1000 Signs in 1000 Palms Canyon OR Outhouse Review #3 – California Strikes Back

Caochella Valley Preserve
1000 Palms Canyon
Near Palm Spings, CA USA


Where is it?

From the parking area (car park would be an over statement as it is really a bit of desert with a few rocks around it) head into the reserve. Keep your wits about you though as there are wild animals out to get you. No kidding, a cougar was seen near the cars that very morning! Continue keeping the visitor centre to the right. Head off across the picnic area and you’ll come across the out house.


What’s it like?

What I knew about Palm Springs CA before I got there was limited to a couple of stereotypes. All I really knew was that its likely to be warmer than Aspen and was full of old people and, as with anywhere where old people go for winter, was likely to have little to offer. I guess on the first point I was proved right. Leaving Aspen on a cold crisp sunny morning at 21F and arriving at 4pm in the springs to find it hot, dry and 95F certainly did that! But did the place have little to offer?

On the basis of my ill founded stereotypes I’d given myself a little less than 20 hours for this stop, but after squeezing my meetings into the evening and first thing I found myself with a couple of hours to test out my theory. Well, lets just say other than a half decent Thai meal on the main street (the waitress gave me fantastic service after I asked for chop sticks - obviously ignoring the other customers who’s fingers couldn’t cope with the idea) the best thing to do involved the best outhouse we’ve yet featured.

'Better than Red Rock?' I hear you say – well lets say the instructions, safety features, and welcome relief have to make this place the best out house I've been in for many years! So what gives?

Well, if you’ve seen Eyal’s review of Red Rock Canyon you’ll already have the idea, and given I was in suit and trousers, you’ll also understand that I looked a little out of place. Dusty, hot, but with spectacular scenery that made the effort of polish my shoes later that night well worth it.

Once there, you have to say the out house is cute from outside. White paint and a pagoda make it look like its on Martha’s Vineyard rather than in the scorching desert. The first thing you notice inside is that it’s pretty damned clean for a toilet in the middle of the desert. Then it starts to hit you that, yeah, you really are in the desert and there isn’t any running water for this pit stop. But this is where this operation is so good. It’s not busy and is ultimately private (half of the hut all to yourself) so you can afford to take your time.

Then there are the signs.

There’s the ones on operation. If you were wondering how it all works its all there for you on the signs. You are using a recycling (composting to be exact) toilet by Clivus. And could it be any simpler? No this is the ultimate in toilets. No flush, no taps, no towels and the sanitizing soap smelled good too. Cool.

Then there are the signs for entertainment. I knew at least three species of bat by the time I left.

AND THEN there are the safety signs. You soon decide to watch out that there are no stray mountain lions in the cabin before you enter. And was I just paranoid when checking under the toilet seat for rattlesnakes?

Overall, for an outhouse (did I say that already Eyal?) this place was pretty damned good! Take a trip and see. Honest you won't regret it.


Marks out of 10:

7. A desert oasis.


Comments to the management:

Fantastic facilities in the middle of nowhere.

2007’s Best and Worst Public Toilets

From luxury loos to crappy crappers, Where’s the Toilet? reveals its best and worst public toilet experiences of 2007.

Best movies. Best albums. Best dressed celebrities. Best toilets. As each year ends, the media bombards us with pop-culture based lists that look back on the year’s high and low points.

Not wanting to be left out, David and Eyal, founding editors of Where’s the Toilet?, decided it was perfect time to reveal their best and worst toilet-going experiences of 2007.

“We’ve been though a lot this year,” said Dawson. “We’ve experienced some truly golden moments, no pun intended, as well as some horrific experiences. It seemed foolish not to sum them all up for the end of the year.”

The Toilet Awards for best and worst toilet experiences on Where’s the Toilet? is as follows:

The Top 5

These are what David and Eyal found to be the best toilets experienced of 2007 (based on the site’s ratings):

1. Wynn Las Vegas, NV, USA (bathrooms beside Mojito’s)
2. Lumley Castle Hotel, Chester-Le-Street, UK
3. Hotel Jerome, Aspen, CO, USA
4. Sani Fare Toilets, Various Locations, Germany
5. Okada, Wynn Las Vagas, NV, USA

Editor’s Pick (based on experience): Mall at Millenia, Orlando, Florida, USA (food court toilets)

“It didn’t make our top five list, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a high-quality toilet-going experience,” said Dawson. “We have often marveled at how this toilet, which after all is only in a mall, surpasses expectations. Better still, it provides top class hotel quality for the masses at no charge!”

