Get the Funk Out

This place has been my go to neighborhood laundromat for years, but now I need to find an alternative. It’s been invaded by a laundry service company called Sudzee which routinely makes use of every machine available in the entire establishment. The last few times I’ve been there, I’ve been unable to find a larger machine and have been forced to use several small machines. This ends up costing me more money and the clothes don’t come out as well. Usually, there is only one (out of like 50) open dryer to use and I have to stuff all of my clothes in there and let it run forever. I’m not trying to rag on the Sudzee people. They are just trying to do their job, but the fact remains that this place is no longer a laundromat that is open to the public, but instead, an infrastructure for a private business. I hope they can adjust their relationship with Sudzee so that there are still open machines for other customers.

Time to find a new laundromat. I’ve been doing my laundry here for several years, and it’s always met my needs until fairly recently. With the independent laundry business (Sudzee?) now using so much of the available space in the laundromat (washers, driers, carts and folding space) the place has become a crowded struggle of a shitshow. This isn’t the case every single time I go here, but it’s unpredictable and happens enough to not make it worth trying to be a patron of this place anymore. Sucks.

Get the Funk Out is a freak-​a-​zoid hybrid of a laundromat crossed with an episode of Twin Peaks.
The inside is scattered with broken-​down furniture, a broken TV and a broken upright piano (décor theme: broken).
No one seems to work there and their signage advises to clean out the lint trays yourself.
(on a commercial dryer?)
Parking was easy enough and I used their newer Maytag dryers but balked at their greasy folding tables.
If I had to use this place as my neighborhood laundromat, I’d move.

If you have to travel for laundry its a good place to go. Lots of machines and comfy couches.

I’m the kind of person who waits… and waits… and waits… to do laundry. Until embaressingly enough I’ve come down to my last options, and let’s just say I can use a swimsuit year-​round if I have to. :/​Thank god GET THE FUNK OUT is right down the street.
I love this laundrymat– I can do 6 loads of laundry at one time without worrying about not having enough machines. It’s spacious, clean, and cozy. It’s never really crowded, and you usually don’t have to wait for a machine. It’s right down the street from Green Chile Café (if your hungry) and Green Chile Pies (for desert!) The name is also pretty epic too…

There is a cheaper laundromat down the street from me but I go here anyways.
Why?
Mainly because of the name, but also because the machines are nicer and the place is cleaner.

I hate laundry. I think everyone does, actually. I always swore I would never live in a place without on-​site laundry, but somehow wound up doing so. You know what, though? The upside is that you can wash everything at once, and have weeks’ worth of clean sheets, towels, clothes, etc. done in an hour and a half. This is a pretty awesome contrast to the usual, neverending, one-​load-​at-​a-​time experience.
Once a month or so (yeah I have that many clothes and linens, I’m not just dirty) I gather up everything and go to Get the Funk Out. I divide it all into a couple of their industrial-​sized washing machines and let the cleansing process begin. Then what? Well, believe it or not, this friendly neighborhood laundromat has wifi. I’ve brought work here, surfed the internet mindlessly, IMed — you get the idea. Stuff you don’t think of doing at the laundromat. However, there are often random magazines laying about, so if you feel like getting your National Geographic or Us Weekly fix, you may be in luck.
The whole process is pretty low maintenance. I’ve never been there when it’s too packed to find washers and dryers for my month’s worth of laundry, and there is a convenient change machine that takes ones, fives, tens and twenties. There are also two folding tables and a bunch of wheelie cart thingies. The door locks from the outside at ten, but you can stay past that to finish your laundry (last load in at nine).
Lastly, Get the Funk Out is an awesome name. Support clever wordplay and bring your dirty stuff here!

Compared to the old place I did my laundry on the corner of the next block over, this place is a paradise! All of the washing machines and dryers work, it’s well lit, the change machine always works, they have folding tables, and they have carts to carry your clothes around. The only thing that takes away from 5 stars are the dirty old couches they have. I usually sit on them and wonder if I should now also be washing the clothes I’m wearing as well.

When things that are too big for our washer and dryer need to be cleaned, we go here.
Washers, depending on size, can be $ 2.25, $ 4.25, or $ 6.00 a load. Dryers are 25 cents for 8 minutes. The office area is closed, but there are an ATM, a dollar bill changer, and a soap vending machine, so the basic needs are met.
Two couches and some lounge chairs give a nice feeling to waiting for the laundry to finish. Unless you’re like me, and zone out on watching the front-​loading washer. Which is how I found out that to get all the soap out, you might have to use TWO complete wash cycles, the second without soap.
Last week a guy was sleeping on one of the couches in the daytime.

