Broadway Laundromat

our new apartment doesn’t have a dishwasher? oh… well…okay. but it at least has laundry right? no? well, we have no place else to live so…
after weeks in denial and with no clean shirts left, i finally made it here. i went on a sunday afternoon but had no trouble parking in their lot, and there were plenty of available machines, carts, and folding tables. i wish there were more places to sit, but i guess i’d rather have space to fold if i had to choose. the washers are great — $ 4.75 for a quick 20 minutes and you can fit a ton in them. i split two weeks of dirty laundry for two people plus sheets & towels between two of them. i also noticed some stains came out of clothes i had washed multiple times elsewhere (with the same detergent) and just figured were doomed, so, bonus. the dryers are typical — blazing hot and feels like they take forever. i think it’s something weird like 33 cents per ten minutes. (but you use a card –cool and only costs a buck, though i had to swipe it eight different ways each time i wanted to add ten minutes, & sometimes ended up adding more time than i needed or more time to the wrong dryer. the washers didn’t have this issue.) after 50 minutes on medium my thin towels still weren’t dry but i just wanted to GTFO so i took my damp laundry home.
why you ask? was it crowded? no, not really. was it grubby? hell no. nicest one i’ve seen, actually, with people cleaning constantly. (good for people like me who constantly drop clothes on the floor.) but… it was omg LOUD. and hot. on top of the noise of all the machines, they have two TVs blaring two different spanish stations (some kind of game show & demolition derby followed by soccer), almost everyone has multiple young bored & cranky kids (can you blame them?)…and…they have video games as well as claw machines that sell balls and other toys that let out a high pitched squeak when you squeeze them.
their website says they will pick up your laundry, wash/​dry/​fold, and deliver it back home to you. if i ever get over my fear of losing what few possessions i have, i may check that out… or invest in a good pair of noise canceling headphones.

«I can’t wait till people smell me at work today!»
So I have this weird and terrible habit of not wanting to do my laundry until 6:00am on a work day. Call it laziness, call it some sort of self hate, call it the self discipline of a Greek god, but I call it the best dang time to do laundry.
The best part is that this laundromat is clean, uses a card system (no more fishing for quarters, jokes on you college), and even at peak times, is more manageable than other laundromats I’ve frequented. There’s detergent, softener, laundry bags and stuff for your cars (thanks?) on hand to buy at all times in case you forgot something (which I usually do, drats).
I highly recommend going really early (they open at 6am) and they now close at 1:00am so if you’re into late night laundry washing, that’s a good time too!
I’ve never used the drop off service, so these stars are only for the «pull-​yerself-​up-​by-​the-​bootstrap» way of doing laundry. The only reason this place doesn’t deserve a 5 stars is because the bathroom is kind of poorly maintained the times I’ve gone there… plus really dark so I get flashbacks of the first SAW movie.
Yea, I end up smelling really good, and all the coworkers at work compliment me and give me high fives and promotions and all that good stuff.

I don’t do the pick up and drop off, but I go there to do my own laundry. I live a block from other laundromats and they’re all dirty and dark with nothing to do once you get there. So I travel the extra few blocks to this laundromat. This place has plenty of seating, arcade games, vending machines, and plenty of parking. The machines are reasonably priced and very efficient. The only issue I’ve had is the amount of children running around screaming with no one doing anything about it. But that’s not a fault of the workers, just a fault of the parents…

BROADWAY LAUNDROMAT WILL CHERRY PICK YOUR LAUNDRY FOR EXPENSIVE ITEMS AND STEAL THEM — STAY AWAY IF the clothes you are looking to launder are cheap or inexpensive, they will give you excellent customer service. IF you are trying to get expensive items cleaned CHELSEA LAUNDROMAT STEALS.
This has happened to us 3 TIMES! The first time, my delicates went missing. Another time, my mother’s pillowcases. My mistake was thinking there is no way anyone could steal laundry. My Mom’s mistake was not checking her laundry bag when it first came to the house. We let it go before, but now this is getting ridiculous.
December 18 — My Mom called in for a pickup that included a brand-​new, never washed blanket, a $ 100 Turkish towel, nightgowns, ladies’ undergarments, queen size sheets and 6 pillow cases, a nurse’s uniform and dresses. The driver came for the pickup (later on, he would remember picking up the clothes) and our laundry never came back.
December 20: We called to ask when will we be getting our laundry. They said they don’t have our order in their computer. We insisted they did and they said they would call us when they find it. They never called.
December 22: I went to Chelsea Laundromat to have a look around myself. There were two men behind the counter — one handling the customers and the other guy must have been on his lunch break because he ignored everyone and was obviously content to munch on pistachios the whole time. The one guy who was working seemed cordial and he was aware of the situation. I described the green bath towel and the red blanket and the green nurses’ uniform. He looked around behind the counter and up on shelves, poking at laundry bags and said our laundry was not there. Their back room had laundry bags falling out of it. I asked him to check there and he refused, saying that room was for old laundry that people never came back for. I guess our laundry was not that important. He said our order was not in their computer database. I asked him if I could have a look. He showed me my Mom’s account. The order from December 18 was not there. I asked him to check under my name. There was nothing under my account. The man said only one person — a woman — washed the clothes and he asked her in front of me. He described the green nurse’s uniform, the bath towel and our red blanket and she was sure she hadn’t seen anything like that. I asked to speak to the driver. Surely, I thought, he would remember. The man said the driver should be in soon and I could speak to him if I don’t mind waiting. I waited. I saw the driver Iwas waiting for entering traffic with the Chelsea Laundromat van. I ran after him and stopped him about our laundry. He said he doesn’t work Saturdays and took off. I went back inside to speak to the same man who asked me to wait for the driver in the first place. Before I could say anything, he said that the driver who had just left doesn’t work on the weekend but he is in the middle of calling the driver who did work on Saturday and I should wait. I waited. Finally a ray of hope: the driver on the phone remembered the pickup. The man said since the driver remembers, they’ll have another look around and he’ll be in touch when they find our laundry. No word still.
December 24: I called and the lady who answered the phone seemed aware of the situation because she answered the phone saying, «We didn’t find your stuff.» I asked for the manager and she said he was not there. I asked for the owner and he wasn’t there either. I asked her to have the owner call as soon as possible.
December 26, 2010: Having heard nothing back after a couple of days, I called and spoke to the same woman. She said she has no idea what I am talking about and the owner is on vacation in Florida. She said the manager was not there and I should try calling back on Wednesday. Then she hung up on me. When I tried to call back, I got voicemail so I left Chris a message about customer service and asked for a call back.
I understand it is the holidays. My Mom wanted to use the red blanket on her bed because it is the holidays. I understand good help is hard to find these days — especially help that doesn’t steal or hang up on good customers. We will try calling back on Wednesday and seeing what happens. My only option now is to Unilocal them and keep others from being victimized as well. If you have cheap clothes, you’ll certainly get your laundry back, but if you have articles of clothing that are of good quality: expensive sheets, expensive towels — say good-​bye.