payphone toronto

This mysterious phone just popped up in Toronto

Who doesn't love an anxiety-inducing public reminder that the end of the world is nigh? 

A public payphone has popped up at the southeast corner of bustling Queen and Spadina—and it wants you to know that life on earth is fleeting and there's nothing you can do about it.  

Offering many problems and zero solutions (other than believing in Jesus), the rotary phone's actually a fake: you can't even lift it off the handle. Not very helpful during this time of crisis. 

Linguists might enjoy it, though, since the phone box also teaches you how to write "Out of time" in a bunch of languages like French, Chinese, Portuguese, and Vietnamese, since doom and gloom is universal. 

Taped to the side of the box—eureka! A sign, with solutions! Just kidding, it's a piece of paper with a picture of a dove and this illuminating message: "The world is on the verge of stupendous crisis." 

Whoever's art project this is, I need them to come forward and take accountability for worsening my climate anxiety by tenfold. 

Lead photo by

Tanya Mok


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in City

Here's a preview of what it will be like to ride on new Toronto LRT line

There's a brand-new $26M TTC subway station entrance in a popular Toronto park

Ontario's largest snake grows up to 2 metres and squeezes prey to death

Ontario is home to world's oldest pool of water at a staggering 2 billion years old

Stunning new Toronto park set to open next year

Toronto somehow isn't home to Ontario's jankiest LRT

A Toronto transit project is actually going to finish early for once

People worried about Ontario police's plan to use facial recognition software