And in 1959
Still Bendix, I think the driers might be English Electric
Still Bendix, I think the driers might be English Electric
Vintage Laundromat Photos
- Thread starter revvinkevin
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wft2800
Well-known member
I love those Primus and Norge front-loaders. Were they hard or soft mount?
Excellent thread! Thanks to everyone who contributed photos, videos, and anecdotes.
The local laundromat where I grew up had two rows of the Westys shown in photo #1 below. They had an exposed fill tube and ran with the door open.
Those machines were eventually replaced with two rows of the Westys shown in photo #2 below. No more exposed fill tube; machines stopped when door was opened.
Photo #3 below: Have never seen Maytag Highlanders in a laundromat---and with the coin box mounted on front, no less! Had forgotten about those wooden bushel baskets. We had a few of them when I was a tyke in the early 1960s.
All three photos in this post courtesy of Kevin and Gansky upthread.
The local laundromat where I grew up had two rows of the Westys shown in photo #1 below. They had an exposed fill tube and ran with the door open.
Those machines were eventually replaced with two rows of the Westys shown in photo #2 below. No more exposed fill tube; machines stopped when door was opened.
Photo #3 below: Have never seen Maytag Highlanders in a laundromat---and with the coin box mounted on front, no less! Had forgotten about those wooden bushel baskets. We had a few of them when I was a tyke in the early 1960s.
All three photos in this post courtesy of Kevin and Gansky upthread.
A few more = part 3
Thanks everyone, I'm happy you all are enjoying these "blast from the past" photos!
Lawrence: Yeah that girl talking to the guy in the shorts (part 2, photo 8) that pose is so unnatural, but funny too. The woman in the hat (Photo 9) is Jayne Mansfield (another below).
Paul: Yes I was thinking the same thing about the residential Westinghouse slant front washers made into coin-op machines in #9 of 20. Looks like they just removed the timer and knob assembly and added the coin slot/box on top.
Steve: I could tell the Frigidaire machines in some of those shots were were different, but don't know enough to tell which are which. The only one I kinda figured out is the 1-18's in photo 8 of 20 (part 1).
Greg: Thanks for adding a few more photos. So odd to see the coin box just slapped on the front of those highlanders. Wow that last photo after the tornado is something!
Robert: Yes I agree 100%! I could easily spend DAYS in that laundromat!!!
Eugene: Thanks for your comments about the Westinghouse machines. I was impressed by the sheer numbers of them in that photo!
While I grew up with a Maytag washer in the house, I could often be found checking out, or hanging out in the local laundromats. The one closest to us had Maytags, but also a couple of the larger "big load" FL machines. I find it interesting that front load washers were popular in laundromats back into the 1940's(?).
Here are a few more photos, including another of Jayne Mansfield. I don't know anything about what's left of the laundromat in photo #8. I'd like to know what brand those front loaders are, but I can't tell.
Kevin
Thanks everyone, I'm happy you all are enjoying these "blast from the past" photos!
Lawrence: Yeah that girl talking to the guy in the shorts (part 2, photo 8) that pose is so unnatural, but funny too. The woman in the hat (Photo 9) is Jayne Mansfield (another below).
Paul: Yes I was thinking the same thing about the residential Westinghouse slant front washers made into coin-op machines in #9 of 20. Looks like they just removed the timer and knob assembly and added the coin slot/box on top.
Steve: I could tell the Frigidaire machines in some of those shots were were different, but don't know enough to tell which are which. The only one I kinda figured out is the 1-18's in photo 8 of 20 (part 1).
Greg: Thanks for adding a few more photos. So odd to see the coin box just slapped on the front of those highlanders. Wow that last photo after the tornado is something!
Robert: Yes I agree 100%! I could easily spend DAYS in that laundromat!!!
Eugene: Thanks for your comments about the Westinghouse machines. I was impressed by the sheer numbers of them in that photo!
While I grew up with a Maytag washer in the house, I could often be found checking out, or hanging out in the local laundromats. The one closest to us had Maytags, but also a couple of the larger "big load" FL machines. I find it interesting that front load washers were popular in laundromats back into the 1940's(?).
