Closed laundromat

[davek]

Bear with me, there are about 20 pictures to post, but I promise it'll be worth it.

I've lived in this town for 13 years and this laundromat has been closed the entire time. Judging by some of the stuff in there, it hadn't just closed when I got here. I had seen the Speed Queens at the front while stopped at the traffic light, but I had never had a closer look. I know that the harvest gold top loaders at the front are GEs, and the turquoise ones behind them probably are too going by the shape of the lids.

I pumped the contrast of this up to make the ghost sign more visible.

 

[davek]

This is the view that would've greeted you as you entered. The buggy next to the Pepsi machine has a Power House detergent tray in it.

 

[davek]

Here are the top load washers near the door. There's a little booth past them on the left that may have been the attendant's window. All of the Speed Queens had the lids up, so no control console pics of them.

 

[davek]

Closest thing to a money shot I could get.

 

[davek]

One of the GEs that faced the front. These have the same lid shape as a Filter-Flo, but I don't imagine that laundromat operators would take kindly to having to keep up with the agitator toppers.

Check out that groovy wallpaper on the wall behind it.

 

[davek]

I pumped up the contrast on this one, too. I can make out some of what it says. This is the machine that's backed up against the front wall and isn't hooked up. You can see where someone tried to wipe it with a wet rag at some point and just smeared dust around.

 

[davek]

I like that extractor.

 

[davek]

Note contents of table include half-consumed RC in deposit bottle (no half-eaten Moon Pie though), a Planter's can that looks at least 30 years old, phone books, and a Sears annual book of some kind. It has the eighties Sears logo on it, but no date on the spine.

Whatever that machine by the back door is, it's huge.

 

[davek]

I like the wallpaper, but I love the sign. That's one frustrated-looking washer. It's like a suds-fro.

 

[davek]

These machines were off in another part where cars are parked. The angle-front machines are interesting.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

The machine in the back is probably a Milnor

 

[davek]

These cars are parked in there. There's a late 70s Ford Granada, an early 80s Ford Crown Vic, an early 80s Chevy Caprice Classic, an early 80s Ford Escort wagon, an early 80s Dodge Diplomat or Plymouth Gran Fury, a middle 80s Cadillac Sedan deVille, a middle 80s Chevy or GMC pickup, a late 80s Dodge Dakota, and a middle 80s Pontiac T1000.

Several have finger marks in the dust on them. I saw someone walking around in this part of the building once last year.

 

[davek]

These dryers were at the back of the part with the cars in it, so this would've been a huge laundry back when it was open.

 

[appnut]

Hmm, the front loaders are either double or triple bendix machines. Those "angle"d fornt loaders are westing house commercial washers from the late 1950s early 1960s. I bet those were the original washers in this place.

 

[davek]

By the way, it's for sale. Add a 931 area code to that number. The sign in the window of the car part of the building says "Building only," but the laundry part doesn't. I assume the owner would sell the machines as noone is going to open a laundromat with 40 year old equipment in it. There are two active businesses in other parts of the building (a trophy shop and a music store).

I found the electric meter for this part of the building. It is hooked up, and there was a slow crawl of consumption. The faded "lock" on the meter would indicate that the power hasn't been deliberately interrupted anytime recently. The rubber seal around the meter's glass was cracking, too.

There was a big dead rat out back, but I'll spare you a picture of it.

That's all I got.

 

[laundromat]

Real,true Laundromat laundromat(WESTINGHOUSE Laundromat Equi

AldDry,Westinghouse Laundromat,AldSpin or Bock,GE,Big Boy(Milnor) and Loadstar are what I see in the photos shown.I would want the Laundromats and the extractor.

 

[robliverpool]

sad...

So sad to see a laundromat not used when it was probably really busy with people doing there washing and having a good gossip at the same time... Any ideas why it has been left in that state for so long and nothing has been done to either re open it or dispose of the machines.

sad to see laundrettes closing, we have very few left in liverpool people only ever go in there when you want to wash your duvet or you have lots of drying to do quickly. If the laundrette was cheaper to use i would use it more often but to do two loads of washing and drying it usually costs in excess of £10

 

[davek]

10 quid? For 2 loads? As in about $17.50?! I bought my little portable set because it was costing me $5.50 to do two loads. With prices like that, no wonder they're closing. The real wonder is why not just buy a new duvet instead of washing it for that much. There have, in fact, been 3 new laundromats open in this town in the last 5 years or so, and one closed and reopened. This particular one suffers from lousy parking and the nearest housing certainly consists of people who own their own machines. It's been closed and for sale for over 13 years, so I suspect the owner's asking price is probably far too much.

My large apartment complex has its own laundromat. It's the one I used to use as I could get up at 4am and do my wash before work without having to drive anywhere. Most large or even medium complexes would have on-site laundry in this area. YMMV.

 

[70series]

Oh if only that were still open. I can just imagine the sounds of slamming solenoids, and the awesome views of those Speed Queens thrashing clothes around with those beautiful agitators. I'll bet those washers had indicator lights for each phase of the cycle too. They bring back memories of a few laundromats I visited as a kid.

Have a good one,
James