Of the different establishments here in Davis, such a simple item as a bathroom can make or break a given establishment. A place to go pinch one can make a difference of opinion of where, um, you do business at. All businesses have them, whether they let you use it is another matter. Some places even have Public Showers. If you can't take a bath in it, it's a restroom, not a bathroom. Sometimes you might even see some conversations on bathroom walls or works by the gifted Jock Artist. If that interests you, check out Urban Art.
If you're on campus, it probably means you'll be running to the UCD Bathrooms.There are also Porta potties around town.
Bathrooms in Davis
24-hour
- Arroyo Park has doors, but I've never seen it locked, even late at night.
- WPA Building in Central Park, northeast corner.
- North and South Davis Safeway. South Davis Safeway is much cleaner.
- In the Northstar Park parking lot at 3434 Anderson Road. No doors = 24 hour. Note that there are no doors on the stalls, either!
Public
- Arroyo Park
- WPA Building in Central Park, northeast corner.
- Pioneer Park, northwest corner. No doors on the stalls.
- Northstar Park parking lot (northeast corner of park).
- La Playa Park Near La Playa Drive north of playground
- Covell Park
- Walnut Park in the parking lot on Lillard Drive
- Central Park near playground at c street and 5th street
- Playfields Park near the playground
- John Barovetto Park
- Community park near the skate park
- Westwood Park near tot lot
- West Manor Park
- Mace Ranch Park in front of basketball court
- Market Park
- Redwood Park
UC Davis
- See UCD Bathrooms for UC Davis specific bathrooms information (including commentary!)
Restaurants
- Chipotle has nice bathrooms and they are generally cool about letting you use them.
- Starbucks has a bathroom and they are also generally cool about letting you use them. Easier to sneak in when the latte line is long.
- Froggy's has a men's bathroom that doesn't seem to lock and when somebody opens the door, it hits you.
- Peet's women's bathroom in the downtown location has deteriorated. It now looks and feels more like a gas station bathroom—buildup of floor and sink crud, broken toilet holder, often has paper products missing. If corporate doesn't do something it will soon qualify for the "Bathroom from Hell" listing (see below).
Bars
- G street Pub's men's bathroom floor is usually covered in piss and (hopefully) water.
Stores
- Regency Square - Need to get a key from one of the occupants, such as Golden 1 Credit Union
- University Mall - Inside the mall between Ohana and Forever 21, don't need a key.
Cool Bathrooms
Zen Toro Japanese Restaurant has a toilet with an integrated bidet. Sorry guys, this one is for ladies only.
Delta of Venus has the coolest toilet seat in Yolo County, if not the world.
As of May 7, 2006, the Delta of Venus toilet seat has been replaced with a plain white one ! Inquiry with the manager was the dowel between the seat and lid broke.
John Natsoulas Art Gallery has the nicest public bathroom in Davis.
Bathrooms from Hell!
Bathrooms you want to avoid like the plague such as nasty smells, not kept clean, lack of privacy when going number two, etc.
- EVIL HAUNTED SOUTH SILO BATHROOM beside the Craft Center There are holes in the walls of the mens room stalls so you can look into them! - TheRadish (lifted from UCD Bathrooms )
- See the Bar Bathrooms from above
- Restrooms with non-functional locks
- Toilets which have heavy iron stains -it's possible to chip this off with a chisel and make it look like new again.
Unisex Bathrooms?
If you are concerned about clean bathrooms, maybe you're interested in bathrooms that are accessible to differently-abled persons and gender-variant people as well? All single-occupant restrooms should be unisex. Some places even have multiple-occupancy unisex bathrooms/showers, but they are not common.
The UCD campus Trans-Action Committee is presently looking specifically for data on unisex bathrooms, both on and off campus. Anybody have this info? Please be in touch: [email protected] - thanks.
- There are two single-occupant unisex bathrooms on ground level of the art building in the hallway. They are labeled as such too, with proper signs.
- Bainer Hall
- Delta of Venus
- Roma on E Street, an enormous bathroom with a creepy shower curtain
- LGBTRC
Toilet Snippets & History
- One of the first public toilets was built by the Mughal King Jehangir in 1556, but even that was predated by Greek public toilets in Knossos, around 1700 BC. Even back then, public toilets were considered filthy, often vandalized and many preferred the open air to a public throne.
- Roman Emperor Vespasian had public "pay" urinals erected in the 1st century AD, as part of his public works program. The payment for use of these facilities was actually a urine tax. The emperor managed to increase his profit by collecting the urine and selling it to tanners, cloth dyers and launderers. Facing some derision for this urine tax, the emperor responded, "Pecunia non olet," or "Money doesn't stink."
- The water closet was invented by Brit John Harrington in 1596, while the valve-style flush toilet was introduced in 1738 by J.F. Brondel.
- Public pay toilets were instituted by the French in 1872 when the government turned over maintenance of such facilities to private industry.
- King Louis XIII and Louis the XIV used to hold audience while using the toilet — Louis the XIII actually had a toilet within his throne.
See also: opportunistic wiki advertising.