I Double-Dare You to Pull It

Peter: 22nd Nov 2005 - 21:13 GMT

ha! look what i was just about to post when i saw your entry:

awesome find! i see so many of those, but 99%+ of them are disused, and lack the box on top... only the stubby red base remains, capped off. apparently, back in the day, they communicated via telegraph, believe it or not...

i urge you to capture as much of this quickly disappearing urban minutia before its too late...

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 22nd Nov 2005 - 21:24 GMT

It's freaky that you were about to post your pic! I've had this in my files for a while and just hadn't got round to putting it up. These alarm boxes range from the really beautiful to the utilitarian. This one is lovely, check out the scrollwork.
Astoria has lots of strange and forgotten stuff. I'll grab everything I see.

Peter: 22nd Nov 2005 - 21:27 GMT

i knew you must have saved this one to post, as yesterday's weather was nothing like that in your photo, sadly ;)

ahh, winter.

yes! you have a good eye for interesting details... its always nice to see the random stuff you pass a million times yet never really look at...

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 22nd Nov 2005 - 21:31 GMT

yeah...my secret stash of photos.

Jamie: 30th Nov 2005 - 10:28 GMT

whilst randomly stumbling through flickr, i found this series of photos flickr.com/photos/tags/sidewalkaltar/. a new lease of life for disused fire alarm boxes.

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 30th Nov 2005 - 14:17 GMT

Fantastic link, thanks! I love that the old fire alarms have a second life as altars.

Peter: 30th Nov 2005 - 15:51 GMT

that last link reminded me of the avenue a shrine (oldskool citynoise).

also: another disused pullbox, across hte street from the atlantic yards:

Peter: 2nd Dec 2005 - 14:51 GMT

heres a good example of one that has a new-style pullbox on top of the antique base, as in the firwst one. I spotted it on washington avenue at dean street in prospect heights, brooklyn:

ian: 3rd Dec 2005 - 05:31 GMT

Pull it?

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 3rd Dec 2005 - 18:26 GMT

safety shower? In case everything goes silkwood?

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 6th Dec 2005 - 05:37 GMT

Sorry, It was a very obscure reference. Silkwood is a movie about Karen Silkwood (played by Meryl Streep) who worked at a very unsafe nuclear power plant. She was contaminated with plutonium. During one scene, Meryl and Cher have to go through a horrible decontamination in a shower where they have to scrub themselves raw.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0086312/

ian: 6th Dec 2005 - 07:08 GMT

Radioisotopes are wonderful things. Their decay brings about our decay, yet, they have taught us so much about life, chemistry, and the nature of the universe. I exhalt them, on a mighty altar, in a chalice of Boron tubes to shield us from the glory of their neutrons.

ian: 6th Dec 2005 - 07:12 GMT

ps. that movie sounds like anti-nuclear fear-mongering. I'd probably just become irritated and frustrated if I watch it. Of course, fear sells. How else would we have conquered the majestic oil fields of the Persian Gulf but for a bearded bogeyman ready to snatch away our Lindbergh babies. In fact, I have quite a beard myself.

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 6th Dec 2005 - 15:21 GMT

Beards are great. You can keep badgers, babies and boron tubes in them.

Unfortunately Silkwood was based on a true story. She was inexplicably contaminated whilst working at the Kerr-McGee's plutonium fuels production plant in Crescent, Oklahoma. She also died very suspiciously in a car crash as she was gathering evidence of negligence to take to the union.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/interact/silkwood.html

Peter: 6th Dec 2005 - 15:30 GMT

i love silkwood. though that shower decon scene is rather terrifying.

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 15th Dec 2005 - 22:31 GMT

Fire alarm box with a torch motif on 64th and 3rd ave.

Peter: 5th Jan 2006 - 18:28 GMT

ian:

on the juice 90: 6th Feb 2006 - 06:12 GMT

the land of oz is a very funny place where everyone wheres a funny funny face,all the streets are paved with gold n no one ever grows old in that funny place called the land of oz.and thats what i have to say about pull box's.take that waxman..........

Peter: 24th Feb 2006 - 19:57 GMT

i found some more oldskool ones in prospect heights, what with the torch/ice-cream finial atop:

(the sticker on the closeup reminded me of Robert Indiana and elaine's "if you see kay" friend...)

elaine: 25th Feb 2006 - 15:03 GMT

ganked with permission - and if you wanna see more this is his website
www.artofbrianjones.com/

Peter: 31st May 2006 - 14:27 GMT

here's a differently-styled one i spotted on mermaid avenue on coney island this past weekend:

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 19th Jul 2006 - 18:26 GMT

Oldstyle with flame. I think the first one is a flamebot.

AnthonyP: 1st Sep 2006 - 03:32 GMT

Does anyone know where you can buy old obsolete NYC fireboxes? preferably with the torch!

Franny Wentzel: 31st Mar 2010 - 14:14 GMT

Ours have a little light on top...

The light cover is plastic.