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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhen was the last time you saw a pay toilet?
It occurred to me that I hadnt seen a pay toilet since the early 70s in New York City. That prompted me to look it up, and I found this interesting, funny article:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/649324/pay-toilet-history
CurtEastPoint
(18,650 posts)Buckeye_Democrat
(14,855 posts)I never knew this part, despite living in the Dayton area for years.
... In 1968, Dayton, Ohio, teenagers (and brothers) Michael and Ira Gessel were on a road trip in Pennsylvania with their parents when they encountered a pay toilet at a Howard Johnson's restaurant. The brothers couldnt believe spare change was needed to relieve themselves. Back in Dayton and with friends Steve Froikin and Natalie Precker, the group formed what became known as the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America, an activist group that championed free bowel movements for all.
The foursome drafted model legislation and circulated press releases drawing attention to the issue, which received national media exposure. Their logo was a fist clutching chains rising out of a toilet bowl to represent this evacuation oppression. The Gessels were voicing what America had been thinking all along: That charging a person to poop verged on being inhumane.
While some of this was clearly a kind of juvenile theaterthe foursome wrote ballads like Ode to a Pay Toilettheir endgame was no joke. They opened collegiate chapters around the country and drew the attention of lawmakers...
Phil Donahue started his show in Dayton, so he might've interviewed them for all I know.
tblue37
(65,408 posts)Harker
(14,024 posts)Hugh_Lebowski
(33,643 posts)a quarter or a token you could get from the cashier if you bought something.
Tree Lady
(11,476 posts)I saw one down by the piers.
randr
(12,412 posts)a pay toilet for sure.
wyn borkins
(1,109 posts)I remember sneaking underneath the doors at a grouping of terlets on 21st Street Beach, North Miami, Florida during the late 1950's.
mitch96
(13,912 posts)Ocelot II
(115,735 posts)I do remember slithering under a stall door when I didn't have a quarter to unlock it and I was young enough to slither.
Walleye
(31,028 posts)Sorry about that, couldnt help myself. The words of the prophet are written on the subway walls
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)Walleye
(31,028 posts)EYESORE 9001
(25,947 posts)That was what prompted this thread. That memory arrived randomly and started me thinking about pay toilets.
rownesheck
(2,343 posts)using one in London, March 1994.
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)Archae
(46,337 posts)Where an airliner had pay toilets.
And a guy didn't have any change.
He was offering large bills for change.
csziggy
(34,136 posts)I think I gave the attendant a one pound note.
Oh, there was another one on St. Thomas, also in 2019, outside one of the fresh air markets.