Laundromat started out as a brand name. Westinghouse marketed an automatic washing machine called the "laundromat" in 1942. The line was made into the 1960s.
But by then, the term was more associated with the place where public pay washing machines were located.
The term was a portmanteau of "laundry" and "automat" (itself a shortened version of "automated" – not "automatic").
Earlier names for such places were washateria and laundrette. Wash-a-teria was a trademark in the 1930s, and the expanded usage probably came from that.
I’ve also heard them called coin-ops, though "washery" is also a thing.
I think I prefer "washateria" as it sounds closest to "Danceteria," which reminds me of the Dead Milkmen song "You’ll Dance to Anything."
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‘Earlier’
Camera: Ensign Ful-Vue
Film: Ilford Delta 100
Process: Rodinal; 1+25; 9min
Lincoln County, Washington
June 2021
Posted by Conspiracy.of.Cartographers on 2021-06-25 12:16:17
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