Restroom Photography by Lincøln
January 1st, 2008 4:12 AMWhen I was in high school I used to break into buildings for fun. Nothing incredibly illegal, mostly hotels and then find roof access and sit on the roof and watch the view or the stars or the sunrise or whatever. But every building I ever broke into, or went into for that matter, I would always check out the bathroom. A bathroom really reflects the place it's in. How you treat your bathroom is how you treat your guests. Fancy hotels tend to have fancy marble bathrooms. Fast food joints tend to have utilitarian bathrooms that clean up easily. Park bathrooms tend to be made strong and durable with a drain in the floor so it can all be hosed down. I used to love the bathroom at the Whisky A-Go-Go on Sunset. It was terrible and awesome. Covered in graffiti, holes in the wall, broken mirror, a corner missing from the sink counter, the floor was tiled but uneven, it sloped up towards the toilet, most of the tiles broken. It was a piece of art; rough, hodge-podge, raw, beautiful and sublime. It's not like that anymore. It has been remodeled and looks like any other bathroom now, and the music in the place reflects that. Just like any other place.
Well, here is my collection of bathrooms that I love. This task will never be done. It will be updated constantly. I have taken it as my mission to document every interesting bathroom I encounter.
Enjoy this collection. I'm doing this for me, but there is no reason why you can't enjoy my collection while you're here. Sit back, relax, put your feet up, stay awhile.
Miles Memorial Playhouse
Maybe my favorite picture ever. 
Miles Memorial Playhouse
Miles Memorial Playhouse
Self portrait. Look closely.
Pacific's The Grove movie theater
Pacific's The Grove movie theater
Pacific's The Grove movie theater
Pacific's The Grove movie theater
Pacific's The Grove movie theater
Pacific's The Grove movie theater
Pacific's The Grove movie theater
Classy
Maybe the worst bathroom I have ever seen.
Anti-bathroom
Ruins
I found this ruined bathroom in a ruined house in a ruined city outside of Lancaster.
Restore Austin
Clashing colors, broken stall door, mirror too far to the left, and yes, that is a shower in the corner of the public bathroom. Win.
Restore Austin
Green. Gotta love the green
Restore Austin
The paint, the crooked sign, the toilet paper rolls stacked precariously. So much goodness going on here.
Restore Austin
Look at that paint job! Look at the paper towel holder! So much win here.
Look at this close up
That can't be safe, can it?
What a great bathroom
This is worth a closer look. That much graffiti becomes art.
Sure, why not?
Who needs privacy when they're pooing?
Who needs privacy when they poo?
Westchester Park
This is the public bathroom at Westchester Park. Why are there so many bathrooms in the world with no privacy?
Fancy no flush
Hello neighbor!
Let's poop together!
Bathroom without doors
Why not? Why not have your bathroom open and viewable by the entire convenience store? That's pretty convenient.
Hi tech
This is the new modern toilet. Fancy, huh? There's no water used in this system somehow.
She's every woman
Bathroom for midgets?
Look at that urinal on the left? Who was that designed for? Who is that designed for? Midgets? (sorry, little people)? You would have to kneel to use that thing. It's very hard to believe. (this was my original picture for this praxis, and what most of the early comments are about)
Sani Seal Part I
Directions for use. Notice that it's motion activated.
Sani Seal Part II
The Sani Seal in action. I have never before or since, seen anything like this. I think I would hate it if I used it.
Just a urinal
That's it. An entire room for just a urinal.
Obligatory
Headquarters
I know this isn't technically a "public" bathroom as I was invited into this private space, but for an LAØ player to get this photo I thought was worthy of putting in here.
This is a public Restroom I found in Prescott Arizona
Seriously. There was a hairdryer sitting on the counter. Of the men's room.
Same public bathroom in Prescott
Yes, that is a sauna and that back there is a jacuzzi. Yes a jacuzzi in a public men's room. There was even a shower, but there was a dude in it, so I didn't photograph it. What kind of strange utopian world allows saunas and jacuzzis in public restrooms? WTF?
This is a public restroom found on Market Street
It's so cute and cozy looking, I had to give it a try.
Automatic Door
I think I'd feel too much pressure knowing I was being timed. I know I have never taken longer than twenty minutes in a bathroom ever, but just being timed would make me think about it.
Inside the automatic toilet
It also has an automatic flush and an emergency call button as well as supplied reading material. Nice.
Be Safe. Wash.
Do you ever wonder how in a public restroom, there can be different fixtures on the sinks? I do. I wonder about that kind of thing a lot.
Smallest bathroom ever?
This just might be the smallest bathroom ever. The toilet paper is mounted to the back of the door. When that door opens, it almost hits the toilet and sink.
How?
How does that happen? Somebody please explain this to me.
