The Bathroom Line

And these towels are too loud

2009-04-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

Via tofutti break, location unknown

-This jukebox sucks
-This is a paper towel dispenser. Not a jukebox.

Though both are essential devices in a bar.

Yoshitomo Nara thinks outside the bathroom

2009-03-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

This technically isn't in a bathroom, but it's right next to one and the whole area smells like shit, so I'll let it slide. But more interestingly, it's a drunken scrawling by a guy who just happens to be a famous artist: Yoshitomo Nara, who is important because of some Japanese pop stuff.

Niagara, NYC, 3-21-09

-Hey NYC. Are you happy?
-Yeah!
-Love Niagara

Check out more from his doodles at Niagara here. Note: uncool girls and boys need not attempt to pee.

Rehab

2009-03-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

-I hear sometimes it swallows you whole.

-Sucks, I'm goin' home.

The crippling loneliness of New York? The hustle of a dead-end career? The toilet?

Weirdly meta when I'm taking a picture of it.

Broker, not bater?

All Rehab, NYC, ladies, 10-18-08

Apothecary

2009-02-24T19:01:00.000-08:00

Though not actually in a bathroom, this wall in Philadelphia's fantastic cocktail bar Apo is pretty rad. (Formerly Apothecary, the bar was forced to abbreviate since apparently it's illegal to call something Apothecary when it's not an actual pharmacy.)

I've always thought of this Paul Simon lyric as a tag line of sorts for this blog.

Perhaps this too.

All ~~Apothecary~~ Apo, Philadelphia, 2-15-09
Excellent reference to Orson Welles long lost champagne commercial. Classy and obscure, Philly. Check out Welles' inebriated musings on the French:

The undead

2009-01-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

This exaggeration brought forth a few great answers. I don't think he meant the brain-consuming lifestyle, but this is awesome.

Bar Pilar, DC, men's, 1-3-09

-Your lifestyle will ruin us all.
-Who's? Mine?
-Not until after I'm dead.
-Live it up. You'll all be zombies soon
-BRAINS

The perfect man?

2009-01-04T19:46:00.000-08:00

Evan sounds like a pretty stand up guy, apparently worthy of a line scrawled on scaffolding on the ceiling. Check out the lighting fixture next to this homage. Then check out the poster of the guy with nudie sunglasses who looks like he's reading the graffiti. The caption: "The finest in adult reading!"

DC9, Washington DC, ladies, 8-22-08

Evan: Lover of ladies, savior of lost puppies, & enemy of the man.

But not HERE

2009-01-04T18:34:00.000-08:00

The irony is just so clever, eh?

Gutter, ladies, 2-9-08

Stop looking here.

I actually liked this movie

2009-01-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

Lakeside Lounge, ladies room, 2/8/08

Fuck you, Hollywood! Leave New York alone!!!

Hi Fi art

2008-11-05T19:24:00.000-08:00

Drawings may be the graffiti that baffle me the most. Why showcase your art in a public restroom, for it to - almost literally - be shat all over? Do you really want to stay in there long enough to focus on the chiaroscuro shading?

Some NYU art student must have gotten shitty (sorry for the pun) and turned this one stall at Hi Fi into studio space. The first doodle is, literally, a masterpiece.

Look at the color and detail in the next picture. Maybe s/he always has black and sky blue paint pens on them, but it's still a very intense anteater, and not even close enough to the toilet to presume the artist was resting while sketching.

Might there be some Freudian meaning in the appearance of not one but two animals with trunks?

All Hi Fi, NYC, 8-20-08

Like Black Snake Moan?

2008-11-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

Charleston, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, ladies, 2-9-08

I've got nothing. At least someone else expressed their confusion by way of the little question mark on the top.

Well-prepared

2008-11-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

Gutter, ladies, 2-9-08

I couldn't get a good picture of this, but here's what the green says:

I feel like ya'll are too well prepared w/ your paint pens to be much more than schizo-ego scribbles.

Well said. And a little hypocritcal, no?

There was one more great meta writing that I couldn't get a picture of that night:

No one cares about your graffiti.
Cheers, loser.

...and there's a heart around it.

Sassy

2008-09-15T21:30:00.001-07:00

Lakeside Lounge, ladies room, 2/8/08

the artist is dangerously sassy

He is!

Just curio.us

2008-09-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

JustCurio.us is website that lets you anonymously write and answer questions. That's it, and it's amazing.

I posted my question, the analysis of which is this blog's purpose, "Why write on a bathroom stall?" Within a day I had two answers:

"for in-stall entertainment"
"cuz"

Not the kind of enlightening response I hoped for, but it looks like I got them from the source.

But still, why? There are plenty other ways to entertain yourself in a public restroom, debaucherous though they may be, that are perfectly logical.

Looking for meaning in comics

2008-09-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

The great comic xkcd offers one answer to my central query.

Celebrate Heart of Darkness

2008-09-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

Lakeside Lounge, ladies, 2/8/08

love is ... actually

the answer celebrate love
(love)

This is not across from a mirror, so it always looks backwards.

Lakeside Lounge, men's, 2/8/08

The men at my favorite Alphabet City dive are well-read, and angry about it. But do you think by boat, he might have just meant toilet? Ya know, just maybe?

Gentle

2008-08-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

Women's room, Gutter, Williamsburg, NY, 2-18-08

Stand in the Bathroom Line

2008-08-25T20:48:00.000-07:00

Bathroom graffiti has always fascinated me. There are so many variables. Why deface a public restroom, and why write that?

First are the logistical questions: Do you, writer, just happen to have a pen with you, or do you keep it on your person for a moment like this? Is this guerrilla literature spontaneous or meticulously prepared? And, most perplexing, why take the time to write — do you really want to stay in here longer than you have to?

The content is what I most wonder about. Scratching in websites and plastering band stickers makes sense — it’s free publicity with a captive audience. Even the classics are ubiquitous enough to become accepted cliches — the baudy (”For a Good Time Call…”), the angry “____ is a bitch”, and the loving “M.H. + A.J. 4-Eva” (a high school standard). But I’ve seen detailed sketches and poignant confessions on grimy stall doors. Is this really the best place for a philosophical declaration? Why argue with a comment and chastise the writer — do you assume they’ll come back and see it, or that someone will declare you the winner in this silent battle of wits?

I have, admittedly, never written on a bathroom stall, and the act remains an enigma. Who are the people that begin a dialogue on a pristine stall door? Or bolder, a thick declaration of love or hate in Sharpie?

It is the unique that fascinate me the most, and that is the focus of this blog. The verbose, the hilarious, the artistic toilet compositions are scrutinized and encouraged. The Bathroom Line is about the intelligent, the ridiculous, and the absolutely inexplicable.

Send your photos to bathroomline@gmail.com.