Requiem for a laundromat: Why I loved watching my clothes drying

Illustration by Dell Linney

My family didn’t have a washing machine when I was a kid. Well, at least not one you could wash anything in.

See, there was this big white appliance in the kitchen that could wash all sorts of things, but in our house it was only good for putting stuff on, like the soap you didn’t want to forget when you left for the laundromat.

 

I never did find out exactly why we couldn’t run the washer — one parent blamed the plumbing and the other blamed my father — but I also didn’t really care. Because when we needed clean clothes, I got to go to the laundromat.

That was cool.

 

Not because I liked filling a pillowcase with all my dirty clothes and schlepping it to the car, but because I liked going just about anywhere with my mother, and I loved going to the laundromat.

With no television to watch or video games to play, I was usually starved for entertainment, and to me, the laundromat like an arcade, only much better —  full of fun machines to play with, but without all the oppressive noise and lights.

 

Full of predictable and soothing sounds like the steady whir of washers and spinning of dryers, the laundromat was my version of a “clean, well-lighted place” full of adventure.

Beginning with the change machine that gave out tiny waterfalls of coins. I preferred when it wouldn’t take my dollars at first, making me smooth them again and again, so that finally getting the shower of silver felt that much sweeter.

Once I had the quarters, it was even more fun to put them in the washing mashing, carefully lining up the coins in the narrow holes on the sliding receptacle before pushing them into the washing machine with a satisfying clunk that brought the water rushing onto our clothes. And if my mother wasn’t watching me, I liked to “accidentally” leave the lid on the washer up so I could watch its tub filling and the soap foam as it began to agitate, but she always got wise before my fun got too dangerous.

With the lids down on our churning washers, my thoughts turned to the store next-door, hoping my mother wanted to check the sale bin for cheap sweatshirts so I could beg for some extra quarters to buy candy with. That I rarely happened of course, but rarely was better than never. 

By far the best part of going to the laundromat, though, was watching the dryers. I coveted the last one by the huge window where the chairs were, because then I could sit right next to the glass and watch our clothes spin. I could have watched any dryer, of course, but it felt wrong to stare ant other people’s underwear and socks flopping about.

Watching clothes drying was soothing, one of the best forms of relaxation I’ve known, especially since it was the only form of “doing nothing,” my mom would allow. If I tried just lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling like I wanted to when my mother was reading at her desk, she would tell me to go do my homework, or a chore like dusting.

 

But at the laundromat I was already doing a chore, so watching the dryers was finally mother-approved laziness that I relished. Sometimes I just let all the colors swirl together, sometimes I tried following one piece of clothing around and around and around. 

 

And sometimes, if I watched the colors long enough, they became the cartoons I couldn’t watch at home, the tumbling clothes conjuring Bugs Bunny and The Wonder Twins for me. Those clothes’ cartoons were never quite as entertaining as the ones on TV, of course, but they were never interrupted by annoying commercials, and they always ended with me having piles of warm, clean clothes to carry home.

 

That was very cool.

I still have such warm feelings for our laundromat that I like to visit it every time I go back to my hometown, peeking inside to watch my mother showing me again how to properly fold a shirt at one of the tables, then see if go running to the store next-door, quarter clenched in my fist because I finally convinced my mother to “pretty please let me buy some candy!”

 

My beloved laundromat emptied of its machines.

So I was quite sad on my last visit earlier this year to find that my laundromat was closed, and that all of the washers and dryers I loved were gone.

 

As I took pictures through the window, a man walked up with his dog and told me the place had been gutted very recently.

 

“Fond memories of the laundromat?” he said when I told him I used to go there as a kid.

“Yes” I said. “It was concentrated family time.”

 

“Well, there you have it,” he said, and while it was not cool to find the place closed and all the machines I loved gone, it was cool to talk to someone who also missed it, though for much more practical reasons, as he would need to find a new place to wash his clothes!

One more cool thing about that laundromat: Just about my proudest moment happened there, years after I last visited with my mother. While doing laundry I locked my keys in my car, which was not uncommon, but I retrieved them in a very uncommon way that only my old Volvo would have allowed — crawling into the trunk and unlocking a door with a coat hanger!

