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Question of the Day | 08/30/2009 11:00 pm

Where is the best public bathroom you know? What makes it so?

This question was originally published on wOw in February 2009.
© iStock
Joan Ganz Cooney

Joan Ganz Cooney | 02/19/2009 11:00 pm

Joan Ganz Cooney Votes for Starbucks Bathrooms

I don’t know where there are any public bathrooms. Starbucks doesn’t seem to mind if you duck in and use its facilities without ordering anything. If there is no Starbucks around, I go into any place that serves coffee and order one and then use the restroom.
Joan Juliet Buck

Joan Juliet Buck | 02/19/2009 11:00 pm

Joan Juliet Buck: Use Hotel Bathrooms

My grandmother taught me to use hotel bathrooms. This works only if you are well dressed.

Liz Smith

Liz Smith | 02/19/2009 11:00 pm

Liz Smith's Specific Directions to the Best Public Bathroom in NYC

In Saks Fifth Avenue’s downstairs concourse, just inside the entrance door on 50th Street, is a special elevator that goes only down to the concourse under the main floor. The concourse houses beauty products, hair and nail and makeup salons. Go right past Natalie as you get out of the elevator, turn left and say merrily that you are going "back to see Vincent" (their star hairdresser) and quickly turn to the right. You will be in a divine little bathroom with two slots.

It’s very private, little used and clean and bright.

When you come out you can browse right on the main floor of Saks at Vuitton and let your mouth water at will. 

Click here on this text to read my New York Post column.

Mary Wells

Mary Wells | 02/19/2009 11:00 pm

Mary Wells's Latest Business Idea

A clean bathroom, restroom, toilette room is a rare and beautiful thing. The better the restaurant, the worse the bathroom — maybe because there is such turnover. I always want to have my shoes dry-cleaned when I leave. You would think a hair salon would have a clean one, but they are always filled with used sprays and the sinks are not clean. Chanel has some sort of manifesto about washrooms and you stand a good chance of getting a clean one if you can brave the hungry sales staff. The one in Monte Carlo is particularly clean — if you are in Monte Carlo. I would expect Hermès to have perfect washrooms with their abundant quality and prices, so I am going to start checking Hermès washrooms. Hermès! Here I come!

The best one I ever experienced was at Claridges in London. It has a smartly dressed maid off a movie set who makes sure your soap is new, you have a new fresh towel and that the whole place is a grand experience. There is ample space to fuss over your hair. And there is a second room where you can collapse if your love affair is going badly at lunch. I think there is an opportunity here. We should go into business and build small, immaculate washrooms little by little until they are all over town. The signs would be an art form in cleanliness and would say CLEAN SAFE WASHROOM American Express or Visa. Ten dollars a visit. Expensive? Well, OK. What would a clean, safe, germ-free washroom in a handy location be worth to you? Let me know.  

119 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Judy K.
I find the best bathrooms are usually in a big mall store that doesn’t have a lot of traffic like an office supply store.  Restaurants are the worst.  Sometimes a place where you have to ask for a key is usually not too bad. 
By Judy K. on 02/20/2009 12:17 am
joan larsen

Definitely, the Ritz Carleton in Chicago.  .  . a place I always take my friends to as we tour the city.  Just getting off the crystal-chandeliered elevator into the hotel lobby in Water Tower Place in Chicago is wonderful.  With the gorgeous fountain - like I have seen no where else - and then down the long corridor banked with comfortable sofas and wall hangings - and voila! in a half-hidden side space you walk into the ladies room.  . which is actually two rooms.  The first, like an Arabian circular tented room banked with individual mirrors for refreshing makeup … and then each toilet stall is has a louvered door to the floor with space inside - not crammed.  Hand towels are piled by the sinks with the entire result sheer luxury.  Rest assured that long after "the visit" it remains solidly in the mind — for this, ladies, is "living" and aren’t we worth it?????    Joan

 

 

 

By joan larsen on 02/20/2009 12:21 am
Belinda Joy
Joan, I forgot about the Ritz!  You are so right. Luxury beyond belief!
By Belinda Joy on 02/20/2009 8:59 am
Sheryl S

Belinda,

That is one adorable baby photo, I love it!

By Sheryl S on 02/21/2009 6:46 pm
f p
Well  Joan the one at the Minneapolis airport, the Larry Craig memorial stall, certainly isn’t in the top ten in this nation. ;-)
By f p on 02/22/2009 6:12 am
Susan Crawford
Yes, Joan, I have visited this one, and it is a delight: sparkling, elegant and a pleasure to visit. In less than a week, I’ll be back at my part-time teaching job, and dealing with university bathrooms where the stalls rarely close properly - never mind locking! Where the trash bins overflow by 10:00AM. Where the paper towels are either gone or jammed so tightly in the dispenser that it would take The Incredible Hulk to yank one out. And - most disturbing of all - the simple act of The Flush seems to have escaped many users. Why? I just wonder why? Oh, for the days of yore, and how wonderful that the Ritz Carleton has remembered that a little luxury is no more than every woman’s due. (And a little cleanliness is a blessing!) I’m off to stock up on hand sanitizer and portable wipes … it’s back to school!
By Susan Crawford on 09/02/2009 12:06 pm
joan larsen

