Going to the bathroom at Bluestockings, the worker-owned bookstore in New York City’s Lower East Side, was “an eye-opening experience” for chef Telly Justice. “I was shocked that this little bookstore had such an incredibly thoughtful bathroom,” she says. The space was stocked with condoms, sanitary products, and — most surprising to her — a sharps disposal container. “Any fine dining restaurant should look at this bathroom as aspirational.”
At the time, Justice was building out HAGS, the new restaurant she runs with her partner Camille Lindsley. She began to wonder: When it comes to the bathroom, what else am I not thinking about? Justice asked her Instagram followers what they wanted to see at HAGS, and responses piled in: soft lighting, calming music, seat warmers. There was debate about the merits of wall-mounted versus automatic versus chain-pull flush. “A lot of other people were woken up to that reality: I’m not served by my bathroom experiences, and it would be so easy to serve people better,” Justice says.
Read more at Eater News.