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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,882
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Do you recall pay toilets?

I lived in Germany in the late sixties and my parents were visiting.  Took my Mom to the toilet and found I only had 10 openings (enough for one and I had to go badly, so I went in).  My Mom, who went with me but really didn't have to go, got someone to translate into German, and questioned the toilet lady until she got assurance that if she really had to go, the "toilet guardian" would let her in a stall without paying.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,535
Registered: ‎10-05-2010

Re: Do you recall pay toilets?

I don't ever remember them being in stores.  I only remember using them at the rest stops when traveling.  I also kind of remember crawling under the door.  Totally disgusting to think of doing that  Smiley Embarassed

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,755
Registered: ‎03-16-2010

Re: Do you recall pay toilets?

Yes I do in the 1960's. One store in Worcester Massachusetts, Denholms also had ultra violet lights to sterilize the seats. They lights were purple anyway not sure if they really worked but it was impressive. Those were the best toilets that you could find in that city. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,739
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Do you recall pay toilets?

I wonder if they were also in the men's restrooms?

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,025
Registered: ‎05-23-2011

Re: Do you recall pay toilets?

@cherry I wish that I had the dimes for every time my mother asked me to crawl under the door in the 60s and 70s. Smiley LOL

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Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,752
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Do you recall pay toilets?


@GCR18 wrote:

I never heard of it.  I asked my mother.  She thinks it was in the 50's.


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It was years after the fifties.  It was an Asian woman City Supervisor who got it passed that there would be no more pay toilets in San Francisco.  The bill was named after her... we were famous for doing away with that horror, LOL. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 41,255
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Do you recall pay toilets?

i remember them during the 60s and 70s both in the usa and abroad. i remember seeing bathroom attendants that you had to tip during those same periods of time. i had no problem crawling under the door if i had to go and had no change. lol

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"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein
Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,739
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Do you recall pay toilets?

In the early 1900s, when railroads connected America’s biggest cities with rural outposts, train stations were sometimes the only place in town with modern plumbing. To keep locals from freely using the bathrooms, railroad companies installed locks on the stall doors — only to be unlocked by railroad employees for ticketed passengers. Eventually, coin-operated locks were introduced, making the practice both more convenient and more profitable. Pay toilets then sprung up in the nation’s airports, bus stations, and highway rest stops. By 1970, America had over 50,000 pay toilets.

By 1980, there were almost none.

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Registered: ‎10-12-2015

Re: Do you recall pay toilets?

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Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,592
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Do you recall pay toilets?

I do remember the pay toilets.  Sometimes, even when you put your coin into the slot....it didn't work!  I crawled under the doors many times