Manhattan Status Symbols: Washers and Dryers [“It is the ultimate convenience,”......]

New York Times ^

[Sub-Driver]

Manhattan Status Symbols: Washers and Dryers By C. J. HUGHES

THE final noisemaker has squealed and the last dinner guest has straggled home, so the holiday extravaganza that is Christmas and New Year’s — spread out over two long weekends and punctuated by a blizzard — is over.

Now it’s time for the cleanup, and that can mean dealing with more than the usual number of napkins splashed with red wine. For most people in the city, getting the laundry done will mean lugging it to a wash-and-fold service or taking it to the machines in the basement with a stack of quarters in hand.

But a growing number of New Yorkers can give the holiday linens a hot bath at home in their own washers and dryers. This staple of the suburbs remains uncommon in the city — apartments that have washers and dryers make up only about 20 percent of the sales and rental listings in Manhattan, according to StreetEasy, the real estate Web site. But demand is increasing, Condominium developers are making these appliances part of the standard package, and older buildings — even prewars — are relaxing longtime bans to keep residents happy and to avoid scaring off buyers.

But newer buildings have the edge. A search of StreetEasy’s listings in late December showed that 593 Manhattan co-ops for sale offered washers, versus 1,849 condos.

A washer can be worth far more than its weight in lost socks.

Jonathan J. Miller, the president of Miller Samuel, the appraisal company, said that “while there is no known empirical data to reliably measure this amenity,” a washing machine can add as much as 5 percent to an apartment’s price tag.

[Grizzled Bear]

Just a guess, but duds and suds?

Maybe... All I remember is the commercial. There was a rather "full figured" girl doing her laundry, bowling, going back to her laundry and, finally, dancing the night away.

For some reason, I laughed my butt off every time I saw the commercial. But then again, I'm easily amused.

I lived on the south side of town and drove past the place everyday on my way to the base; but I never visited the establishment...

[DesertRhino]

“oh, you don’t know chauvinism till you meet a Manhattanite.,,,,,,,,, theatre, museums, shopping, concerts, fine dining, etc) is all in their back yard, a subway or taxi ride away.”

It’s called “cognitive dissonance”. They know the dirty truth is that they are generally living as wretches. They have no cars, no washing machines, live in apartments a person should feel ashamed of, have no privacy, and experience pervasive union corruption. They cannot landscape a yard, or sit outside in their jaccuzzi watching the stars.

Yes, they always prattle on about all they can do in Manhattan,, but never stop to realize why they always feel so compelled to explain how wonderful it really is there. They know they are living a poor quality of life,,so they loudly try to convince themselves that they are not.

It’s like a smoker telling you how much pleasure the cigarette gives them, waxing eloquently about the calm feeling it gives them to take a drag. But yes,, they know.

[Melas]

The traffic is what I hate most about living here. Which is one of the many reasons I’d like to pack up and move to NYC. I’d love to sell the cars, and do without them. One of the lessons I’ve learned on my visits to NYC, is that my car payments would pay for all the taxi fares and subway tokens I could ever use, and still have money left over. I’ve really enjoyed my post-Guilliani subway trips. I know he’s close to a dirty word on FR, but he did wonderful things for NYC.

[DesertRhino]

Ok,, take I-35 north till you hit I-40,,, go east several hundred miles. Follow the smell,,,

[Melas]

Find a New Yorker that feels the way you do that would like to trade places with me. I’d love to ditch the cars, the lawn (especially the lawn), and even the washing machine. Hell what I love most about traveling is that the hotel picks up your clothing, dry cleans it, and brings it back that afternoon. Damn skippy I’d like to make that a daily routine. Washing machines just equal drudgery, not freedom.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

My son does the same thing, except he brings them to my front loader.

[DesertRhino]

“Find a New Yorker that feels the way you do that would like to trade places with me.”

Refer to cognitive dissonance,, of course i won’t find one. They are all happy to live like children. And here’s the good news,,you don’t have to find someone trade! If it’s so awesome,,,,

I know your game, seen lots of New Yorkers talk like you. Always telling how wonderful it is there. They talk like they are in a hurry to get home, but never *act* like it.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Business idea: Open a "cool" laundromat with a bar, some pool tables and maybe a live band."

I had given some thought to a nude laundromat so you could get 100% of your clothes clean. When you wear clothes to the laundromat, as soon as you get home, you have clothes that need to be washed.