 

My Grandmother's Journals: October, 1999. "To Supercuts, $10 + $2 tip"

Welcome to my anti-anxiety medication: my grandmother’s journals. Because reading all the details of her days, the minutiae of what she ate and what she watched on TV, is to me both fascinating and soothing, the perfect antidote to stress, worry and frustration — which we all seem to have far too much of these days!

In October of 1999, she was an 84-year-old woman living alone in a trailer park, but don't feel sorry for her because she wasn’t sad, and neither was her home — she was the most fiercely independent person I have ever known, living in one of the coolest places on Earth, Santa Cruz, Calif. 

 

And nearly every day she walked the cliffs along the ocean at Pleasure Point, loving to watch the surfers who loved the waves at that special spot.

 

 

That was cool 

 

And man, that life of walking near the ocean, going to the donut shop for some coffee and a treat before heading to the movies sounds just about perfect right about now.

(I wrote more about her life in this post)

 

Since she took no big trips in October '99, it was a slow month of watching football, staying on top of her correspondence, even with friends in Paris, and making sure she checked her email messages at the library regularly!

 

September entries

Friday, Oct. 1, 1999

Up 8:30. Breakfast, shower, hair.

To Supercuts, $10 + $2 tip.

To Ocean Street for coffee/donut.

To library, got 2 books: Yoga for Women, Fitness After 50 Guide. Had to pay fine of $4 for videos.

Home 2 p.m. Wanted to see show, "The Dinner Game," but gone now.

TV: Usual fare.

Bed, problem with sleep.

Read mail, AT&T to buy MediaOne. Spent time reading prospectus.

 

Saturday, Oct. 2, 1999

Up 9:30. Usual breakfast.

Wrote Myra and Mina. To post office, bought stamps.

To library, checked email. Carla sent inquiry. For now, no.

To Carole's to see art show. Talked til 5:30. Few visitors. She had paying people in a.m.

Home, ate, CNN.

Watched "12 Monkeys" with Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt.

Tried to sleep, no. 1 a.m., tennis.

Slept 2 to 8:30. 

Packed vitamins. Bought Lotto.

 

Sunday, Oct. 3, 1999

Usual breakfast, read papers. 

To Trader Joe's, groceries. Walked on Portola.

Football: 49ers vs. Tennessee. Jeff Garcia QB for Young, who said "Jeff played clean game." 49ers 24-22.

TV: Ebert, 60 Mins. 

Tennis: Serena won over Venus.

Bed. X-Files, news.

Monday, Oct. 4, 1999

Up 6:30. Usual breakfast.

Some chores. Cleaned basin, garbage day!

To Drug Emporium, got water and pads.

To post office, mailed package to Mina: Elizabeth (video).

Got gas at Kmart, plus purse and applesauce.

To library, returned book. Took two books home.

Home 1:30 p.m.

TV: Murder, Lehrer, news, Due South. Some football, Law & Order rerun.

Readied for bed, read The Hitchcock - Last Days. Slept good.

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1999

Awake 6:30, up 7:15. No milk, ate bread and tea.

To laundromat, Kmart for breakfast.

To Nob Hill for groceries.

Home, tired. Eyes hurt. Bright sun.

TV: News, Murder (new for me), some Lehrer.

Walked at 4 p.m. Had words with man who let his dog run in floral park.

To library, returned Hitchcock. Email from Carla, Justine.

TV: Due South, Law & Order, baseball.

Wednesday, Oct. 6, 1999

Up 8:15. Slept heavy.

Chores, etc. Checked Ralph's, no soy milk.

To Longs, got paper and crackers.

To McDonald's for coffee.

To library, email from Carla, replied. Sent message to Justine.

Wrote to Mina.

Ate KFC, home 5:30.

TV: Due South, etc. Bed early.

 

Thursday, Oct. 7, 1999

Up 8. Mixed-up days. Wrote Mina today.

To library, email 12:30 to 1:30.

Then to Aptos for show, "Double Jeopardy." KFC after.

Home, hot day. Walked in a.m. Slept.

Finished Buchan's book, as much as I could. Very wordy, prejudiced. Greenmantle and Sir Steadfast [Justine here: It's actually Mr. Standfast!]

