I've been involved in the Bathroom Blogfest since 2006 [here are wrapups for 2007 and 2008] to such a point that I am now the Chief Organizer and Inspiration Officer... It's an annual event that takes place the last week in October and involves bloggers from around the world - more specifically from the U.S., Canada, the UK and India. Each of us will address bathrooms and this year's Mad Men inspired theme “Stuck in the 60s?” from the perspective our blog focuses on. Hence my focus on New Jersey's Best Bathrooms and more specifically an article titled Inside Jersey's Best of NJ: The best public bathrooms by Greg Saitz.
[Here is the link to the official Bathroom Blogfest 2010 press release. This year 33 bloggers - including Ted and me - ranging in expertise from marketing, customer experience and service, public relations, library sciences, museums, home & interior design, life, to retail, flooring and healthcare IT/RTLS will call attention to improving the overall bathroom experience for end users via their 40 blogs. Blogs and bloggers are listed below. Here, too, is a link to my article in UX Magazine titled UX, Bathrooms, and Mad Men.]
What I love about Greg's article is that he contacted me in November 2009 - as a result of BathroomBlogfest.com - to ask me questions about New Jersey Bathrooms. In his email, he said: "In the past couple of months, I've been to restaurants/hotels/retail establishments/etc where it seems the bathrooms are an after thought or not thought part of the equation. I saw on your blog you've written about the importance of not neglecting the restrooms as part of the overall customer experience. Can you expand on that whole idea and what your experience has been in public places that have restrooms?"
I shared with him my post about my favorite NJ public bathroom of all time at the Garden State Mall courtesy of Charmin. Unfortunately, when he visited it, the magic was gone; it was back looking uninspired and "Stuck in the 60s".
However, Greg more than made up for this dud with 10 fascinating must-visit New Jersey public bathrooms, two of which are in our neck-of the-woods. Here is the list:
- Montville Inn, Montville, NJ
- Attilio's Tavern, Dover, NJ
- NJPAC, Newark, NJ
- Crystal Plaza, Livingston, NJ
- Caesar's Atlantic City Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, NJ
- Birdsall Bath Design, North Plainfield, NJ
- Lord & Taylor, Bridgewater, NJ
- W. Hoboken, Hoboken, NJ
- Neiman Marcus, Paramus, NJ - note ratings are lousy, but at least you can see the location
- Ricky Boscarino Luna Parc, Montague, NJ - check out the virtual tour!
By the way, Greg makes an interesting observation in his article. According to the American Restroom Association, New Jersey is one of two states "in the country following the National Standard Plumbing Code, rather than the more popular International Plumbing Code or Uniform Plumbing Code." The implication: New Jersey restrooms aren't "always up to date." Fancy that!
Since New York City is just down the road from us, I thought I would share with you this New York Times article title Sunday in the Park, Feeling Nature's Call. The article refers to two indispensable resources: Sit or Squat with mobile options and nyrestroom.com. Finally, it includes perspective from Harvey Molotch editor of Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing (NYU Series in Social & Cultural Analysis)
. It also details some visit-worthy NYC park bathrooms.I'd love to hear if you've visited any of the bathrooms listed in Greg Saitz' article on New Jersey's Best Bathrooms and how your experience compared. Same goes for the NYC Park facilities.
Meanwhile, for more on Bathroom Blogfest 2010 you can follow up on Twitter, like us on Facebook and visit BathroomBlogfest.com.
Here is the list of my fellow 2010 Bathroom Blogfesting Bloggers.
| Blogger | Blog Name | Blog URL |
|---|---|---|
| Susan Abbott | Customer Experience Crossroads | Customer Experience Crossroads |
| Paul Anater | Kitchen and Residential Design | http://www.KitchenAndResidentialDesign.com |
| Shannon Bilby | Big Bob's Outlet | http://blog.bigbobsoutlet.com/ |
| Shannon Bilby | Carpets N More Blog | http://blog.carpetsnmore.com/ |
| Shannon Bilby | Dolphin Carpet Blog | http://blog.dolphincarpet.com/ |
| Shannon Bilby | From The Floors Up | http://fromthefloorsup.com/ |
| Shannon Bilby | My Big Bob's Blog | http://blog.mybigbobs.com/ |
| Toby Bloomberg | Diva Marketing | http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com |
| Laurence Borel | Blog Till You Drop | http://www.laurenceborel.com/ |
| Bill Buyok | Avente Tile Talk Blog | http://tiletalk.blogspot.com/ |
| Jeanne Byington | The Importance of Earnest Service | http://blog.jmbyington.com/ |
| Becky Carroll | Customers Rock! | http://customersrock.net/ |
| Marianna Chapman | Results Revolution | http://www.resultsrevolution.com |
| Katie Clark | Practial Katie | http://practicalkatie.blogspot.com/ |
| Nora DePalma | American Standard's Professor Toilet | http://www.professortoilet.com/ |
| Nora DePalma | O'Reilly DePalma: The Blog | http://www.oreilly-depalma.com/blog/ |
| Leigh Durst | LivePath Experience Architect Weblog | http://livepath.blogspot.com/ |
| Valerie Fritz | The AwarepointBlog | http://www.awarepointblog.com/ |
| Iris Garrott | Checking In and Checking Out | http://circulating.wordpress.com/ |
| Tish Grier | The Constant Observer | http://spap-oop.blogspot.com |
| Renee LeCroy | Your Fifth Wall | http://yourfifthwall.com/ |
| Joseph Michelli | Dr. Joseph Michelli's Blog | www.josephmichelli.com/blog |
| Veronika Miller | Modenus Blog | http://www.modenus.com/blog |
| Arpi Nalbandian | TILE Magazine Editor Blog | TILE Magazine Editor Blog |
| Maria Palma | People 2 People Service | http://www.people2peopleservice.com/ |
| Reshma Bachwani Paritosh | The Qualitative Research Blog | The Qualitative Research Blog |
| David Polinchock | Polinchock's Ponderings | http://blog.polinchock.com/ |
| Victoria Redshaw & Shelley Pond | Scarlet Opus Trends Blog | http://trendsblog.co.uk/ |
| David Reich | My 2 Cents | http://reichcomm.typepad.com/my_weblog/ |
| Sandy Renshaw | Around Des Moines | http://www.arounddesmoines.com/ |
| Sandy Renshaw | Purple Wren | http://www.purplewren.com/ |
| Bethany Richmond | Carpet and Rug Institute Blog | http://www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com/ |
| Bruce Sanders | RIMtailing Blog | http://rimtailing.blogspot.com/ |
| Steve Tokar | Please Be Seated | http://stevetokar.wordpress.com/ |
| Carolyn Townes | Becoming a Woman of Purpose | http://spiritwomen.blogspot.com/ |
| Stephanie Weaver | Experienceology | http://experienceology.blogspot.com/ |
| Christine B. Whittemore | Flooring The Consumer | http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com/ |
| Christine B. Whittemore | Simple Marketing Blog | http://www.simplemarketingblog.com/ |
| Christine & Ted Whittemore | Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog | http://smokerise-nj.blogspot.com/ |
| Christine B. Whittemore | The Carpetology Blog | http://carpetology.blogspot.com/ |
| Linda Wright | LindaLoo Build Business With Better Bathrooms | http://lindaloo.com/ |
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