[vaudine]

Actually, Giulianni is not a dirty word to me. I appreciate his cleanup of NYC. He seems to be an excellent admin. He is a very good, down to earth speaker--he spoke last year at our granddaughters graduation from Univ. His outlook on abortion and his lovelife turn off a lot of conservatives, but I would vote for him before Mitt, Huck, or Newt because I believe he would be a better executive and his negatives aren't any worse than theirs.

vaudine

[SamAdams76]

I had given some thought to a nude laundromat so you could get 100% of your clothes clean. When you wear clothes to the laundromat, as soon as you get home, you have clothes that need to be washed.

I don't think many will feel comfortable being nude at a laundromat, however, you make an excellent point about also laundering the clothes you were wearing coming in.

So instead, let's adjust the business model to lend out bathrobes. So you can come into the laundromat, disrobe in a changing room and change into a clean bathrobe supplied by the laundromat. You can then lounge around in a bathrobe and slippers while your laundry is being done and maybe we can have some "private" rooms for rent with a bed, jacuzzi and a TV - rented by the hour of course.

This could change the dowdy image of a laundromat overnight!

[Right Wing Assault]

Hoses can burst, for a myriad of reasons.

I've lived in houses with a washer with plain old hoses for about 50 years and never had a hose burst or even leak. And we never shut the water valve off. Lucky, I guess.

The highest quality braided stainless lined ones are better than the old ones. Also, now they have shutoff devices that detect leaks and shut off the water. Condo living has pushed the need for preventing leaks.

[Alice in Wonderland]

I love that city.

Me too. I just can't afford to live there since I'm on a reduced post-retirement income ... and I hate the cold weather. I go back and visit in the summertime.

I brought my mother to Florida with me and every day, until the day she died, she vocalized her longing to return to the Big Apple.

I had a car when I lived there and paid $75 extra a month for a parking space. My brother has never owned one. With it's extensive mass transit system, a vehicle is not a necessity in the City.

No one on this thread can say one good thing about New York City or its residents, and that's sad. What's sadder is that they'll judge a person's worth on whether or not they own a washing machine.

[dfwgator]

It’s just a different way of life, to each their own. We have the choice to decide where we want to live, there are pros and cons to each.

[dfwgator]

It’s just a different way of life, to each their own. We have the choice to decide where we want to live, there are pros and cons to each.

[Melas]

Refer to cognitive dissonance,, of course i won’t find one. They are all happy to live like children. And here’s the good news,,you don’t have to find someone trade! If it’s so awesome,,,

Alas, see my previous post. I'd move to NYC in a second if I could overcome the only obstacle in my way: Spousal approval. She was happy when we had four acres in the boonies, but I was developing an unhealthy fascination with sleeping pills and razor blades.

I feel the same way about rural life as you do about city life. I can't believe they're really happy living in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do and plenty of time to do it in. I stuck it out for a full 10 years before I had to tell her that I was leaving that particular corner of Hell with or without her, because it was really that hard on me. I can handle a lot of things, but mind crushing boredom is bad for the soul.

[Melas]

I know. The whole washing machine thing makes me laugh as well. It’s like owning a snow shovel. Growing up I envied the folks who didn’t have to shovel snow, but I didn’t feel superior to the people who didn’t need one.

Same with the washing machine. We have one, but it’s the guy who stuffs his clothing in a sack, where it’s picked up on Monday and comes back Wednesday clean, dried and perfectly pressed that I’m going to envy. He’s the one who has it made, not us folks who do our own laundry.

[NativeNewYorker]

water hookups and drainage

Buildings with hundreds of apartments are common. Visualize the retro-fit nightmare.

[dljordan]

Hey, that’s pretty cozy.

[Alice in Wonderland]

I live in the boonies now and it’s a LOT more work maintaining this place than it was maintaining an apartment in New York. I have 3+ acres that need mowing bi-weekly ... back in the City, the landlord paid for a company to come and maintain the lawn. Here I have to haul my garbage to the dump. Before, I threw it down a chute daily. The landlord provided hot water and steam heat that didn’t cost me a dime. If something went wrong in the apartment, I called the super who immediately fixed it.

There were 72 apartments in my building and over the years those 71 other families became my extended family. Dave and Jeff hung out on the stoop and would share the gossip of the day with me when I came home from work. Here, there aren’t 72 families within a mile of me. I could walk around the corner to all the stores where all the merchants knew me. Here the closest store is nine miles away and town is another nine miles beyond that. There was a sense of community in New York City that I miss here.

Some on this thread write of the joys of watching the rabbits and birds from their homes ... I watched ships and surfers and flocks of seagulls from mine. I couldn’t take a stroll on the boardwalk without running into friends and neighbors and co-workers. If I wanted more solitude, I take the dog for a walk on the beach. I’m getting homesick writing this ...

[Little Bill]

Wreaks havoc on the waste treament system, massive BOD loading.