Bathroom on set
Bathrooms are hard to come by when you are filming on location, and in those instances, they need to bring with them portable toilets. This is an example of that.
Bathroom on set
They're small and the toilets have foot pedal flushers. I like that.
Bathroom on set
This is how much room you have in a portable on-location restroom.
Bathroom on Melrose
Here's a wide shot of a bathroom I wandered into on Melrose near La Brea. Notice anything goofy?
Bathroom on Melrose
Here. Have a closer look.
Bathroom on Melrose
And what the hell is this thing doing in there?
Cool faucets
Metal industrial
Metal industrial
Seriously
This was seriously in a public bathroom in a park in Port Orchard, Washington. A sharps container. WTF?
Benches are good.
Especially when they're in the bathroom.
Especially when there's a coat-rack too.
Art Deco
This was taken in the bathroom of the REDCAT Disney hall in downtown Los Angeles.
Kick pedal flushers
With signs. I want some of these for the home.
Out Of Order
Not only the name of a great cancelled Showtime TV show, but also the last thing you want to see when you've been holding it all day and you finally get where you're going knowing that finally relief awaits you. Guh.
Sorry for the Inconvenience,
Out of Service. Management.
Pacific's The Grove movie theater
Out of Order
Sorry for the inconvenience!
Little guy's busted
Yes, that hand-scrawled note on the baby toilet says "Out of Order"
Airplane
Airplane
Wash water only. Agua no potable.
Airplane
Airplane
John
So so awesome. Taken at a place called Alexander's Brite Spot.
Sub-pisser
This is the first urinal I have seen that goes underground.
Sub-floor
I love urinals that go underground. Especially when there's three of them.
Why not?
Why not just put the trash cans right under the trash can holes in the counter?
Useful
Self portrait in a bathroom in the middle of nowhere Texas.
Interesting
Those are some interesting icons on that there sign.
Brilliant
Wouldn't you love to be sitting there taking a dump while up to three people came in and started to piss in the big sink-like urinal? Brilliant.
Fukc you
no Fuck you. No! Fuck you!
Absence
What used to be there? Or is something planned to come into this spot?
Fancy
Check out the fancy dancy tiles and counter.
Fancy
This bathroom had marble floors and stall shields.
Fancy
Another fancy all-marble bathroom.
More marble!
This one in a fancy-dancy multiplex in Austin.
Blue lines
I enjoy everything about the aesthetics of this bathroom, the blue lines in the bowl, the hexagonal floor tiles, the hard marble divider, the brick patterned white wall tiles. None of it matches anything else in there, but I find it appealing.
Watch your step
I wonder how many people tripped on their way to the bathroom.
Port-a
I love it sitting there on that dirt hill.
Frjtz
Awesome bathroom, awesome restaurant. The 581 Hayes Street location. I love this place. I try to go here at least once every time I go to San Francisco.
Frjtz
Art on the walls of the Frjtz bathroom.
Overstocked
This bathroom was in a charming little town called Bishop. I like how much toilet paper was waiting and ready to be used. I also like the hanging plant and the round trash can. All around nice bathroom.
FLU SEASON IS HERE!
DID YOU WASH YOUR HANDS? (I like double signage. It's double effective)
Chair
Yes, there is a chair in this bathroom.
Black & White
Waffle House in Texas.
Waffle House
My first Waffle House. It was in Texas.
I was much happier to be there than I look in the picture.
Fancy!
Cutting edge artistic door deco.
Basin sink!
Yay for basin sinks!
Especially basin sinks in public bathrooms.
PLEASE!!!!
Make sure all waste is GONE!
Not just a good idea.
It's the law.
Most spacious bathroom ever
I could do yoga in here. With four of my friends. And an instructor.
Other side of the most spacious bathroom ever
The most spacious bathroom ever also has the fullest trashcan ever as well. Kind of like a bonus.
Pretty
There is nothing I like about this bathroom. Blue countertop? Check. Tiny little aqua tiles on the walls? Check. Motion activated faucets? Check. Lights mounted in the middles of the mirrors? Check. Under-sink mounted soap dispensers? Check.
Awful
Even the toilet doors are terrible.
Multitude
That is a whole lot of urinals.
Tilted
I actually really like this tilted mirror design.
Burning Man bathrooms
I have really grown to love these. When I first saw these my first year I never thought I would have any feeling but hatred for these things. I now not only love them, but miss them when I'm not there and look forward to getting back to them every year.
All fixed.
I love home-made fixes.
Theater of NOTE's bathroom
Which is located backstage.
Theatre of N.O.T.E.
The new JW Marriott in downtown
That gentleman has a top hat. How dapper.
The new JW Marriott in downtown
Frosted glass stall doors.
The new JW Marriott in downtown
Square sink! Crazy!
The new JW Marriott in downtown
Cool urinals! I love these urinals. I want one in my home.
