Hartford Pay Phone Contest: Pay Phone #23

Pay phone #23 is located at the corner of Albany & Bedford in the North End outside of the Wonder Package Store and the Super Deli. When we approached number #23 we asked the gentleman in the picture if he was going to use the phone. He responded that if he was going to use a pay phone, we would use the two around the corner, that are #15 & 16 in our search. We didn't think much of it, but after todays Hartford Courant story of wire taps and controlled drug buys in the North End, we wonder if maybe this guy knew something about something.

Whether he did or he didn't, we can confirm that #23, though badly beaten, vandalized, and used as an alcohol container dispenser, does in fact work. We can also report that the gentleman who said he wouldn't use the phone seemed to find nothing odd about the fact that we stopped, asked to use the phone, picked up the receiver and then took photos of the phone with a cell phone. From a closer inspection of #23 we came to the conclusion that someone in the neighborhood is not a Yankee fan, or at the very last not much of a C.C. Sabathia fan.