laundry day
january 07, 2006
i remember reading somewhere about those fancy types of laundromats where you have a cafe, barristas, couches and such. that article claimed it to be the place to hang out at to meet friends and lovers. it was to be the highlight of a friday night. all the perks of social gatherings while crossing another chore off your list. plus you get a peek inside other people's lives by viewing the type of garments they wear.
of course i've never seen such a place nor know of any. all the laundromats i've seen in los angeles are usually in poor ghetto-ish neighborhoods near alot of low income apartments.
i went to my local laundromat this morning. i used to come all the time when my washing machine & dryer were on the fritz but now that they are fixed, i only come here to wash big blankets and sheets in ultra hot water. and this was my mission today.
the last time i came, i really wanted to take photos but then this strange man kept on staring at me. so i decided to not whip out my camera. sometimes it's just better to not attract unwanted attention. today however was nice and quiet and the only other people in the entire place was me and a mexican mother with her 2 young daughters in tow.
the laundromat is an interesting place. there's a sort of calm and melancholy that hangs in the air. people are all there to do one thing and we are like robots just going through the motions of washing and then hauling our laundry to the big dryers. all the while we push around those really shabby looking carts to wheel things back and forth.
the only sounds really are of the machine humming, the quarters falling into the slots, the churning of the spin cycles and the constant flick of laundry as people take them out of the dryer to whip all those wrinkles out. no one talks. no one mingles. no one says anything. most likely because we all want to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.
but back to that fancy laundromat concept. it sounds fun in that very hip modern sex in the city type of way but who in LA would really go out of their way to haul laundry to a laundromat when many can wash their clothes at home? also, it would definitely spike up the price in doing laundry. then there are those who wouldn't respect the establishment and ruin it for the rest of patrons.
^ reflection shot dressed in frumpy hoody and baggy jeans
no, it wouldn't work here in LA. the only people i really see at laundromats are the poor. their faces tired and grim. their bodies just acting out what needs to be completed to get this everyday necessity over and done with.
currently listening to: the smiths, there's a light that never goes out
