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Ansonia Laundromat Closes After 15 Years in Landmark UWS Building

By DNAinfo Staff | June 13, 2016 3:21pm
 The Ansonia Laundromat at 230 W. 74th St. closed Sunday after 15 years. A dry cleaner next door operated by the same owner will remain open.
The Ansonia Laundromat at 230 W. 74th St. closed Sunday after 15 years. A dry cleaner next door operated by the same owner will remain open.
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DNAinfo/Todd Stone

By Todd Stone

Special to DNAinfo New York

UPPER WEST SIDE —After 15 years, the washers and dryers at the Ansonia Laundromat spun for the last time Sunday.

The laundry spot, located at 230 W. 74th St. at the base of the landmark Ansonia building, wasn’t making enough money from its self-service machines to pay the rent, one of the shop’s owners said.

The cost, coupled with a declining demand for do-it-yourself laundry, sealed the store’s fate, explained co-owner Brian, who declined to give his last name.

The dry cleaner located next door to the Laundromat, which is also co-owned by Brian, will remain open and provide drop-off laundry service, he said.

The Ansonia Laundromat staved off closure last year, when the community petitioned to keep it in operation.

At that time, loyal patron Marcell Rosenblatt, working with Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal’s office, gathered more than 200 signatures protesting the closure and presented them to Ansonia owner Jesse Krasnow, who agreed to keep it open.

This time, however, Rosenblatt and others didn’t have enough time to take action because they learned of the store closing just three weeks before deadline. 

“We’re not asking for a five-star restaurant — we’re talking about a place to clean our dirty clothes,” said Rosenblatt, who lives in a nearby brownstone. “We have no facilities for washing clothes,” she said.

Krasnow declined to comment about the future of the space.

Rosenblatt, who has lived in the neighborhood for 40 years, said there were three other Laundromats in the low 70s west of Broadway but that they have all closed over the past decade.

With the closing of Ansonia, she said there are no more laundry spots left in the immediate area west of Broadway.

“People just assume that in this neighborhood, everyone has a washer/dryer or the nanny will take care of your laundry,” added Gretchen Berger, who has lived about a block away from the Laundromat since the late ’70s.

Still, former patrons of the Ansonia can find self-service machines at the Westside Laundromat located at 165 W. 74th St., just east of Amsterdam Avenue.

But the owner of that shop said his business could be headed in the same direction as the Ansonia, adding that they're barely making enough on self-service machines to keep them running. 

“It’s better for us to do laundry for you,” he said.