Here are a few more photos, including another of Jayne Mansfield. I don't know anything about what's left of the laundromat in photo #8. I'd like to know what brand those front loaders are, but I can't tell.
Kevin
This one is also interesting..,
WOW Robert, that is incredible! They look like they 33" KM combos, but it looks like it says "dry cleaning"
Those are the Whirlpool dry cleaners. They also made a version of that that was a large capacity washer called a Whirlpool Wash-a-Lot, I believe. A small coin laundry in Decatur had two of them, both broken down as was the owner.
I spy a Wascomat blue top! I would have loved to be able see one in action. I don't go to laundromats because I don't need to, but all of the laundries in a 50-mile radius have the "boring" new machines, judging by what I see at a glance driving by these places.
Oh, well, machines wear out, parts go NLA, energy and water costs rise, customers scoff at the woefully outdated looks of the machines and there are glaring safety hazards.
Oh, well, machines wear out, parts go NLA, energy and water costs rise, customers scoff at the woefully outdated looks of the machines and there are glaring safety hazards.
Part 1 photo#15 amusing sign about fastest spin in town placed over the Unimatics. Certainly wasn't those old slant-fronts across the aisle. Those look like '59 or '60 Unimatics. Would have had the Three-Ring pulsator in them.
Frig, there were plenty of those Maytag laundries around Atlanta. There was a large one across the parking lot from an old grocery on Highland Avenue near University Drive. All the Highlanders had the small-barrel Gyratators in them and were a hideous pink. They had coin boxes, a little red operating light where the timer-dial would normally be and a toggle-switch for Hot or Warm wash. And a big Bock extractor you could stuff four loads in.
Later Maytag laundries around Atlanta used plastic tickets rather than coins.
There were also Filter-Flo laundries all over the place.
Frig, there were plenty of those Maytag laundries around Atlanta. There was a large one across the parking lot from an old grocery on Highland Avenue near University Drive. All the Highlanders had the small-barrel Gyratators in them and were a hideous pink. They had coin boxes, a little red operating light where the timer-dial would normally be and a toggle-switch for Hot or Warm wash. And a big Bock extractor you could stuff four loads in.
Later Maytag laundries around Atlanta used plastic tickets rather than coins.
There were also Filter-Flo laundries all over the place.
Thank You
For the history lesson and for the pictures! The past always intrigues me, because I never got to see anything like that, sadly.
At least there are pictures and people willing to share insight. So, again, I thank everyone for the pictures and everything else!
-Tyler
For the history lesson and for the pictures! The past always intrigues me, because I never got to see anything like that, sadly.
At least there are pictures and people willing to share insight. So, again, I thank everyone for the pictures and everything else!-Tyler
ultralux88
Well-known member
Some of those older pictures show some really primitive laundromats! All the schlepping of wet washing from the agitating machine to the spin-dry machine, oy vey iz mir! I always found the HUGE dryers and the big commercial front loaders fascinating. We always had our own washer/dryer at home, so the laundromat was a rare experience, usually reserved for items too large or too dirty for mom to want to wash them at home. What I remember being the most interested in were the "Tumbletta" dryers, some Dexter front loaders, and later on some 70s looking Wascomat machines.
bendixmark
Well-known member
Dexters
Picture 18 in part one is my idea of heaven.I love those dexter/bendix machines brings back happy memories of the 80s for me .I used to love to visit Laundromats that had those on a sunday.I now have a dexter machine exactly like the ones in the picture.Thank you Kevin for this thread it is my favorite.
Picture 18 in part one is my idea of heaven.I love those dexter/bendix machines brings back happy memories of the 80s for me .I used to love to visit Laundromats that had those on a sunday.I now have a dexter machine exactly like the ones in the picture.Thank you Kevin for this thread it is my favorite.
potatochips
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2016
- Messages
- 545
Great thread, Kevin! I really enjoyed the colours and decor of some of these laundromats! I also really liked seeing GE FFs in coin op flavor.
"All the schlepping of wet washing ..."
If you are referring to picture #6 in first set, that was taken in a wash house, not a laundromat per se, and likely was somewhere in Europe. IIRC that picture may have been taken in UK.
