Now how much would you pay?
Ok, I’m sick to fucking death of going into a laundromat in the mornings after it’s rained only to find the dryers being used by armys of homeless people drying their filthy, greasy and stanky ass clothes without washing them first. Then they have the nerve to ask me for change while I’m scouring for the lone dryer that has been left somewhat clean from the night before. It makes me want to either carry a big ass bum beating stick or start my own chain of members only laundromats. $5 a month gets you carded entry, clean machines and facilities and piece of mind that you won’t be hit up for anything more than a spare dryer sheet while you do your laundry in peace. If we throw in free wi-fi and we could probably get some venture capital to start it up. Who’s with me?
We should take up a collection of extra change,
to send you back to Chicago.
It sounds like someone needs Laundry Locker…
Damn! They’re not in my neighborhood yet. It’s a pretty good idea though. It’s only a quarter more than the local wasn & fold too so the pricing is pretty decent.
And sorry Orlando. Not going anywhere.
orlando – count me in for a buck (or two).
So now I’m curious. What’s the love affair the locals have with the homeless here? You like people crapping on your sidewalks and shooting up in your doorways?
I dunno about this upscale laundromat idea. Folks with money to spend on a ritzy laundry destination are probably capable of buying their own machines. I totally agree, though, about the ickiness of homeless garb being put through a dryer; lots of people have to use those machines, and when someone throws in urine-and-BO-infused rags, it just fucks up everyone’s laundry.
Maybe the solution is to have dryers in shelters? That way hobos can dry their clothes without transferring caked-on bodily fluids to everyone else’s.
Hi Jason,
First… I enjoy reading the sf.metblogs daily! Gives me a chuckle and something to think about. Random.. but….
Sounds like a stereotypical opinion of a homeless person… I don’t believe all homeless people defecate on themselves and/or the side walk or are “filthy, greasy and stanky” people. Maybe those who have just given up and stopped caring.
A lot of homeless people do care about themselves and try to stay clean. Its hard when a person’ doesn’t even have the basics of running water or knowing where food is going to come that day. Fortunately SF has such awesome facilities to help the homeless, but it only touches the iceberg and can’t reach all. Come passion in peoples hearts can do a lot more then tossing a homeless person some change. I don’t make a practice of giving away money to a homeless person. But I do enjoy the opportunity to take them out to eat and sit down and talk with them and reaffirm that they are people and not dogs on the curb.
Maybe next time you gripe about what hassles they are, think if you can make a difference instead of being negative? Offer to wash some cloths…
Just a thought.
Hey Jason, stay tuned, we’ll be city-wide in about a month.
Glad you like the site Orlando and thank you for taking the time to make some clear points. I’m not completely anti-homeless. I’ve given hundreds upon hundred of dollars to the homeless. Hell, in LA I once gave a guy $200 so he could buy a plane ticket back home instead of living on the streets. And I was unemployed at the time so it wasn’t like I was rolling in cash. He had only been there 2 weeks and just couldn’t get himself out of a hole and needed to get back to his home in Michigan. And I know that he would have made it eventually but sometimes a helping hand is all it takes. BUT, and there’s a big but coming here. After dealing with the homeless day in day out in every major city I’ve lived in there is a class that has definitely given up and no matter what you do they’re going to shit on you and take what they can get from you and move onto the next mark. Those are the people I’m referring to because those are the ones that I see doing this every day. Hell, I’ve given dryer sheets to homeless people who are washing their clothes in my local and had really pleasant conversations with them. Yes this issue has grey areas and it always will because you have people using the system to help them get back on their feet and you have people taking advantage of it who never have any hope of ever returning to civilization. Anyway when I go off on the homeless it’s that class I refer to out of hand. Because those are the ones that I see every day not trying to better themselves. Make sense?
And that’s great news Mr/Ms Laundry Locker Rep :-)
Jason,
I’m glad that I ignored your language and read the comments.
SSorry if I am from an older generation, but I was put off by the f— and the a–. Thanks to all who commented.
Frenchee
Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment Frenchee. I am a true vulgarian with poor impulse control and I do indeed apologize if my language offends sometimes. Thanks for reading!
To dry your clothes in a dryer which was used to dry unwashed clothes?!?! That’s not healthy…and so repulsive. Get a washing machine and clothesline!
two points:
– if you do not like using a laundromat, get a real job and get a real house with a real laundry room. Then you can do your laundry whenever you want and the only jerks you have to deal with are the ones in your own home.
