The Restroom Archive: A Curious Chronicle of Public Toilets

The Restroom Archive is a personal log of public restroom visits, cataloging locations from Brooklyn pizzerias to a Disneyland island, with notes on cleanliness, accessibility, and design. Each entry offers a glimpse into the mundane yet revealing world of public facilities, turning an overlooked necessity into a quirky travelogue.

This restroom is accessible through the hallway to the left of the counter where you order.
  1. v9v

    https://restroomarchive.com/r/2026-08-29-grand-army-plaza-au...

    > has a countdown timer above warning visitors that the door will auto-open in x amount of time.

    A toilet that has a door with a countdown seems like the most stress-inducing thing ever.

  2. computerfriend

    Does anyone have a recommendation for an open source photogrammetry application for Android?

  3. ziofill

    George Costanza would be proud

  4. malkia

    You can see one of the authors here in the mirror :) - https://restroomarchive.com/r/2024-12-02-the-mart-collective

  5. keiferski

    Public bathrooms are such an interesting public services issue. In some places it’s totally normal to pay a small fee, and in return you (usually) get a clean space. In other places, the idea of paying to use the bathroom is considered an offense against the public.

    Years ago when I was in New York often, I had the idea to make a paid bathroom app, with a bit of a luxury twist. You’d pay $30 or whatever a month to have access to 40+ well-designed bathrooms across the city. The idea was that we’d own and operate these, and they’d be extremely well-designed, have beautiful tile interiors, come with a variety of hygiene products, water bottles, and so on.

    I still think it could work, but over time I began to dislike the idea, as it would have been yet another example of the public commons essentially being eroded and replaced with a privatized paid system. Not that NYC public bathrooms are even remotely nice to begin with… but I think a better solution would be less deliberately exclusionary. Then again, what could be more NYC than the idea of paying money to get better things?

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2026-09-01