Once American laundromats moved from hand powered wringers or using wringer washing machines to top loaders things were by and large fully automatic. Some places did offer "extractors", which were large spin dryers, but that was due to the poor extraction of top loaders (and even the front loaders that were on offer then), in order to speed up drying time.
Remember early Bendix and other front loaders didn't have suspension systems, so they needed to be bolted into floor. But they did spin even if at low rpms compared to modern H-axis washers.
If you are referring to picture #6 in first set, that was taken in a wash house, not a laundromat per se, and likely was somewhere in Europe. IIRC that picture may have been taken in UK.
Once American laundromats moved from hand powered wringers or using wringer washing machines to top loaders things were by and large fully automatic. Some places did offer "extractors", which were large spin dryers, but that was due to the poor extraction of top loaders (and even the front loaders that were on offer then), in order to speed up drying time.
Remember early Bendix and other front loaders didn't have suspension systems, so they needed to be bolted into floor. But they did spin even if at low rpms compared to modern H-axis washers.
Glasgow Steamie
Launderess, that UK photo was taken in a Glasgow laundry/bath house. I had to do an image search to figure out what was going on there. If you Google "Glasgow steamie" you come up with a bunch of these, and from as late as the 60s even. Apparently Scotland was pretty economically backward even long after the war.
Launderess, that UK photo was taken in a Glasgow laundry/bath house. I had to do an image search to figure out what was going on there. If you Google "Glasgow steamie" you come up with a bunch of these, and from as late as the 60s even. Apparently Scotland was pretty economically backward even long after the war.
UK Wash Houses
We've done them before here in the group several times.
See: http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?73457
Yet more:
Amazing to think wash house shown above was still in operation at 1971 when film was made.
However there were plenty of modern laundryettes about as well:
Interestingly but not surprisingly in UK wash houses were on same site as public baths. Makes sense in a way in that both required large amounts of water and modern (for their time) indoor plumbing. Not something every home had in late 1800's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baths_and_wash_houses_in_Britain
https://surveyoflondon.org/map/feature/1447/detail/
Extensive list of UK bath and wash houses, part of a quite good website.
We've done them before here in the group several times.
See: http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?73457
Yet more:
Amazing to think wash house shown above was still in operation at 1971 when film was made.
However there were plenty of modern laundryettes about as well:
Interestingly but not surprisingly in UK wash houses were on same site as public baths. Makes sense in a way in that both required large amounts of water and modern (for their time) indoor plumbing. Not something every home had in late 1800's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baths_and_wash_houses_in_Britain
https://surveyoflondon.org/map/feature/1447/detail/
Extensive list of UK bath and wash houses, part of a quite good website.
Your Local Places | Baths and Wash Houses Historical Archive
This page provides links to the background to your local Swimming Baths and Wash Houses Ashbourne – Derbyshire Bath Cleveland Pools – Bath Batley Baths Birmingham Birmingham – Attendances 1851 – 1951 Birmingham – Baths Assembly Halls Birmingham – Bournville Lane Baths Birmingham – Communal...
www.bathsandwashhouses.co.uk
bendixmark
Well-known member
Reply #12
Those are tombstone bendixes.I have 2 of them one nice one and one for parts to fix 2 others.Kevin I promised you some time ago I would post pics of mine and I will as soon as I get my computer straight.
Those are tombstone bendixes.I have 2 of them one nice one and one for parts to fix 2 others.Kevin I promised you some time ago I would post pics of mine and I will as soon as I get my computer straight.
Those were some well feed chilrens.
Steady diet of treacle sponge, chips and other foods fried in lard or whatever ought to do it.
Have you ever watched "Two Fat Ladies?" Some of those dishes prepared were standard school dinners during the 1960's and 1970's.
Have you ever watched "Two Fat Ladies?" Some of those dishes prepared were standard school dinners during the 1960's and 1970's.
mayken4now
Well-known member
Wonderful Thread
Thanks for taking time Kevin. Brought back a few memories. Very nice!
Launderess. The term "wash house" is very commonly used in southern Louisiana still. Mostly citing the Cajun Folks.
Thanks for taking time Kevin. Brought back a few memories. Very nice!
Launderess. The term "wash house" is very commonly used in southern Louisiana still. Mostly citing the Cajun Folks.