No baseball today. Watched Biography, Peter O'Toole. Had two daughters, 1 boy.

 

Friday, Oct. 8, 1999

Longs (Nob Hill), long lines 3-4 p.m.

Awake 7:30. Chores, etc. 

Wrote Stinson. 11 - 1:30.

TV: Murder, (new for me). Angela her "cousin."

To Longs for flu shot, Medicare pays.

To Post office, mailed letter to Stinson, card to Linda Drake.

Mail: Bill from Penney, Fone bill.

Home 4:30. Hot outside. Quest-U.S. West merger vote.

Baseball: Mets/Arizona game. Mets won 9-2.

TV: Bio of Montgomery Clift. Died hear at 45. Low thyroid.

Bed 11. Good sleep.

Saturday, Oct. 9, 1999

Up 6, usual breakfast.

Watered lawns, Ellie out. Talked to her re roofers tomorrow, small windmill.

To mall, got bra.

To McDonald's for coffee.

To Drug Emporium for BP, no TV Guides!!

Walked, too warm.

Home. Mets/Arizona, 4-3. Fired H.R., to do Pratt.

Folded 3 cartons, put in shed. Took numerous cardboard boxes to Greybears.

To Kmart for ice cream, TV Guide.

Home 6 p.m., crossword, etc.

TV: "Executive Decision," movie. 8-11 p.m. 

Bed.

Sunday, Oct. 10, 1999

Not good sleep. Pills?

2 a.m. Ate late.

Awake 8 a.m. Breakfast, called Mina. No answer. She rang back.

Football 10 a.m., 49ers vs. Rams, 42-20.

Shower/hair.

To show, "Random Hearts." Excellent. Good portrayal of characters in that situation.

Home 4:30. Ate, news, Ebert.

Changed cover on outside shelf, swept patio. Still hot!

TV: Aristocrats til 10:30. Slept OK.

Monday, Oct. 11, 1999

Up 7, rested til 8.

Usual breakfast. Chores, washed underwear.

Found 25 cents under bed, put in ashtray!

Roofers on Ellie's mobile home all day.

To Ross, got new wallet, Xmas cards.

Home, lunch. Read papers, changed wallet, rearranged cards.

No mail: Holiday, Columbus Day. 

TV: Lehrer, Due South, second part of Second Sight.

Bed 9:30, chilly. Heat.

Where are clippers? Found.

Slept after 10 p.m. news. Awake 1:30, read 1 hour.

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1999

Up 8:30. Warm day. Some chores.

Took books to Logo's, four.

To Ocean Street for donut/coffee.

To show, "American Beauty." !! Good. Talked to two women.

To Ross, got sunglasses and dress for Andra. "Deep Blue," 3/4

Home, Mets vs. Braves. 4-2.

Bed 9:30, but papers, crossword, etc. Not good sleep.

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1999

Up 8:30. Cold. Usual breakfast.

Chores: cleaned one drawer and cupboards, washed a few items.

Home all day.

Freda's family came. Apparently she gone!

Wrote Sy, looked over dress for Andra. Could find no problem.

To post office. Maile card to Andra, 55 cents, letter to Sy. Got paper.

TV: Yankees over Red Sox 4-3, 10th inning; some Due South & Law & order. Tired.

Bed 9:15 to 10:45, awake. Wrote 2 checks: Dr. Blackwell and Penney's.

Read paper, crossword. Slept 1 a.m. til 8:30.

Called Myra two times.

 

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999

Up 8:30, usual breakfast. Warm.

To Nob Hill and fruit stand in Capitola.

Kmart for lunch, BP.

Home, Ellie in garden. "Rita" who waters plants died Monday. 

Called Myra to tell her. Feeling weak from diarrhea. (Myra, not me).

Wrapped dress for Andra, wrote Mimi. Too late to mail.

TV: Part of game, news, Due South, back to game; Law & Order, PBS, Mystery: "Unsuitable Job for a Woman."

Bed 10:30. Slept deep til 7.

Friday, Oct. 15, 1999

Up 7, usual breakfast. Tired, though.

To post office, mailed letter and package. $7.80 Air mail [She stapled this receipt to the journal page.]

To Penney's, paid account.

To McDonald's for coffee.