The Bottom 5

The most downright dreadful toilet experiences of 2007 (based on the site’s ratings):

1. Pho Pasteur, Orlando, FL, USA
2. Ghiradelli, San-Francisco, CA, USA
3. BP Services, Chateauvillain, France
4. Ay Jalisco, Sebastian, FL, USA
5. Oriental Supermarket, Orlando, FL, USA.

Editor’s Pick: The Crappiest Crapper of 2007: Ay Jalisco, Sebastian, FL, USA.

“It’s so bad, we couldn’t even include a picture,” said Dawson. “Needless to say, we will not be visiting again.”

Ghiradelli’s Christmas Wonderland Turns in to Toilet Nightmare

Ghiradelli Square – Ice Cream and Chocolate Store
900 North Point Street
San Francisco, CA USA 94109

http://www.ghirardelli.com/


Where is it?

No toilets in the store – you are expected to use the ones out in the square, which on this evening was one hell of a trek! Go out of the store entrance and head left into the square. Head towards the centre of the square and you’ll see some steps. Take them down to the courtyard and go straight. (There was a private function so we could not go through the night I was there – and the officious pompous git at the entrance wouldn’t give directions to a mere visitor – so I had to backtrack). You need to follow the step towards the street. I had to backtrack back to the store, left down the hill, left again on to Beach Street and then left to the base of the stairs where you will find the toilets on the left.


What’s it like?

Having eaten my main course elsewhere and deciding the desert menu wasn’t really up to much I decided to head toward Ghiradelli’s which I’d heard did great ice cream and deserts as well as having great chocolate. Seems that Ghiradelli is famous in the US for being the first chocolate factory in San Francisco. When Domingo Ghiradelli set up his factory in 1852 I’m sure he didn’t realize that the business would still be going over 150 years later, and have a reputation for high quality confectionery across the country.

I’d have to say the reputation is well deserved. As I sit here eating an egg-nog flavour special edition piece of chocolate I have the satisfaction of reporting that first hand. I can also say the ice cream with butterscotch source was pretty damned good too – the perfect desert. In fact if I was scoring this place on the ice cream it would be one of the best there is.

My visit also came far enough in November for it to be respectable to have your mind on Christmas and picking up a few gifts. And Ghiradelli square was on form in this department too. Decked out in Christmas lights it was easy to get into the festive spirit. The vibe about the place, the anticipation of great chocolate, the excitement of present giving, just everything about it is great. Indeed the square itself is fantastic for picking up upmarket oddities.

It’s a pity then that some pretty damned disgusting toilets spoiled the whole experience. Not only is there a great hike to the toilets, especially when it is hindered by some of the more unhelpful shop tenants (see above), but when you get there you have to wonder if it safe to enter especially at night. When you go in you have to question if they have been maintained at all. The fixtures are rusting away, there are gaping holes in the walls. The baby changing station is there, but you’d not want to go near it. In sum you would only use these toilets if you really, really had to.

Given these are the only toilets for the chocolate and ice cream shop, you want somewhere spotlessly clean, well maintained and safe. It needs to be the sort of place people will be happy to their kids, not the sort of place you suspect is used mainly for taking drugs.


Marks out of 10:

2. Pretty damned poor!


Comments to the management:

Given the quality of the other facilities here you obviously know what makes for a good customer experience, so the state of these toilets is unforgivable. Shame on you! Get some toilets in your store and give the kids somewhere safe to go. And whilst you are at it give your shop tenants a kicking for being so rude.

The Power of Accurate Observation is not Good for the Shaw Café

92 Queen Street

Niagara-on-the-Lake,
Ontario

L0S 1J0
Canada

http://www.shawcafe.ca/


Where is it?

OK from the front entrance head straight to the bar area and then left to follow the bar around. You’ll find a stairwell that spirals down toward the toilets. They are right of where you come off the stairs.


What’s it like?

