Public potties

March 8, 2009 - 8:58 PM by

I had a bathroom epiphany the other day. It was one of those moments when a bathroom is needed, you’re out in public, and have already availed yourself of coffee and other treats at your favorite cafe. In fact, you’re far away from said coffee shop, otherwise it might make the most sense to just head back in there. There’s also no Aroma in sight — Aroma is to public bathrooms in Israel as McDonald’s is in most other places in the world — and you gotta go, bad.

Public potty on Hillel Street

Public potty on Hillel Street

And there, in front of me, was one of the first public, self-cleaning bathrooms that I’d heard tale of in Jerusalem. This one was situated outside the Museum of Italian Jewish Art on Hillel Street in downtown Jerusalem. The oval-shaped structure is quite handsome in design, faced in stone, of course, and pretty easy to use in practice. Just press the button, open the door and the public potty is available for your use, fresh-smelling and clean, really clean. It’s also wheelchair accessible (and fits a side-by-side double stroller) and even has soap in the dispenser and toilet paper on the roll. Can’t always find that in an Aroma restroom.

I’d like to say it was reminiscent of the public restrooms of yore, in which a restroom attendant sat outside, collecting shekels in return for two squares of scratchy toilet paper and a fairly regularly-cleaned restroom. But it’s really much, much better than that. It’s clean, sleek and high-tech, and very, very private. Word has it that there are others in downtown Jerusalem; and if Jerusalem has public, self-cleaning bathrooms, then Tel Aviv must’ve been there first!

Tags: , , , • Category: A New Reality, Business, design, General 

Comments

2 Comments on Public potties

  1. moshe rabeynu on Mon, Mar 9th 2009 5:01 AM

    2. I have read that the Russian immigrants have their own version of the public toilet…it’s known as the “pish b’kvish”, Hey, a shekel saved is a shekel earned!

  2. The top 10 toilets in Jerusalem By Abigail Klein Leichman h/t @Jacob Richman « Simon Studio Analysis on Sat, Dec 10th 2011 12:00 AM

    3. [...] around downtown? Right in front of this museum at 27 Hillel Street, there’s a freestanding public restroom that’s clean and roomy. The toilet flushes automatically each time the door is opened [...]

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