To library, closed Friday til 12.

Home 11:45. Market! Big Slide.

Called U.S. West. Did not receive voting.

Watched Murder She Wrote, read paper.

Cut holly bush back, cleaned some in yard.

"Wake" at Freda's. 7 to 8 cars parked in road.

Baseball, Atlanta at Mets, 1-0.

Retired at 9:30, read a bit. 

Awake 1, TV til 2:30. Comics and Home Improvement.

 

Saturday, Oct. 16, 1999

Up 8 a.m. Rested 3o mins. Used heat lamp.

To Longs for groceries: soup & cookies.

To McDonald's for coffee.

To library, message from Justine. Going to Phoenix and Disneyland.

Baseball: Red Sox 13, NY 1. Pedro Martinez.

4:55 p.m., Myra called. Anna called her, doctor showed her x-ray of Freda's lungs with tumor. Nothing about hemorrhoids. 

*Worked in yard a.m.: Cut Rabbit's Ears and some of herbs. More needed.*

Freda's family, 4:45 truck left, back 7 p.m.

Baseball: Mets 3, Atlanta 2.

Bed 12.

Sunday, Oct. 17, 1999

Awake 9:30. Usual breakfast, packed vitamins.

Bill from Mastercard, paid.

Watered strip and changed vacuum bag. Found a penny!

Larry building a junkyard.

Changed bed sheets and turned mattress. 

Felt good., nine hours sleep!

Much to watch: 49ers vs. Panthers, Mets vs. Atlanta, Hingis vs. V. Williams,

Ironed skirt and top.

Baseball long, 15 innings, 5 hours+

TV: Ebert, 60 minutes.

Monday, Oct. 18, 1999

Up 8:30, usual breakfast. Shower/hair.

Fertilized plants.

To Longs for groceries, Ocean Street for donut/coffee. Different girl. Higher [?]

Home 1:45. Lunch, end of "Murder," Due South, Lehrer.

Some work.

TV: Part of football, baseball, Outer Limits, new Law & Order.

Bed 10:30.

Tuesday, Oct. 19, 1999

Took melatonin. Slept OK.

Up 6:30 - 7. Heat needed. Usual breakfast.

Wrote letter to Myra, Out 10:30, mailed letter.

Checked Lucky for bananas: $1.49!

To Kmart got Dinty Moore (2), crackers (2).

To KFC for sandwich and potato salad. Good!

To Capitola fruit and veg stand.

Home 12:30. Read, watched MSW, typed letter to Carla.

To Longs, Xerox of Mojave Phone Booth.

Mail: Two letters from Mimi, ad.

Vacuumed "dining area," put typewriter on TV tray. Weak?

Baseball: Atlanta 10, Mets 9. 11 innings, great game.

Wednesday, Oct. 20, 1999

Up 7:30, usual breakfast.

Washed some, vacuumed area, put in order. Searching for blue memo book.

Lunch here. News, more sorting, Murder She Wrote.

To Longs for Xerox.

To Drug Emporium,  got journal, memo book, TV Guide.

To Kmart, BP, cake & ice cream.

To show, "My Life So Far." Colin Firth. Good, funny ending.

Home, dinner.

TV: Law & Order, West Wing, some news.

Hot.

Thursday, Oct. 21, 1999

Up 7, breakfast. Cold.

Found blue memo book. In "To Do."

Finished crossword. Washed red top, blue pants.

To bank.

To Kmart, got blueberry muffins, peanut butter, ate lunch.

To library, downloaded CQ10 info. Two emails from Justine & H.

To Palace for file boxes. 

Home: Murder She Wrote, Lehrer, read papers.

TV: Discovery, Birds, L & O, Mystery.

Bed, crossword, paper.

Friday, Oct. 22, 1999

Up 7:30, breakfast here.

To laundromat, medium busy. 

Home 10 a.m. after Xeorx at McWhorter's, CoQ10 for Mimi.

Tea, fruit & toast. 

Light bulb, cleaned typewriter keys.

Called Ramirez office re ingredients in Efferdent.

Wrote letter to Mina, took more time than I wanted.

Lunch here with news, Murder She Wrote.

To post office, mailed tea to Bishop Ranch, Constant Comment. Also letter to Mina.

