CR Diaries: Route 196

May 29, 2008 | 08:37 AM
Category: • CR Diaries

The tiles have been scrubbed but nothing seems to get stains out.

Bars and clubs have one very difficult thing to contend with - a customer’s (albeit inebriated one, sometimes) demand for a clean CR. We all know what goes on in these venues. A crowd of kids, bands and booze have always been a recipe for not only a good time, but also a dirty CR. Picture this - intoxicated pubescent rockers in Chuck Taylors parading around your CR. That is one factor that bars like Route 196 need to take into consideration.

So considering that night out venues have it much more difficult than the ordinary restaurant, how does Route 196 stack up against the rest?

Definitely, the toilet could use more scrubbing and a much stronger cleanser, but I have to say that the CR does smell clean. There’s no ounce of pungency in the air. They do a great job in terms of deodorizing the place, but the CR as a whole is still aesthetically imbalanced. There are traces of white powder that line the toilet (which i think is a remnant of some kind of cleanser.. but who knows, some people like to do their illegal activities on toilet bowls, as Brian Gorrell so explicitly told us) that indicates that not enough water was used when they were cleaning the CR. The flush knob is also infested with rust. However, the urinal is still gleaming white.

You can see the gig schedule while you wash your face.

One thing I will say about the Route 196 CR is that it doesn’t fail to remind you to always come back for other gigs. When you finish your business and wash your hands, you’ll find a gig schedule in front of the mirror. Coincidence? Oh no, sir. It’s a great marketing technique! I wish they’d make the lettering bigger for nights when all the text kind of gets jumbled together in one big blur. But that’s my fault, not theirs.

By Karl Bustamante.

Images taken by the writer.

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