For purposes of listening only:



These first three photos are from Beverly Hills High School, where I found myself wandering one Saturday.

I find that more modern urinals, tend to have more angular lines. They are more rectangular than older models.


Another feature of modern restrooms is the tendency to include a smaller urinal at a lower height for use by smaller boys. This is something I'm certain I had not noticed before 15 years ago. Prior to that, urinals seemed to come in only the larger size.


Another feature seems to be that the walls of the stalls only come up to just short of shoulder height. Just above elbow height for someone like me. I am five feet eleven inches tall (1.8 meters for our friends in foreign lands).


For comparison, these next three photos are from an older building. It is a building that until August of 2007 was used as a court reporting school since 1940. Prior to that it was a court mediation building. Many of the fixtures and utilities date back to 1940. This includes much of the electrics, and plumbing.

This is an older urinal. You'll notice it is far rounder than modern urinals, recalling the lines of Duchamp's famous urinal, in itself is a lovely specimen of scatological design. It's smooth, attractive curves are not the only thing that give away it's age.

You've probably also noticed that it includes a handle. This is for flushing. No tedious mucking about with sensors required. While the school was housed in this building, I would often go into the bathroom for the purposes of flushing this very urinal. A satisfying analog experience. The cool white porcelain against the soft green tiles is very soothing to me.



The smaller tiles making a jumbled mosaic seemed odd to me. It was out of place. Of the three men's rooms, it was the only one with this design.



Notice that the stalls go up further. Privacy is uninterrupted. The walls extend past the top of my head.

The black and white toilet seats co-existing peacefully side by side. As lovely, and urgent sentiment as that episode of Star Trek where the Riddler had his face painted black and white.



For comparison, this is a urinal at the new campus. It's on the fourth floor of an office building in the Mid-Wilshire district. This is what I'm told they call dynamic design.


This toilet incorporates bold ideas. I guess.
The attempt seems to want the user to feel at ease, as if surrounded by nature.

Either way, it's still just a toilet left on the street.

I like this particular urinal. Very clean and smooth design. You may find it at LACMA, if you are interested.


This next image does not qualify as Muddy Waters.


Much like this next photo, it was taken during a much needed break. They are not the most aesthetically pleasing of photos, but I find them soothing. Terrible things were happening to the Senator and I.



Sometimes, after seeing an intense bit of film, the smooth lines, and cool colors of a trine like this can be somewhat soothing.



This next photo shows the men's room at a Jack in the Box in Koreatown.

I don't think it comes across how narrow it was, there wasn't enough room to position myself properly. The door opens with just far enough to allow clearance for the sink to get in, you have to squeeze between the door and the sink. There wasn't enough room for me to spread my arms all the way.


I'd seen this logo on toilet stalls many times in the past, but hadn't really paid attention. I didn't think that the company really called their stalls "Hiny Hiders", but indeed they do.


The logo for the American Standard toilet company however, is one I've seen all my life. I actually really like this logo, though this image is not the best specimen of it. It is usually done in very clear letters that seem to suggest they were carved, or burned into wood. They imply quality of a handmade precision, which is likely what the designer had in mind.


I've yet to come across a restroom in a Catholic church that doesn't look like a public school restroom. These are from Saint Basil's in Los Angeles.


It's the tiles on the floor that really bring up for me the school bathroom aesthetic. A grid of small dijon colored squares, many grungy.



Usually, when I see a bathroom floor like the one pictured above, the design continues onto the wall, strangely, it was not the case in this one. If seen separately, I would be aware that these photos are of the same bathroom.