CSI: San Francisco Bathroom

I had occasion recently to visit the bathroom at CSI: San Francisco (otherwise known as Congregation Sherith Israel). The synagogue's building was built in 1904, just before the big SF earthquake of '06. And it survived (whew!). In addition to a beautiful painted dome upstairs, with an organ and some lovely stained-glass work, they also have this nifty ladies' restroom on the ground floor.

As you can see, there is a whole powder room before you even get to the bathroom part of it. Above, you can see the make-up/touch-up area, with a big mirror, curlicue chairs, and bottles of lotion.


There is also a huge couch, a chair, full-length mirror, and fresh orchids. Not too shabby. The major bonus of this set-up, though, is the fact that, when the line gets long, you just wait in here, instead of standing around in the hallway.


In the next room, which is not as big, there are sinks, a stained-glass window, and a baby changing station, cleverly located near the heating unit, which is a good thing, because these big old buildings are hard to keep warm.

In the third section, there are toilet stalls. And the architects somehow managed to cram a significant amount of them into a fairly small space. So even though it's a little cramped, there's enough for everybody. And the doors are even on automatic springed hinges, so they stay open when they're not locked - no guessing or checking under the door to see if someone is in the stall.


I think the details in the whole bathroom are just lovely, like these charming and oh-so-unnecessary embroidered cases for the tissue boxes. Kind of makes you want to blow your nose and wipe that little tear forming at the corner of your eye because it's just so beautiful.

They also have a very nice "modern" bathroom in the building annex next door, but you know, I think this one just has so much charm. It reportedly has had its attention, back in the day. And, as I hear it, the men's loo is not nearly so special. In fact, given that, I think this one makes up for those tricked out men's rooms from the America's Best Restroom competition. No pool tables or shoe-shine stations here. I think the building designers knew where the priorities were when it came to restroom facilities. And I'm all about the powder rooms, so this is going down as one of *my* favorites.

Check it out if you're ever in the area!

Best Restroom

A while ago, at a birthday picnic in the park, someone {Agent A} shared with me that there was such a thing as "the country's best restroom." Turns out this is a contest held every year sponsored by Cintas facilities services. The description of why they created the awards sounds a lot like what The Toilet Paper believes about the value of public restrooms - that they should be awesome!

Last year's winner was the men's bathroom at the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee (pictured above). It's an art deco bathroom, with leaded glass tiling and - a shoe shine station? Yes, because it was a men's room only.

Here is a pretty clever article about a guy who checked out the hotel bathroom and various other "Nash Vegas" experiences. I don't quite have the full story on why the men's room is so cool that they have to post a sign outside that says it's okay for ladies to take a peek if no one's in there. And they regularly give tours to women who visit.

I remember Agent A saying something about the fact that, since it was last renovated in 1930, and the bathroom is right off the hotel's Oak Bar, I guess the bar at the time was a men's only spot. I think even the word "speakeasy" might have been said, which seems likely, given that the hotel itself was built in 1910. But it's not in any of the published articles that I found. Maybe they're trying to cover something up. But anyway...

The winner for 2009 was the Shoji Tabuchi theater in Branson, Missouri:


Pretty fancy, right? This one does include a Ladies' powder room. But the men get a hand-carved mahogany billiard table in case they, you know, want to shoot pool while they are waiting for an open urinal. Why do the men get to have all the fun in these bathrooms? But I guess I can't complain. It's better than this men's room.

For the ABR hall of fame, go here. And we can't wait to see which decorative loos are nominated for 2010!