Turn of the Century Convenience

Turn of the Century Convenience, a photo by BelchSpeak on Flickr.

I am a huge fan of old saloon photos. I tend to collect them when I’m on the road as I am now outside of San Francisco. This one was hanging on a men’s room wall, and I snagged the photo with the Genius Scan app for iPhone.

This shot was taken in 1904 and features the white jacketed barkeeps, the mustachioed owner and a few patrons at the bar swilling their usual frothy beverages. What makes this photo unique, however, is the forward-thinking of turn-of-the-century bar design.

It has a urinal trough right at the bar. You don’t even have to get off your bar stool.

I know a bunch of people think this would be gross, but I think this is an invention whose time needs to return. Toss in a couple of modern urinal cakes, some plasma high def tvs, and sit for hours and watch the games without those nagging interruptions!

FYI, urine is sterile. Plus, if you’ve ever been to a bar that smells like piss anyways, now you could go to one that smells like piss for a reason.