Hartford Pay Phone #33

Sad City reader Bruce B. sent us Hartford Pay Phone #33 in our great pay phone search. This pay phone is located at the corner of Main and Talcott, most people familiar with Hartford would recognize at being near the G.Fox building and of course the now demolished and much maligned Butt-Ugly building.

The G.Fox building was once home to a downtown department store, a business model that today is now almost totally defunct. Today the G.Fox building performs a handful of functions, most prominently  as home to Capitol Community College. It also hosts weddings, one which we attended last summer. While we were perplexed that the bar service stopped for about 15 minutes every hour (we thought only those damn European bartenders were unionized!) having the cocktail hour in the upstairs area was probably the coolest setting for any cocktail hour we have attended.

A while back The Savin Rock Roasting Company opened a location in the building for what seemed to be about five minutes. When we tried to eat there once the sign told us it was "closed for renovations" which hardly seemed plausible since the location had just opened. At this point it is apparent that it won't be reopening.

The G.Fox building is also home to Club 960 which seems to specialize in what is referred to as "house music". As aging children of the 80's and 90's this isn't exactly our scene. We did attempt to go there with the a group of two males and two females one night at about 1 AM. We were told by the doorman that the females could get in free but it would be $20 each for the males. Incredulous, we reminded the doorman that it was 1 AM and that the bar would stop serving in under an hour. He held in his demands and we passed on the outrageous cover and Club 960.

Despite never haven't entered Club 960, it has provided us with an entertaining memory. Club 960 seems to be one of those clubs where the female outfit of choice is the smallest and tightest possible dress. Fine with us. Well at the wedding we attended last summer, the reception was in a room right across from Club 960. As the night wore on, patrons of Club 960 started to cue up waiting to get into the club. One of the older ladies at the reception came over to us with great concern that "there are a bunch of hookers outside!" "Nah" we reassured, "just some kids going to the club."