9/12 POD - Branded laundromats

[mcmodern]

Does anyone remember the Helpee-Selfee and Poly Clean laundromats? Poly Clean was a Whirlpool branded franchise, there was one when I lived in Amarillo, TX in the early sixties, what a cool place! Coin-op dry cleaners and even a steam press. Whirlpool had very attractive machines, the double-loaders looked a lot like the tall W/D cobmination that was sold to the general public (See Robert's collection for a beautiful example) and the dry cleaners taller yet, built into the wall, using the same door assemblies as the doubles. I remember one day seeing a comforter or bedspread spinning in one, making a hypnotic perfect spiral inward - fascinating, never seen that effect on a FL since.

I'd only seen one other Poly Clean maybe 8 years later in Springfield, MO.

I'm barely familiar with the Helpee-Selfee (with apologies to our Asian community...) franchises, but a friend's grandmother owned one in southwestern IL. They were a Frigidaire house using the commercial washers with the topless jet-cone agitator. How he wishes he had grabbed the one Grandma had at her house when she passed away! He would appreciate any information about this outfit.

Finally, there are the Norge Villages. They seemed to be all over. Turqoise gear, of course, and also coin-op dry cleaners that were really cool-looking. I believe many of these are still in business, but would bet that self-service dry cleaning may have been outlawed due to environmental issues.

Spark any memories?

 

[sudsman]

Drycleaning

all of the coin op drycleaners used "Perk" which is now banned in many states. Those that have not, have it as a regulated solvent. Only certain amounts per lb of processed clothing can be purcahsed . If you remember Glamorene Carpet Cleaner it too had Perk in it and that is why it is gone too.

 

[unimac104]

perk

i am currently a dry cleaner with three perk machines in my plant. perk is highly regulated, however i am not aware of any state that has outlawed it. todays machines have many features to protect the enviroment and exposure to the solvent. i know california is working on a phase out, but do not believe that it completes until 2022. coin op perk machines are definitely a thing of the past.

 

[unimac104]

branded laundromats

in florida we had wash bowl coin laundries which featured hotpoint coin op washers and coin o magic laundromats which were westinghouse equipped stores. we also had kween klean laundries which had duplex double loaders and hotpoint top loaders, bright and clean laundries had duplex f.l. but ge filter flo top loaders.

 

[alr2903]

Ding

Ms Brockovich, your skirt is ready. I am sure this is much more regulated than it ever was, are exhaust hoods required for ventilation of the perc? I have also read that perc has been drained into city sewer systems either by accident or negligence. Not a tree hugger, but maybe LG is on to something with that Steam washer.

 

[mcmodern]

I may be confused...

I thought the laundromat picture was from Tuesday's POD, then went back and looked Sudsman's Westinghouse laundry post. OH, BOY, loosing my mind so soon? Anyway the old full-service laundromats were neat places, the toxic aroma of perchlorethylene not withstanding.

 

[rinso]

I remember when the first Norge Coin-Op Laundry and Dry Cleaning establishment came to my home town of Pocatello, Idaho. Yes, the machines were turquoise, but the TL washers were not Norge, but Maytag. I remember that the Norge dryers got very hot, and if you looked up through the temperature selector, you could see the blue flames from the burner. The dry-cleaning machines were all along one wall, and were front loading, of course. But, you couldn't run them yourself, even though they had a coin slide. Signs above them let you know an attendent was required to help you with your load.

There was also a very good hydraulic press available, and a Milnor giant "Load as full as you wish" front loader.

We would always go there when our household got behind on laundry. I loved it, but I'll bet it's because I was high on perc fumes.

 

[tumbler]

Helpee-Selfee

Up here in Wellfleet, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, I remember as a little kid going with my mom to "Ye Olde Helpee-Selfee Laundry" on Commercial Street overlooking Duck Creek. They had rows of old Westinghouse Laundromat round-front FL washers, with the timer knobs on top, which probably dated from the late '40's or very early '50's. (The former laundry is now a sushi place). Years later, in my early teens, I rescued such a machine from a storage shed, and got it to work in our workshop; that's where I first learned that these machines were meant to be bolted down (no suspension-when it went into spin, it hopped all about the shop).

 

[launderess]

IIRC California has passed a law banning perc, and as with most things as goes CA, goes the rest of the country.

In most urbran areas like NYC one cannot open a new dry cleaning store using perc, and landlords are trying to get rid of the ones (if they can) that are already there. This has come about mainly from huge liability issues in terms of land/ground water contamination and the air in and round the plant. Pepole living in buildings several floors above dry cleaning stores have been tested and showed high levels of perc in their bodies, and even mother's milk from women living above/near dry cleaning stores contains perc. A quick peek in many dry cleaner's windows and you'll see certificates either from the state or EPA certifying someone in the plant is able to handle perc, and or the system being used conforms to modern standards.

L.