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Houstonia: Pay Phones Are About to Make a Third Ward Comeback

Full article by Brittanie Shey


THINK BACK TO THE LAST TIME YOU USED A PAY PHONE. The once-ubiquitous structures have been supplanted by cell phones, but a few remaining booths in the Third Ward will soon find new life as art objects, thanks to Project Row Houses.

Three phone booths, sprinkled across North Third Ward, will feature the voices and sounds of The Tre. The booths have been hacked electronically, and transformed into sculptures through painting and metalwork. Now callers can press buttons 1-9 to hear recordings, or press the star button, zero, or pound sign to record and hear messages from other callers, plus the project’s statement of purpose. The phones create a new kind of connection.

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