Susan … I am heavily involved in the renovation of a large public building.  The state laws state that outdated washrooms must conform to new codes.  But amazingly, the new codes state or allow the stalls to have NO doors on them.  The idea is that behind those doors sex acts are often going on — and this will cut down on supervision and problems.  I like the automatic flush as I think that people are now reluctant to touch ANYTHING in a public washroom.  On the toll road ones, I hate to go out and open the door — and I have not been paranoid but this is a different world.

 

Good luck at school this year, Susan!

By joan larsen on 09/02/2009 12:46 pm
N P

The one that is close by when I need one! Oh, that I could always be near a hospital, as they usually have the cleanest toilets due to disinfectants. I think women are particularly concerned about finding clean bathrooms, and some women want clean bathrooms with changing stations. Public bathrooms seems to generate feelings of anxiety, fear and disgust. Public bathrooms may contain several kinds of harmful bacteria, such as E. coli, salmonella, coliform, rotavirus, cold virus and staph. However, we are more likely to pick these bugs up by touching things with our hands, rather than our behinds. Although I personally never touch a public toilet seat. Ever. Or a door or a sink or anything in a public bathroom. In general, washing your hands is the most effective thing you can do to prevent bacterial infections from a public restroom. You can remove all gastrointestinal and respiratory infection bacteria by hand washing. Use lots of soap, and rub your hands for 30 seconds at least. In between the fingers, finger nails, etc. Use lots of friction. And don’t let your purse or other belongings touch the floor. Ever. The highest concentration of germs in a public bathroom are on the floor, the sink, and water taps. Never place your handbag on the floor. You don’t want to know about the fecal bacteria you can get on the bottom of your handbag from doing that. And avoid the middle stall of a public restroom. It usually has the most bacteria, as people use it the most. The first stall will probably be cleaner. And don’t hold back. It’s better to empty your bladder, and avoid developing a urinary infection, than being afraid to use a public restroom. Just be careful. Don’t touch anything. And wash your hands.            

 

By N P on 02/20/2009 12:59 am
phyllis Doyle Pepe
Oh, lord, after reading your comment, N P, I think from now on I’ll take my own private bucket wherever I go––some kind of blow-up thingy that I can tuck away in my purse, inflate it at random. rinse it out, air dry and tuck it away again. I am quilty of many of the things you mention I shouldn’t do. Thankfully those sneaky bacterias never found their way into my blood stream. I do, however, always hang my purse on the handle on the door, not from fear of yucky stuff on the floor, but from fear of purse snatchers next door. And I do wash my hands.
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 02/22/2009 8:48 am
N P

Hi Phyllis,

You reminded me of how on my recent trip there were very few instances where the doors had hooks on them. It was challenging. My sister, when she travels out of country, brings a door hook with her. She’s always prepared. 

Loved your witty post!

Best,     

By N P on 02/23/2009 10:28 am
Irish Eyes NY

NP, I don’t know why a couple of the posters on here thought you were trying to be funny. I don’t think you were. You believe everything you said. And I agree——-here I thought I was the only germ freak.

When I bring my granddaughters into public restrooms I become a raving lunatic. DON’T TOUCH THE TOILET, DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING AS A MATTER OF FACT.! One day I lifted the seat & had my granddaughter stand on the toilet a squat over it, since she was too young to stand and squat. After washing my hands I use (& trained the girls to do the same) the paper to open the door.

I never put my purse on ANY floor.

By Irish Eyes NY on 09/01/2009 7:51 pm
Rose ~~
Top cabin resorts/hotels, or good restaurants. I’m a germ fanatic, plan ahead and avoid most public facilities if possible.
By Rose ~~ on 02/20/2009 1:06 am
N P

Here’s a link re a public bathroom experience we have probably all had at one time or another.  

http://www.uoaa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=13101

 

By N P on 02/20/2009 1:27 am
Beverley Maddox
That link was so funny, and frighteningly accurate. Yeah it must have been a woman that wrote it. Thanks for my morning smile!!
By Beverley Maddox on 02/20/2009 2:35 am
Patrice Baldwin

NP, very funny bathroom story. However, how many here have traveled to or lived in foreign countries? Talk about trembling thighs; Chinese toilets are a real challenge, and Mexican are a treat to the nose, not to mention the germs. Don’t even expect to find paper there. In China and Japan people come out of the bathrooms waving their washed hands in the air to dry them. It’s a very funny scene.

As long as I always have a kleenex packet in my purse, I’m saved.  After China, I went back to the gym to work on my thighs.

By Patrice Baldwin on 02/20/2009 8:31 pm