3. Willoughby Dorm Basement // 215 Willoughby Avenue
Though the laundry room was hardly glamorous, there was something decadent about having washers and dryers in my building — even though that building also happened to be the largest dorm on campus, and on Sundays, it got so busy that screaming matches ensued any time someone’s clothes got dumped on a folding machine. This was a nice kiddie pool introduction into what it meant to do laundry among my peers. I could run up to my room while my clothes were in the washer, but I still had to make sure to get back on time, lest there’s a line for the machines. That meant I usually did my laundry after midnight, when it was just me and a row of dryers with brimming lint filters.
2. Atlantis Superwash Center // 873 Bedford Avenue
This was my introduction into laundromat living. It was only a block and a half from my apartment, but the journey seemed so much longer when I was lugging two loads. I lived on a small side street that the snow plows never seemed to deign to visit, and after a particularly torrential blizzard, I risked my life just to wash my sheets. Atlantis exclusively showed Spanish telenovellas on their TVs, and they claimed to have free wi-fi that no one seemed to know the password to. They were open 24 hours a day, but I never visited it past 8 pm. The streets would get too dark, and I didn’t want my obituary to mention the number of Hello Kitty garments I owned.
1. Laundry Land // 269 Eckford Street
With a name like Laundry Land, you’d expect a laundry-themed amusement park with sudsy water slides and detergent-sprinkled funnel cakes. But it’s just a standard, slightly bleaker than usual, laundromat. I don’t mind coming here late because the Polish grandmother who is in charge looks as if she could take someone down if she wanted. There are no frills here, except for one TV that is turned on to Wheel of Fortune in the evening, and so far, I’ve found three anonymous socks among my own. Despite this, I have a soft spot for this place because of my three laundromats so far, nothing particularly heinous has ever happened to me here.