This laundromat is strange, but friendly and clean enough for me to recommend. Even the name: Get The Funk Out? It reminds me of a hair salon; like Shear Madness, or something equally horrible. I think there might be an attempted theme — there’s an organ in the sitting area; I actually saw someone playing it. There are dresses hanging from the ceiling as some sort of improvised lampshade. The wall in the back has a Dr. Seuss-​type mural and borders a set of children’s toys and furniture, all of which lead me to believe this corner operates as a makeshift nursery. I guess here you might keep your kids occupied while you’re folding and sitting around waiting for your clothes to get clean. The machines are all in good working order, but it seemed busy. You might have to time it right.

These days I have fewer responsibilities and a lot more time on my hands. However, I still need to get the clothes clean every once and awhile and I still whine about having to do it.
Get The Funk Out is close to my living space, clean, and bright. The machines cost a bit much but they are plentiful, so I don’t have to worry to much about hanging out/​stalking other people until their loads are finished.
There is also comfy furniture to lounge in, free Internet access, and toys for kids (not that that affects me in the slightest). Plus, there’s a booming stereo and organ for people to mess with, if they feel so inclined.
Clever name, too– sounds like something I would’ve created for Simutown, the fake area of commerce we have to participate in in fourth grade. Everyone named their business with a pun. I think I sold chocolate chip cookies and slightly burnt brownies.
Truthfully, I’m writing this review as I sit in a mushy red chair, waiting for my clothes to dry.

I’ve been doing laundry at Get the Funk Out since the week it opened… it’s always been clean, plenty of wasters/​dryers and room to fold.
I like the comfy chairs and the stereo. I like that on weekends there was coffee and donughts. I liked how it was staffed by someone who did the wash and fold.
WELL…i still think it’s rather clean. but more and more there are broken machines and more importantly the last 3 timse i’ve been the change machine has been broken!
THere is no longer an attendant at the counter… even when it’s suposed to be open…, maybe because they are on thier 3^rd or 4^th person doing that job and all have seemed a bit unreliable? who knows… but if this place dosen’t get back on track, it’s going to go the way of all the other laundry mats in the area… dirty and weird and this one will just be way over priced. ti’s the most expensive one in this area… something i was always okay with and still am. but i think this place is going down hill

This place used to be great but since Becky left it has gone way downhill.
It used to have free wifi but that is no more even though it still says it does on the window. The prices went up on the fluff and fold by a lot.
To be honest, I don’t do a lot of laundry, my significant other always does it. The last time I did do my laundry here, it was the day my S.O. was coming back from Mexico after 3 long weeks and I wanted to do him a favor. As I sorted my delicates I put them on a washing machine and there was bleach all over the top of it that I didn’t see it (‘cuz it’s clear). So I managed to ruin his favorite shirt and his new sweater. That was frustrating.
Tons of Bubbles is closer to my house and cheaper so now we just go there so I don’t have to worry about bleach puddles or the false advertisement of free wifi.

Laundry is a nightmare.
It’s like the blob.
It just builds and builds.
It gets more colorful, more dingy, and more bleugh by the day…
Overflowing, until you find it hard to breathe — (gasp, sharp intake of breath) clutching your throat, while staring at a mass of cotton, polyester, and denim
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHhhh
It can seem damn near impossible to live with such a rapidly multiplying creature such as laundry, but places like Get the Funk Out, make the co-​existance —
A little easier.
A little nicer smelling.
And just a little bit more fun.
Back in the day, my old roommate introduced me to Get the Funk Out.
It was a glimmer of sunshine in an otherwise «blobby» dark laundry world.
We would get our ourselves pumped up to do our laundry with Prince (of course) gather up our bags of laundry, slip into our laundry clothes (ie: stuff we would NEVER want anybody to see us in.), gather up our quarters, and laundry detergent, and lug our «blobs» down to Get the Funk Out before ‘last load.‘
We’d scramble to get all of our stuff into the machines. Separating when we could, in a moment of frenzy.
Once done — we’d breathe and sit down in Get the Funk Out’s pleasant front lounge area and browse through the magazines. (We’d rarely bring out computers just due to time factors — but Get the Funk Out does have wireless internet which is AMAZING and so useful.)
Get the Funk Out is spacious, well lit, and inviting. There’s usually regulars, talking amongst each other as they fold their stuff and the woman who runs the place is usually always around, if you need to point out machines that don’t work, or need help with anything. They also do wash and fold, so if you don’t have the time to sit around and wait for your laundry — you can always drop it off and just pick it up.
Easy stuff.
The only downside is that — like far too many businesses in San Francisco Get the Funk Out — closes fairly early. So it is important to get your stuff into the machines in time to get your stuff dry. There’s been more than one occassion, when I’ve had to lug home heavy wet clothes.
But knowing that there’s a place where you can hang out, kick back, and trust people to watch your stuff while you run back home to check out what’s happening on your favorite reality TV show is worth it.
And the irony is that though the sight of loads of laundry can be unbearable, there is nothing better than the smell of clean white sheets and just ironed camisoles.

