apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I know it is civilised and all that to have public toilets. But as someone who has lived and worked here since 1964 I have always cherished the special talent of "real" New Yorkers to know where they can find facilities in any area of the city - including some really nice ones in certain hotels, bars and restaurants. I imagine that like me most folks will go on using that system.

Haven't used one, but I love the picture of the three people gathered around the toilet, smiling at it.

are they going to be well maintained?

The idea reminds me of the ones I've seen in Paris. I also saw a lot of guys urinating outside in the streets (well they were really trying to hide behind cars or against buildings), so maybe it isn't the greatest idea. Maybe it was just the area I was in, who knows.

Matt @ http://www.goodnightmoonfuton.com

erinorea, they're self-cleaning. industrial strength-wise.

say, Lavren reminds me to ask this question: I heard that anyone off the street may use the bathrooms in the lobbies of hotels in the city. Is this true?

Looks like the neo metro toilet!

I think these things are for tourists. Like Lavren, I don't need the city to build me another bathroom.

In SF I've heard of people doing the nasty in there.

yea, 15 minutes for just 25 cents? how are they gonna make sure it is only used as a bathroom?

I don't mean this to sound rude, but...besides the "eww" factor, does it make a difference if it is not only used as a bathroom?

Not if you don't mind the litter of needles and used condoms, which I'm sure sophisticated New Yorkers have no problem with. San Franciscans tended to be bothered by it, but we Westerners always struggle with the glamor of big-city life.

Are they going to be well-maintained? Of course not. And the "self-cleaning" toilets in SF are some of the nastiest places imaginable--right up there with the restrooms at the old main public library.

Why are they gazing so lovingly at it??

As a tourist with young kids finding a convenient bathroom has been a problem so this will be helpful. That picture is hilarious. It looks like it might be baptismal fount, they way those well dressed people are gathered round.

They look like they're praying at a shrine. ahahahahah

"heather leaf" That's just about every city that anyone off the street can use the bathrooms of hotel lobies. Every city that I've been to, at least. I use hotel lobby restrooms all the time.

I like these public ones though. You can do a quick change of clothes or anything in them, it seems. How much are they to use though??

On the flip side, they could turn into a place where women and men of ill repute go to fornicate. LOL.

these were installed because NYC was way behind everywhere else in this particular civility. I think NY'ers, like Parisians, will have to overcome the strangeness of it. Those who know how many awful public restrooms there are (Macys, Lord & Taylor before the reno, NYU buildings) will have a reflexive tendency to think of the horrors that could go on.

I believe the time limit is set for those changing babies and the disabled, giving them time to get it together before the door opens.

Don't they have something similar to these in London?

They should make self-cleaning "rooms" that spray down and everything goes down a big drain. Then no nastiness can survive.

We've had them for years in London. Not quite as big as the ones in your pic look. I've only used them v rarely (outside Cafe Nero on The Strand before my evening class) - but always found them just fine. From memory they're "timed" but it seemed non-scarily ample. You do have to pay so I normally use the free facilities elsewhere... (sort it out, Cafe Nero on The Strand, eh?)

@Marbargarbo,

I believe that these things are self-cleaning.

25 cents: Thank God! It's so hard to find a bathroom in the city, this is my new favorite toy.

They're self-cleaning. I used one in London, when I fell down some muddy steps during a visit in '92 and needed some place to wipe & wash the mud off. It seemed very clean - well, at least 'till I got done spraying mud everywhere. But I'm sure it was clean again after I left and it went thru its cleaning cycle.

If these are like the ones in train stations in Paris, be sure to pay. My mom grabbed the door as someone came out and went in. Unfortunately, the timer went off, the lights went out, she was showered with bathroom cleaner mist, and she couldn't unlock the door. Someone had to put money in just to let her out. Let that be a lesson not to cheat! hahaa

That's great that people now have an option to use a public restroom in New York. They installed a few of those in downtown San Francisco a few years ago, and when I lived there, I continued my habit of going to the restrooms that only the locals knew about - hotels, department stores, etc. Just as Lavren mentioned it is indeed a "special talent." These public restrooms are especially great for tourists and those who don't know of any other facilities to use in the City.

Paying 25 cents is a good deal compared to having to buy something you don't really need or want just so you can use the restroom of a fast-food place. And they are usually uber gross. Hotels, on the other hand, are free and mostly clean. I love using to use the bathroom at the Plaza Hotel best.