This article comes to us courtesy of The Bold Italic.
By Chloe Schildhause
For physiological and anatomical reasons I do not understand, I pee more often than the average person. I am not diabetic and my bladder seems to be of adequate size, so I am not sure where the issue is. It’s a problem that’s not only cumbersome to my daily activities, but also aggravates whomever I am spending a day with that, yes, I have to find a bathroom again.
Because of my struggles I have been fortunate enough to uncover some of the great restrooms in San Francisco. I am surprised that no bathroom in this city has won, or even made it as a finalist, in America’s Best Restroom competition. The competition is in its 10th round, with this year’s winner at The Field Museum in Chicago.
The prized bathrooms from the past decade are impressive, like the one at Shoji Tabuchi Theatre in Branson, Missouri, that has lion-head sinks imported from Italy and a hand-carved mahogany pool table. Or the humorous loo at Jungle Jim’s International Market in Fairfield, Ohio, that looks like a Porta-Potty from the outside, but inside houses a huge and luxurious temple of toilets.
The standards set for this competition are of the highest caliber. Sabrina Zimring, one of the 10 survey editors for America’s Best Restroom, told me, “We have hundreds of nominations come in from all 50 states. It certainly doesn’t mean there are no great bathrooms in San Francisco. We just need people to nominate them.”
A few local washrooms have been suggested over the years, but Sabrina said they didn’t make the cut. “The bathroom has to be really unique and has to spark an interest in people.”
There’s no formula for being America’s Best Restroom, and there is really no set criteria for the lavatories I have selected as my favorites. These picks for the best places to pee in San Francisco cover a variety of needs. They can be classy or kitschy, clean or trashy (the décor, not the smell), a quiet retreat or a gossip haunt. Some of these restrooms are unisex, but the list is heavy on women’s restrooms, because, well, I wrote it.
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