NYC Gets "Fancy" Bathrooms <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Even amid the flashing lights and dizzying colors of Times Square, this is one tourist magnet that's hard to miss: a huge, glowing blue sign bearing the word "Restrooms" and an arrow pointing down. In a public relations extravaganza that just begged for potty humor, a toilet-paper company rolled out a fit-for-royalty complex of new public thrones in Times Square on Monday, just in time for the busy holiday season. "You put in a bar in this place and we'd really rock," said actress Doris Roberts, best known as the cantankerous mom on television's Everybody Loves Raymond. As newly crowned "Queen of the Throne," Roberts snipped a white toilet paper ribbon with jumbo scissors before commencing with the ceremonial first flush. You, too, can take the escalators upstairs to a waiting room with flat-screen TVs, a fireplace, a kids' mini-dance floor and plush white couches. Don't be shy about taking photos as you wait to use one of the 20 stalls. Need directions? Organizers even have workers with cloth toilets attached to their jackets walking around Times Square and telling people where to go. "We wanted to get our product into the hands of consumers, and we figured this was an innovative way of doing it," said Adam Lisook, assistant brand manager for Charmin, which built the ritzy john joint at a former bar in the middle of one the world's busiest intersections. There will be about 30 workers hired to clean the stalls after each use, officials said. The free facilities, complete with white porcelain sinks and toilets, and a light overhead that tells visitors when a stall is open, even has theme rooms: Times Square, Wall Street ? and, of course, the one devoted to Roberts. "I tried one. They are safe, charming, not cold," said Roberts. "They are very elegant." Roberts recalled taking her son, Michael, who was 8 at the time, to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. As he did a "tinkle dance," she began to get desperate to find a place for him to go. She said she finally brought him to Central Park and showed him a tree. Charmin, owned by Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, has leased Times Square space until 6 p.m. on Dec. 31. Company officials are anticipating more than 300,000 flushes, and expect to provide about 10,800 megarolls of tissue. (Each has 400 sheets, compared with 100 sheets on a regular roll). The space was built as a set in Orlando by Gigunda Group, a New Hampshire-based outfit that specializes in marketing campaigns. </div> Link Sweet
