Restrooms and street signs

From the Restroom Hall of Fame. Kohler Art Center restroom, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is a not-for-profit organization established in 1967 for aesthetic and educational purposes. Kohler is the bathroom faucet company. It makes sense that they'd do a good job here.

"Voting Begins In Annual Best Restroom Contest: Voters Can Choose From 5 Finalists Profiled On Web Site:"

Cintas, the commercial restroom supply company, is sponsoring an online poll to find America's best bathroom. It has narrowed the field down to five sparkling-clean, sweet-smelling restrooms. The finalists are Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel and Casino, a Michigan bistro, a Rhode Island seafood house, an Illinois airport and an Ohio restaurant.

America's Best Restroom contest was started in 2001 to spotlight businesses that maintain exceptional hygiene and stylistic grace in their potties. Nominations can be made by anyone, and about 30 are received annually. Vote via the website.

2. And in the story "Psycho Path Voted Wackiest Street Name," we learn about Mitsubishi's contest for odd street names. The company sponsored the poll on the Web site The Car Connection and more than 2,500 voters cast their ballots during a week of voting that ended this month. Winners were announced Friday.


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Odd street names are funny but quality restrooms matter to neighborhood commercial districts a lot. A complete destination needs to have places where people can refresh themselves. Otherwise they won't linger and patronize other establishments in your commercial district.

We had a bit of a discussion about this on the public.spaces e-list a few weeks ago. Even though it's a hardship for businesses, I think it's better to focus on restrooms in managed establishments like restaurants or hotels, or in public buildings such as libraries, rather than to create separate facilities that need to be funded and managed apart from other functions. Sure there are the JC Decaux "self-cleaning" restrooms, but accessibility laws mean that micro-restrooms that would othterwise not provide opportunities for disorder can't be installed. The disabled-access JCD restrooms can become problems, at least in the U.S.

I never knew there was an American Restroom Association until the discussion on the e-list. Also see "Public toilets" from Metropolis Magazine, and "City workers to begin inspecting pay toilets in S.F.," from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Police make frequent drug arrests at this JCDecaux toilet at Jones and Eddy. San Francisco Chronicle photo by Liz Hafalia

Index Keywords: urban-design-placemaking