Poly Clean self-serve dry cleaning centers (today's Picture of the Day)

[passatdoc]

Today's Picture of the Day gave me a flashback to the 1960s---we had one of these self-serve dry cleaning/laundromat stores near us as kids!

Our neighborhood was middle to upper-middle class, but there was a three block enclave of government-owned housing apartments for Navy families (as this was San Diego, there were government-owned housing tracts scattered here and there throughout the city; the Navy used to be >25% of San Diego's economy).

In the middle of the Navy housing tract, a strip center went in circa 1962, with a supermarket and smaller stores, including a pharmacy and a laundromat. I never set foot in the laundromat, but used to walk past it en route to 7-11 to buy a Slurpee slush drink, and the PolyClean logo was prominently displayed on the windows, not that I knew what PolyClean was.

The Navy apartments did not have provision for washers and dryers, either in the apartments or in a communal laundry room, so the residents had to use a laundromat. There already was one up the street, in an older building, and I think the new strip center PolyClean laundromat eventually put the older laundromat out of business; by the time I was in high school, the space was converted to restaurant use (and still is a restaurant).

What is odd about the artwork is that it portrays all-white, middle-class people doing laundry, as if Donna Reed is lurking behind the corner. In our area, the people in houses never went to laundromats because they had washers and dryers at home, and they usually used a dry cleaning service (my mother had a service that picked up and delivered, when that was still cost-effective). The folks who used the PolyClean laundromat were likely to be people of color (in particular, Filipino, many of whom gained US residency and citizenship by serving in the US armed forces) or not-so-prosperous-looking white families (no one dressed like the folks in the PolyClean ad).

Today's Pic of the Day was the first time I'd seen a PolyClean ad in 40 years, but it was an instantly recognizable flashback. Thanks Robert!!

 

[whirlcool]

We had a similar laundromat near our house that my mother used for self-serve dry cleaning. I think it was a Norge Village. the self serve dry cleaning machines looked like a normal front loader, just more heavy duty looking.
There are a few Poly Clean laundromats sprinkled around, notably in the St. Louis and San Marcos, TX area. But I don't think they allow self service dry cleaning anymore.

 

[westie2]

My small hometown had the Norge Village also with the front loaders and they had attendents that took your clothes and weighed them and did all the work. I did get to see one Frigidaire laundry with the dry cleaners also. This was either 1962 or 1963 They uses the jet action washers on on the upper left was the dryer. This as in Tulia, Texa. This place also had attendents that weighed, loaded and transfered the clothing from the washer/dry cleaner to the dryer. The cousins that I was visiting also had a early 60's Bendex Duomatic which I thought was so neat. At this time my mother still had the Maytag wringer. It was 1964 before she got a A700 washer and the HOH electronic gas dryer.

Back to the self cleaners at home. My mother and an aunt took clothes together there for the first time and when the fluid starting flowing in she started crying as she thought the fluid was water and would ruin the sweaters and woll clothes in there. I was 10 or 11 at that time.

 

[passatdoc]

Norge village!!!

Geez, what flashbacks! Our PolyClean store was a Norge Village with some sort of globe logo that spelled NORGE. As I never set foot inside the store (only walked past it), I don't remember if there were attendants or if it was all self-serve.

 

[whirlcool]

At the Norge Village laundromat I mentioned earlier they had attendants as well. My Mom used to dry clean the living room drapes there. She'd just put them in a dry cleaner, then put her coins in and then tell the attendant where they were. A couple of hours later she'd go and pick them up and they were all nicely pleated with paper bands on them to keep them that way.
She'd take them home, hang them up for a few days before removing the paper bands. Then they looked like they just came back from the cleaners, and the living room smelled that way too.

 

[laundromat]

I knew of

Numerous Laundromats that were in baltimore and had all the same brand throughout.My favorite one of all time was at Aero Acres near Martins air base. i would walk there or birde my bike down a trail that was paralel to the Penn Central/Amtrak train line.The area was also known as Middle River.There,they combined three store lots and had each one full of FRIGIDAIRE Unimatic style,round glass lid models. One room had snowcrest white washers and matching wall of Hoyt gas dryers which had a handle that would either increase or decrease the tumble speed.The second room had all pink and the third room had all turquoise.
Another place,Norge village was in Reisterstown near where my Mom was living and it had all Norge front loading washer dryer combinations and drycleaning units that looked identical.The drycleaning ones were turquoise and the regular combos were white.They also had a shoe shop where they'd repair and polish dress shoes and roller skates.
There was a Speed Queen laundromat that had the solid tub SQs,comercial Hoover top loaders,Blackstone,Zanussi and Bendix washers.There was an A&P there too that had awesome fresh made hamburgers they cooked up daily.
I knew of 12 different WESTINGHOUSE LAUNDROMAT coin laundries around the city that were all self service.Seven of them had the drycleaning units with scales to weigh the clothes before drycleaning them. There were three places that had a weird front loading washer named Launderama.The actual name of the laundromats was Sudsville.They had a weird design.The opening was a shoot that came out of the front cabinet and had a magnet to keep the door from opening during operation All stainless steel and the motors were on top just behind the backsplash.The stainless steel drum would spin as the wash and/or rinse water entered and it rotated counter clockwise.Once the water was in,the weight of the load slowed the speed down to a tumble. No door switch so,to add detergent,bleach or fabric softner,you had to open the shoot and add it manualy as the drum revolved. Some customers would just leave the door open during the entire cycle!I remember one day this bitch of a woman got into my Koolaid and tried to make me leave.There was never an attendant there but the owner,Charlie Epstein,knew me and would show me the works as he would repair these monsters.Anyway,I went next door to Fink's Drugs to get a Coke and saw Ms.Bitch leave to go to the W.T.Grants there. I bought some Clorox at Fink's and poured the entire gallon into her colored clothes.leaving the scene of the crimb to go home. I had to go through the construction sight of the now well known I95.There were many construction workers who are now either dead or have fond memories of our quicky times there.I always wonder how many of them I sattisfied??? Oh well,maybe I need to write a book.I just wish I had been a fly on the wall to see Ms Bitch's reaction to her brighter,whiter wash!