Somebody left the funk in. All the machines were full, most running, but some had stopped. I do the standard «pull out someone else’s damp clothes, place in wheelie cart» routine and to my horror, the clothes were more towards dry than wet (not to say they were dry. They were not.). And more towards moldy and festering than clean. I don’t know if I’ll ever get that smell off of my hands. I only hope my detergent was powerful enough to clean my own clothes while combating whatever evil lay within the walls of the machine. Also, can we please close the windows? This is San Francisco, not Tahiti, and when the fog rolls in it is CHILLY out and my little summer outfit is not up to the job of keeping me warm, no matter how close I sit to the dryers. Besides, the comfy seats I’m about to tell you about are up front by the windows.
Nice loungey couches and recliners (where I sit currently), free wi-​fi (which I am using currently), and a wash and fold service (not the cheapest around, but hey). I think it’s cute that a group of middle aged guys are having band practice downstairs. I’d come back, even if it is a little further than the other laundromats in my hood. Free wi-​fi carries a lot of weight.
Same day update: Minus EIGHT THOUSAND GABILLION MILLION TRILLION stars for the mothers in here screaming at their children, including the woman who verbally abused her son to the point where he’s crying as he folds all the clothes after she was swearing at him and threatening to beat his ass in here in front of all of us. Um, I might never come back I’m so incredibly uncomfortable. But that’s situational, and not the fault of the laundromat, so I’m only knocking off one star for dickhead customers. Mean lady.
Addendum to same day update: Okay, and now I’m knocking off another star for the guy that tried to steal my sheets and then my laundry basket. Stealer. Maybe free wi-​fi isn’t that important after all.

So apparently last night I passed out with a square of chocolate in my hand because when I awoke this morning there was chocolate everywhere! I wasn’t the most pleased, but it’s certainly not the first sunday I’ve done hungover laundry.
Laundry day makes me so crabby and it’s nice to go to a place where people say hi. It’s also pretty great when you’re plugging in your quarters and the guy working comes over to let you know there is fresh coffee and doughnuts.
Little more expensive than the place on the corner of MacAllister and Central, but I had to quit going there because it’s so goddamn dirty. Totally don’t mind paying a little more for what I’m getting.

I’ve never really been a laundromat kind of a girl. However, this weekend my laundry reached a crisis point. I had a choice: either run down to the bank, get $ 20 worth of quarters, and sacrifice eight hours of my Saturday afternoon to do laundry in my building, or load up my little old lady cart and venture into the strange new land that is «the laundromat.» The laundry room in my building is dark and spider-​webbed and just generally creepy (plus the gas line to the dryer is hooked up to my meter, which means that I get to pay any time my neighbors do a load), so it was a pretty easy decision.
A load of regular wash is $ 2.25; the giant Compulsive Shopper machines are $ 6.00. I put my clothes in, and settled into a well-​worn pleather chair with a few Supreme Court decisions. Although there was a steady stream of people, the place was never super crowded. And definitely on the plus side was the fact that there were no spiderwebs to be found.
My only complaint? There are just two folding tables, and one is smack in the middle of the room. I’d generally prefer to fold my underwear without giving perfect strangers the chance to mentally calculate the ass-​to-​fabric ration…

I really, really want to like this place. When the dryer in my apartment building broke down for the thirteenth time in two months (only a slight exaggeration), I turned to Get the Funk Out to get me through my time of need. It’s relatively cheap, within walking distance of Neon Café, and has a decent number of large capacity washers for those times when it’s been so long since you’ve done laundry that you’re not sure you remember how. And most amazing of all, the change machine actually works with $ 1, $ 5, $ 10, and even $ 20 bills!
So then why only two stars? I liked this place so much at first blush that I decided to take some of my drycleaning there as well. That was two weeks ago. I’ve since made four trips back to pick up my clothes, and each time the counter area has been closed, despite the fact that I showed up during the posted wash-​n-​dry/​drycleaning times. Today I received a rather cryptic message on my voicemail from the woman with whom I left my clothes, saying that although she no longer works there, she has my drycleaning and will deliver it. Um, okay. I’ll keep you posted if it shows up, but I’m not holding my breath.

Totally the best laundromat ever… you can drop off your drycleaning, grab a cup of coffee, surf the internet, and chat with your neighbors!
If you like having your mom do you laundry, they also have wash n fold service!

What the Funk do I know about laundromats?
I Funkin’ lot, that’s what. I poke around the city with my driver friends who take me to laundromat destinations in all zipcodes of this city. Sure, it’s a Funkin’ pain not having a laundry machine to call my own… and in the movies they always show the laundromat as a pick up joint– though i’ve never been attracted to men when i see them folding.
Um, so anyway, Get the Funk Out, totally got the Funk out. Not that I have Funk, and if you think so, Funk you.
They have free Wi-​Fi, some old pseudo-​comfy couches (semi-​Funked up), random weathered reading materal, and some interesting risqué lighting from left behind women’s slips. (actually they are Funkin’ rad).
so…Go Funk yourself!
(everybody needs it every now & then)