count to help improve the city and the perception,” said Cheryn Robles, the environmental affairs administrator for the City of New Orleans.
Contractors are removing at least 77 of the kiosks.
In the past, New Orleans and many other American cities had laws targeting pay phones because of crime concerns. Some of us are old enough to remember a more innocent time, when almost every street corner had a pay phone and we carried change to make a call.
“I think I was in college. It was last century,” Candy Ellison joked.
We met Ellison outside of the former site of Gene’s Po Boys where there were pay phone kiosks back-to-back. As some people tried to remember the last time they used a pay phone, their parents often came to mind.
“I remember back in 1990. I was in St. Aug in the marching band and I was calling my mom to pick me up from band practice,” Bryce Neville said.
“The only reason I would use a phone is if I needed a ride or something or like that,” Ellison said.
“It was 1993, I called my brother and my daddy,” Victor Lopez said.
The city is spending about $60,000 to remove the pay phone kiosks and restore the concrete where they were once located. If you’re really nostalgic about pay phones, you can buy a piece of that history when the first of the kiosks will be up for public auction next month. With more than 96% of Americans owning a cell phone, pay phones will pretty soon exist only in memories or the movies.
“That used to be a part of our history before we had cell phones and Facebook and Instagram, that was the way to communicate,” Bryce Neville said.
Even in a city that’s constantly holding onto its past, this is one piece we’ll likely let go.
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