The new JW Marriott in downtown
Fancy.
South Pasadena Country Club
Not as nice as I'd expect from a country club.
Big 5 Sporting Goods in Pasadena
Look at them whacky sinks. Also I love the Wet Floor falling guy.
LAX Marriott
All lined up.
LAX Marriott
All lined up on both sides.
LAX Marriott
More rows.
LAX Marriott
Reflected half ghost toilet.
Mr. & Mrs. Kickass's house
And Screechy McGee hanging out on the sink.
Mar Vista Bowl
Don't you love the contrasting angled lines on that tile?
Mar Vista Bowl
Lonely urinal.
Baja Fresh in Calabasas
A very narrow bathroom indeed.
Cakebread Castle
Cakebread Castle
Yep.
That's poop on the floor there.
Privacy is an outdated notion when you think about it.
Arizona Rest Stop
Can't drink if you're thirsty round these parts.
Arizona Rest Stop
Check out that tiled dinosaur.
Hauli Huvilla
Green skinny bathroom
Green skinny bathroom
Green skinny bathroom
Tiles
Check out those tiles.
Industrial building in the city of Vernon
Look up the city of Vernon sometime. It is fascinating.
Los Angeles City Hall
Paramount Studios
Paramount Studios
Scariest bathroom ever
Now with poop on the floor!
Some Mexican joint in Westchester
I like the chair. So you can bring a friend in and have a conversation while you poop.
Scariest bathroom ever
It'll be impossible to fully describe how scary this bathroom was. There was a swap meet type place on the ground floor of this huge building downtown, and I wandered down some back hallways and found a stairway leading up, so I went. And upstairs was just like downstairs except completely empty. There were people moving those giant wheeled laundry baskets like the one Annie escaped from Miss Hannigan's in. But otherwise empty, and the laundry room place was in one corner, the rest abandoned, so I wandered down a corridor that might have led to offices at one time, but the halls just kept going and going, and some were dark, and there was no cell reception, and then I turned a corner and there was this bathroom, the lights flickering and there were sounds like people moving coming from down the hall, but there were no people around. So fucking creepy. Next time you're free in L.A. I'll show you and you can see for yourself.
Those are tiles. Tiles printed to look wet. Yes.
Self Portrait in awful tiles.
Awful tiles.
Ashtray.
This bathroom hasn't been updated in quite awhile.
img_1059.jpg
Fancy hotel in Albuquerque
Fancy hotel in Albuquerque
River Garden Park
Bike in a bathroom!
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Can you remember using the big-boy's urinals as a child?
I can remember the lower-to-the-ground toilets in the girls bathroom...
We agree with Anna One, we believe the politically correct term for 'little people' is 'children'.
And surely midgets pee too?
I can tell you about that short urinal (or ones like it), even though I am female, because I was involved in remodeling a building to ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance. There is actually a rule about having a urinal really near the ground.
Yeah, I was just thinking that: it must be hard to reach a tall one from a wheelchair.
Still, the actual mechanics of the event elude me. But I am also a female, so.
This was not in a school or someplace for children, it was at a big boy restaurant. And my best friend is in a wheelchair and it is no less hard for him to pee in a big urinal, or an actual toilet or even the sink. There is no advantage for a low urinal for him. Maybe it is for the little people. It's very strange any way you look at it.
I'm not saying all the ADA regulations make tons of sense for real people with disabilities, just that there is something requiring a very short urinal! We also scratched our heads a lot trying to figure out the motivation behind it. And, unfortunately, because our building has only one urinal, it had to be at the special low height, and now no one can actually use it comfortably. As if bathrooms weren't puzzling enough.
Yeah, it really annoys me when something is done to comply with the DDA (ADA in the US) that is unreasonably inconvenient for all the able-bodied people. Yes, disabled people should be catered for, but ALSO ABLE-BODIED PEOPLE, no?
Isn't that the case with you?
Come wee with me! Aim to the little bee! Nothing will be the same afterwards...
I have been constantly updating this task for over a year, and nobody has noticed, but that's OK as I'm often updating old tasks to make them better where possible.
But this time I found a real winner and needed to give a shout out so I could share the awesome with you who may be reading your update page.
I once spent a weekend in Laughlin, Nevada. Every public bathroom I went in had a sharps conatiner.
Maybe my favorite photo I've ever taken is now a part of this task.
This gift I share with you.
I'm pretty sure many of you didn't know this task existed, but I have been slowly updating it every time I encounter a new interesting restroom. Enjoy it. Come back often. It is updated often.
The new era is a microera, and it's BLUE!
Not just BLUE, but full of all sorts of great tasks from the infinite exchange.
So many new old tasks, so little time, so few hording spots in my task-list.
Oh yeah, and an interesting photo, Lincoln. Is it in a place children go?