– if you really do not like “the locals” and do not like living here, try another city. I am sure all other American cities do not have a single homeless bum or weirdo or mental patient walking the streets.
It always amazes me how many people at this site dont like SF. So why torture yourself? I used to live in a crappy city, so I left and came home. Why bitch, it’s a waste of your time.
Two rebuttals:
I rent a home and the landlord won’t put in the connectors even though we have a laundry room ready to go. But that’s bedides the point. The point is I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO.
As to “the locals” I love the locals and this is my favorite city in the country. And the “locals” around here agree with me 100%.
And “why bitch?” you ask. This country was founded on bitching if you don’t remember. We bitched about taxation without representation then enough people got together to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. That’s why you bitch. You bitch to find like minded individuals who are passionate about change. Not spare change, real change. Wether the issue be big or small. And look what my bitching got me… Now I have door to door laundry service to look forward to.
“there but for the grace of god goes you”
Most of the Homeless in Long Beach don’t put unwashed clothes in dryers. Can you imagine spending days outdoors in the rain, and having to keep on the wet clothes? Talk about Survivors! It takes a lot of money to start a members only laundromat, so in the meantime, perhaps you can bring some clean clothing with you, to give to the homeless, explain to them, why it’s important that they wash clothes first. Or put quarters in a washer for them. Or how about petitioning the government to provide Homeless only laundromats. They could stay in out of the rain if they were open 24 hours a day. That won’t work, obviously.
It’s sad that any human being has to be without a roof over their head. If you think your life is tough dealing with the laundromat problem, think how much tougher it is for them. Do you have a car? Maybe you could drive to a laundromat, that isn’t frequented by Homeless. Or schedule your laundry days, after a rainless night. An alcoholic, former Redskins coach is among the “bums” in Long Beach. As well as a former attorney. Both are among the skankiest, too far gone to go to laundromats. They only wash and change clothes when other homeless force them to do so.
Ick. That’s bad news since that’s my laundromat too – I hadn’t really seen that in there before. I thought my biggest worry was bleach being left on the countertops.
I can’t believe anyone would be moronic enough to offer buying a washer and a clothesline as a solution. For someone who loves SF enough to use that as a pansy-ass pseudonym, you’d think he/she would know that probably every one in the whole f-ing city would have his or her own in-house laundry machine if we could. Please – save your “ooh, I love SF, please don’t say anything bad about it” boohooing for someone who cares as superficially about the town as you do.
At any rate – it’s a pretty unsanitary, health-risk of a problem Jason is complaining about here. And we have one of the nicer laundries in town, so it’s all the sadder then.
I think the post is about as justified and local a one as this site gets and it certainly gives more insight on the city than “hey look out our pretty bridge” or whatever the pure SF lovers with blind eyes toward the problems would prefer us to stick to.
I’d love to know more about laundry locker – like where they suds the duds. Sounds like a good idea. I used to use a door-to-door service for dry cleaning in LA when I was pressed for time and it sure did help de-stress my mind.
Jason, I’m totally with you re: the homeless. It’s a problem because people here lack the testicles to do anything about it. It’s so much easier to sit back and attack anyone who wants to change things for the better than face head on the very real quality of life issues that any other civilized city would simply not tolerate. So for those people who celebrate human feces on our doorsteps, I say “SCREW YOU!!!”. It’s our city too. So if you don’t like positive change, then YOU can leave, ass-clowns. Block by block, I’m working to bring our neighborhoods back. I’m working to bring neighborhood schools back. I want to see families again. Enough is enough.
CD,
I do apologize for my moronic offer and for the fact that I am a moronic. However there are some big cities in the world where washing machine is an integral part of a house and so people from those parts of the world are quick to suggest that people in other parts of the world, where washing machines are not integral part of houses, should use their own washing machine for their own clothes only whenever they feel like doing so!
Anyway, I’ve learnt two very important things by this post and comments: The first and the least important: never to use a laundry if I’ll ever go to SF. And the second one: that I’m a moron!!!
Jason, I had the same problem with homeless people in my local laundramat in wet weather. My solution was to take my wash to a laundry that was always staffed. Then sometimes I just had them wash, dry, and fold my cloths for me. It didn’t cost too much, and they would neatly wrap my clean cloths in blue paper. Try the Hollywood Laundrette on Market Street next to the Orbit Room.