Doing the Laundry

San Francisco Chronicle: “The Brainwash Cafe is cool,” my friend tells me on the phone after I announce my plans for the evening. “I read my poetry there.”
I never knew she wrote poetry, much less went anywhere to read it. “And the washers have names. It’s really cool.”
I’d looked up the cafe on the Web: bright pictures of the laundry area, a detailed calendar of performances.
Although I don’t regard visits to the Laundromat as drudgery, I was looking forward to something different. My gentleman caller was a good sport about our date. “We going where, now, baby? How do I have to dress? Tell me again why I’m bringing the laundry?” he asked.
It takes a moment to spot the Brainwash in the Folsom Street gloom. The neon sign is on but the lights are low in the cafe, which faces the street; the side entrance for the Laundromat is bright.
A night out — plus clean clothes; S.F.’s Brainwash Cafe serves up food and live entertainment along with a Laundromat [San Francisco Chronicle]