To library, sent email to Justine & H.

Talked to Lorene, makes cinder blocks.

TV: New, L&O, Due South.

Saturday, Oct. 23, 1999

Up 7. Cold. Breakfast 8 a.m.

Wrote letter to Mimi re typewriter correction tape, who destroyed McDonald's in Millau, enclosed column re fat in Paris, CoQ10 Xerox from Internet, two pages from Puritan's Pride vitamins.

To town. Coffee and show, "The Limey," Terrence Stamp.

To KFC, got pot pie. To Way of Like, got soy milk.

Mail: Another letter from Mimi.

Read papers, watched baseball.

Sleep 8:30 to 11.

Couldn't sleep til 3 a.m., not good.

Sunday, Oct. 24, 1999

Up 8:30. Cold. Breakfast, fiber & fruit.

Read Robert Louis Stevenson, stock chart.

Football: 49ers vs Vikings, 40-16.

Called Prudy. Livelier and better attitude.

TV: Ebert and part 60 Minutes, medical fraud.

Bed, some RLS. Slept good til 6:30 a.m.

Monday, Oct. 25, 1999

Up 7, usual breakfast. 

Vacuumed front room, cleaned gold rug with Woolite rug cleaner.

Got gas at Kmart and sandwich at KFC.

Home. Payne Stewart killed in Lear jet crash, five on board. May have been overcome  by lack of oxygen.

TV: Murder She Wrote, read paper.

Windy. Washed car.

Some football, Law & Order SVU, Dateline NBC.  

Helicopter crashes in San Jose.

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1999

Awake 6:44. Cold, put on heat.

Usual breakfast 8:15. Some washing.

To Drug Emporium, BP and TV Guide.

Got coffee and muffin.

Appt with Dr. B. Eyes tested, no change in glasses!

Home 3:15, about 3:30 Myra called. At Ginette's. Will decide about drive home.

Mail: Ads, etc.

TV: Third game, NY vs. Atlanta. Bio of Angie Dickinson.

Not good sleep. Til 3 a.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999

Awake 6, then 8.

"Pipe bomb" at Millbrae, Cal Train stopped 9 a.m. Bomb was detonated.

Wrote note to Prudy. To post office, mailed Master bill also.

To Veg stand, walked on cliff.

Home 11:25. News, lunch, rested 1/2 hour.

Worked on hose, got it thru under trailer! Told Larry (window).

Shower/hair.

TV: Due South

Bed early, slept good.

Thursday, Oct. 28, 1999

Awake 7, usual breakfast. Some washing.

To Kmart. Some food, biscuits. Valance (Martha Stewart).

Home. News, ironed.

To Ginette's 1 p.m. Lovely cabinets. Husband was cabinet maker. Cup of tea. Left 3 p.m.

Myra will return with me Monday or Tuesday.

To library, messages from Carla, Justine, three from Treasury Direct.

Home 5 p.m., message from Myra. Called back, eating dinner. 

Ate corn, watched Due South.

Bed 8:30.

 

Friday, Oct. 29, 1999

Awake 12:30, read paper 1/2 hour. Slept til 6:30.

Called Mina 7:30 a.m. Called State highway, AAA. No "restriction?"

To Drug Emporium for BP, bot some candy.

To Way of Life, flax seed in Bulk. Do not cook! Grind up, put on salads, cereal. 

Ate at KFC. Home 12:30.

 

Saturday, Oct. 30, 1999

Up 6:30. Cold, ran heat.

Usual breakfast. Packed vitamins, vacuumed bedroom

To McDonald's for coffee.

To show, "Guinevere." Good. Nudes, masturbation.

To Thrift Shop, looked for file. None.

To library, got ads for KFC, also change in Dow Jones.

Home, ate tamale.

Called Justine. Tired.

Bed, crossword.

Sunday, Oct. 31, 1999

Pack, change clocks.

Called Mina, talked long. Has appt with doctor for blood test. I gave her Myra's number.

Egypt Air Flight 990, 767 Boeing in ocean, 217 dead. Nantucket, island off Martha's Vineyard.

Paid rent.

Football: Colts over Dallas, Tennessee over Rams.

TV: Ebert, some 60 Minutes.