Remember pay phones? 📞

If you’re younger than about 35 years old, you may be unfamiliar with pay phones because — for the most part — they have long been obsolete. (For insight into what happened, The Atlantic has an explainer. It was more than the rise of cellphones, although that didn’t help.)

Some of you will never know the satisfaction of angrily slamming a phone down on the hook, and that’s something you can’t truly understand without experiencing it.

But if you walk down Martin Luther King Boulevard, you will find one of these artifacts and if you’re compelled to pick it up, you’ll find a surprise. 😲

The phone has been repurposed as part of an art installation that connects the past and present.

In 2018, River City Company, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Benwood Foundation were some of the driving forces behind the new art installation. (Photo: Andrew Rodgers)

River City Company along with the help of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Benwood Foundation commissioned local artist Rondell Crier to activate a wall space on Martin Luther King Boulevard during 2018’s Clean and Green event. ✨✨✨

“It’s in connection with the mural on the wall,” Crier said about the pay phone. “Since the area is being gentrified or is going through changes ... when we were trying to create a beautification process for the neighborhood, we thought it could have a bit more connection to the history.”

How it works

When you pick up the phone, Crier welcomes you to the On the Boulevard art installation. 🖼️

He said he still needs to add a legend to guide users, but you can still press numbers that correspond with his mural, which is on the side of a Top of the Line Barber Shop. 💈

Each number corresponds to a panel of the mural.

For example, the first panel of the mural shows lifelong Chattanoogan Fred Massengill, who is was a business owner and is the father of current MLK business owner James Massengill, Chatt Smoke House owner.

When you push No. 1, you hear James telling his story and talking about his father.

Press No. 2 and you hear piano music, which corresponds with an image of a piano.

You get the idea. 💡

Although this project started as a beautification project, it eventually transformed into a cultural arts installation that aimed to complement the existing art projects in the historic MLK downtown corridor formerly known as the Big Nine. (Photo: Andrew Rodgers)

Quoteworthy

“I’ve been working in communities for a long time and sometimes people come in and decide what things should look like,” Crier said. “I wanted to ask the people who were already there what they would like ... The smokehouse owner said he wanted a picture of his father if he could have anything because, if it wasn’t for his father, he wouldn’t have the business.”

More about the installation

The second image shows Richard Williams Jr., the founding owner of MLK business Memo’s, who grew up in Chattanooga and started a business at age 17 when he bought Frozen Joy.

After operating Frozen Joy for a short period of time, he expanded his reach with Memo’s Grill in 1966. Memo’s specializes in chopped wieners and has a famous chili sauce.

On the phone recording, the current Memo’s owner is talking about how people come from across the country to get the eatery’s chopped wieners.

As MLK Blvd continues to grow and change, Memo’s plans to help revitalize the area with entertainment nights that reflect what the boulevard used to be and where it is headed, according to River City Co., which was one of the driving forces behind the art installation and works to boost economic development downtown.

“It is a good feeling to see,” Richard Williams Jr.’s daughter Mona said, according to River City Co. “The family really appreciates it. I cannot put it into words. They really love it. Our dad would be proud of that.”

The final individual depicted on the mural is Booker T. Scruggs, who was a well-known educator and musician that made a lasting impact in the Chattanooga arts scene and at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

And there’s a blank space left on the mural, which Crier wants to use to feature different artists.

Art + tech = ❤️

Crier connected with technologist Andrew Rodgers to build the components of the phone and develop the program. 👨‍💻

The design team put a motion sensor on the phone so that it rings when someone walks past, it has a scrolling screen that could visually announce events and messages, according to River City Co.

“Too often there is a separation between technology and art,” CHA Art/Dev leader, and technologist for On The Boulevard Andrew Rodgers said.

DYK: CHA Art/Dev is a digital playground where creative folks and technical folks can collaborate and it attempts to bridge the gap between the two — in part — by supporting Crier with his vision.

Credit where credit is due

Crier said he it was important to him to mention his two apprentices — Chrystion McKibben and Amari Johnson — who are part of his community studio program and helped bring this art installation to life. They’ve both been with him for more than three years and engage in all his projects.

Thumbs up to Crier for propping his protégés up. 👍

The future of old pay phones

Crier hopes that in the future the phone can be connected to other phone installations across the city.

And he said he has plans to install another mural panel about Jazzanooga and he wants to make Shane Morrow, co-founder of the nonprofit, the voice for that connection.