Call the Vatican. Or Boston Public Library. Or Grand Central Station.

August 1, 2001 8:11 PM

Call the Vatican. Or Boston Public Library. Or Grand Central Station. A few friends of mine used to use this tactic to see what the weather is like. This is a database of public pay-phone numbers, along with location and occasional sundry information. Read, call, and contribute!
posted by atfrost (14 comments total)

It's even organized by area code. This, for instance, is Manhattan ^_~
posted by atfrost at 8:12 PM on August 1, 2001

So very cool. I now know for a fact that there is no one by the name of Heywood Jablome employed at the Vatican.
posted by Optamystic at 8:31 PM on August 1, 2001

Hey, Mark Thomas is still around!
posted by solistrato at 9:02 PM on August 1, 2001

pet peeve: Grand Central Terminal.

sorry.
posted by o2b at 9:05 PM on August 1, 2001

The best part of this site is the stories he tells about the different numbers. I love this one and will try it myself:

"FleaPort Flea Market
1880 Bartow Ave
Near Co-op City in the Bronx [phone]
Phone used by vendors in fleamarket
want to have some fun call up and ask
for John Rizzo when he answers tell him
he has won a trip to Wally World and
he can bring the rest of the Griswalds
with him.

Don't mind John he tends to tell people
to go F themselfs all the time LOL
Added by BigBadBob
"
posted by me myself and i at 3:54 AM on August 2, 2001

It's interesting that there are any phones in New York City that still receive calls. For a long time, at the behest of police and the city, the phone company disabled this feature to prevent them being used for drug dealing. I'm not sure how that worked, but I do know that in poor neighborhoods, a lot of folks don't have phones (or intermittent service only when they can pay the bill), so pay phones were key for receiving calls.
posted by Mo Nickels at 5:43 AM on August 2, 2001

Enjoy it while you can -- pay phones are vanishing faster than voluptuous Jewish female Congressional interns these days.
posted by briank at 7:27 AM on August 2, 2001

Believe me, I will enjoy it.... thanks for the link. This should be a lot of fun :).
posted by kidsplate at 9:38 AM on August 2, 2001

While you're making prank calls, be sure to try this:

Call National Discount Brokers' toll-free number 1-800-888-3999 and select Option 7 from their phone tree menu.
posted by briank at 9:52 AM on August 2, 2001

yet again, the internet provides.
posted by whoshotwho at 10:13 AM on August 2, 2001

OK, I bit and called the Nat'l Discount Brokers....what the heck is that "mmm mmm" on option 7, anyway?
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:23 AM on August 2, 2001

Oriole - listen to all the options before you press 7.
posted by moosedogtoo at 10:41 AM on August 2, 2001

ROFL...thanks, Moosedog. That was hilarious, and is definitely the proper use of a voicemail menu.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:19 PM on August 2, 2001

And for us non US-ites? That voicemail option is...
posted by nedrichards at 4:38 PM on August 2, 2001