The startling confessions left on vanishing pay phones
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These payphones let you say goodbye to someone before it's too late. An art project called the Goodbye Line prompts passersby to make a collect call and say goodbye to a loved one, a pet, or maybe a part of themselves. People are dialing. Written by Todd Martins for the Los Angeles Times. Narrated by Scott Turner Schofield for Apple News Plus subscribers. Alexis Wood received a notification on her phone. It was an anonymous call from a payphone. She listened and was momentarily paralyzed. And then she couldn't stop crying. The call wasn't completely unexpected. Days earlier, Wood and her partner, Adam Trunnell, had gone prowling for working Los Angeles payphones, placing stickers on them that invited passersby to make a free call to a recorded line to say goodbye.
What surprised her was the message. The voice on the other end of the line sounded like a young man who confessed that he thought the toll-free 888 number would allow him to call his mother. Once he realized it wouldn't, he pivoted and followed the recorded prompt to say goodbye. To remember, to pay respects, to turn the page. To a loved one or part of yourself.
I thought this was a free call from my mother, but never mind. Anyway, I'd like to apologize to my family and I hope that y'all make it to heaven. I'm sorry I didn't make it. I love you. Bye.
Wood listened to it again, on repeat. "'I started to cry,' Wood says, sitting with Trunnell in a downtown coffee shop. "'I didn't realize this was going to have that effect on me, that this was a very real, authentic moment for someone.'" Alternately rebellious and nostalgic, the Goodbye Line is a relatively new art project found on payphones throughout the L.A. area. Yes, this payphone works, the stickers read in blocky text against a red and white backdrop. The instructions continue with the line, Someday these will be gone, like you, me, and everyone else. Prior to inviting readers to leave a message before it's too late, people are calling. Goodbye is such a part of life, says Trunnell, a documentary filmmaker who started the experiment with wood last year.
It's all us coming and going, coming and going. We all share that. And it makes it less lonely, less scary. Not that it makes it easier. Calls do range in tone. At a payphone in Hollywood, someone says goodbye to their best friend. At downtown's Pershing Square, two women say goodbye to payphones, lamenting the loss of anonymous calls.
What is the Goodbye Line art project and how did it start?
A woman reaching out from Altadena's Chaney Trail sings a song, urging people to say goodbye to anyone, anything, cause you never know when it's your time. And it's not the same without you, says someone from West Hollywood's Plummer Park in an ode to a lost pal. The anonymous messages are edited and posted on social media for all to hear and share. Those who wish to keep their messages private are instructed to say so on the call. They are snapshots of grief and our desire to connect, but also audio logs of loneliness in Los Angeles. Payphones, or the neighborhoods they're in, rather, have personalities, and while messages have spanned the spectrum from light to heavy, they're almost all rooted in a desire to tap into a broader community.
We learned that loss and grief is a process, and mourning isn't something that's purely private, Trunnell says.
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