Cedar Street Laundromat

Past the Yale School of Medicine, if you find yourself walking through rows of residential cottages in the peaceful neighborhood of the Hill, you might wander over to Trowbridge Square. Just two blocks away from Saint Martin de Porres Academy and Mi Favorita supermarket, stands a beautiful and welcoming community park, bordered by Portsea Street, Salem Street, Carlisle Street, and Cedar Street. Almost certainly noticeable from the benches in the lush green square, the Cedar Street Laundromat occupies the corner of the intersection of Cedar and Carlisle streets directly across from the park. An ‘Open’ sign glows red in the window, while two commercial signs mounted on the exterior of the building advertise to pedestrians on both cross streets. The sign is utilitarian: written in large letters, ‘Laundromat’ dwarfs the phrase ‘Cedar Street,’ as the laundromat proudly offers its value to the residents of the Hill.

Looking up, three additional stories of brick-clad apartments are stacked upon the laundromat and connected by a fire escape, forming the long rectangular building of 167 Cedar St. Several windows on the second, third, and fourth story provide a peek into the lives of its tenants, while the laundromat stretches across the interior of the first floor. Humbly advertised on Yelp, the business is described as ‘locally owned and operated’ with a desire to ‘help you with your daily chores.’¹ Filled with spinning washing and drying machines, Cedar Street Laundromat is alive with the hum of commercial life. In contrast, the six units of apartments that rest above it are quiet and private, with little digital footprint, simply composing a piece of the Hill’s residential landscape.