Over a year before this trip I’d passed by the Shaw Café one evening when it was closed and thought it looked like a good place to stop and have a light bite to eat. The building looks inviting and has tables by the windows so you can look out at the passers by. There is also a restaurant on the upper floor. In fact you’d have to say the stairwell is the most impressive thing about the place.

On the October night a year before I’d not noticed its name or the statue outside. My father had a picture of (George) Bernard Shaw hanging in our house all the time I was a kid so it was instantaneously recognisable. But what would GBS think about being made a tourist attraction? Was this restaurant, which after all only recently replaced a gas station, really in good taste?

Let’s remember that he was an accomplished Nobel Prize winning playwright, and founding member of the Fabians (a socialist reforming movement in which the current ruling Labour party has its roots). His later life certainly reflected his socialist tendencies as he tended his gardens in his fairly basic Hertfordshire home.

Well, as the man himself says there is no love sincerer than the love of food, which is a pity as the Shaw café didn’t excel on this front to be sure. What looked like good cheesecake turned out to be dry, stale mush with some half rotten fruit on top. Yuk, yuk, yuk!

It’s also true that the power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. And this seems to be true of those who review this place on other web sites. Oh lovely they say. Obviously not seen the toilets I groan.

Well actually they weren’t that horrendously bad. I guess the fixtures were clean at least. But then the place seemed generally down at heal and on the slide to oblivion. These toilets are clearly under the staircase. Not a bad thing in itself, but the area by the entrance is cluttered and has that spare room feel! Not inviting at all. Then you enter to find the dreaded paper sign with decaying tape and folded edges. Turn the knob for paper towels. Are you really saying your clientele hasn’t used towel dispensers before?

Then there is the crucial design floor. Well it is actually the floor, or the tiles to be exact. The quarry tiles look dirty and are of the sort that, whether dirty or not, they will always look dirty. Add to this the cheap sink surrounds – are they really plastic! – and the out of kilter tiles on the walls and what you have is a place that generally feels grubby.


Marks out of 10:

Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.


Comments to the management:

Oh if you really want to know - Five. Disappointing, like the food.

What’s the Stink?

The Stinking Rose
325 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA USA 94133

http://www.thestinkingrose.com/

Where is it?

When you go through the front door there is a bar in front of you. Head towards the bar and then left. The door to the rest rooms is in on the right in the corner. Go through the door and you’ll find the toilets across the hallway.


What’s it like?

The Stinking Rose is by all means a favourite of many people I know. No less than 3 people had, unprompted, told me to eat in this place before I got across the States. Taking their name from their most used ingredient, Garlic, this place prides itself on using the vegetable in every meal they offer. Does that sound appetising? Well I wasn’t so sure.

One of the first things you notice though is that this place is fun. They have the longest garlic braid (348 feet long). And they also have a garlic making machine (well I think its that) over the bar.

The food was also excellent. The 40-clove roast chicken with garlic mash was one of the best meals on my trip, at a reasonable price too. The garlic was not too prominent and complimented both the chicken and mash well. There was also a good selection of beer that sliped down well with the chicken. Nevertheless, having met a similar concept at the Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight in the UK [http://www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk/] I gave the Garlic Ice cream a miss.

Given the garlic odours in the restaurant you might expect the toilets to smell a bit too. Well they didn’t smell, but they were pretty bear unkempt and unfriendly place to be. The first thing you notice when you go in, given that this is a set up for a single person, is how large they are. I guess this doesn’t help give a friendly feel, but I’m not so sure that it explained why they were so cold. Honestly, you want to speed through just because of the temperature. Then there is the décor. You notice that the place is pretty dark and then you see that the walls are covered in grime. Dirty is not the word for it. When it comes out on the photo’s you know they’re dirty as hell.

Beyond this you’d have to say the basins etcetera were obviously cleaned. And there was a veritable overload of different toilet papers ready for use. So, its not that there was no effort being put in to keeping these toilets clean, it’s the general feeling that the room as a whole was on the verge of irretrievable decay.

My verdict has to be that unlike the restaurant itself these toilets are not a fun place to be.

Marks out of 10:

5 – You might use the utilities without fear, but they’d certainly not be your first choice!


Comments to the management:

Such a fun place to eat, but your toilets are in dire need of refurbishment.