Best Bathrooms Ever!

On the way to Door County from Little Compton we decided to drive through Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

I was born and raised in Sheboygan.

Beach and birds

The Jetty near North Point

Lakeshore looking to wharf with lighthouse

North High School – built when I was a kid

End Park

Side view of the house

End Park, across the street from my house, my grade school, Washington Elementary, was the other side

The old house. When I was young, the front was a screen porch where we would sleep outside, occasionally until winter

Urban Middle School, was the high school built by WPA, became middle school when North was built

While I was in high school, I worked as a janitor at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.  The job was much more than janitoring.  I helped set up shows, was the projectionist of films, including the Ingmar Bergman festival, and was able to attend some fabulous parties.  Ruth Kohler, the reigning ED for the last 50 years, also taught me how to drive a manual transmission (so that I could drive the van to Chicago to pick up art).

Steve and Ruth

The JMKAC has become a world-class regional arts center:

The entrance – new from when I was there

The Old Kohler Home – now exhibit space and offices

Things have changed and grown from when I was there, some 35+ years ago.  Perhaps the most important is the installation of amazing bathrooms, custom-designed by artists at the Kohler (K of K, USA) facilities.

It may be disquieting to some, randomly walking into men’s, women’s, and family bathrooms.  But it is worth it.  We used the “knocking first protocol” to ensure that the facilities weren’t in active use.

Women’s

Women’s room with cast towel

Women’s

Women’s

Men’s

Men’s

Men’s

Women’s

Men’s

Men’s

Men’s

Men’s

Women’s room with cast bathroom utensils

Family

Family room where Sheboyganites contributed sentences and artists added images

Family

Women’s

Men’s

Men’s

Women’s