Why are the Roxy bathrooms so small?
A. When the theatre was built, public accommodations were not as lavish as they tend to be today. The Roxy originally had only a ladies room — the men had no facilities at all! Since the biggest concern for a theatre in those days was to cram in as many seats as possible, the ladies room was designed in the absolute minimum size in order to save space. In 1930, the fact that the ladies had a small “lounge” area outside of the toilet room was considered quite a luxury! The men were finally granted relief in the early 1950s when laws were passed making it mandatory for theatres, restaurants and other public facilities to offer restrooms for both sexes. The only available space in the Roxy for a men’s room was a broom closet, which was duly converted. Unfortunately, the closet was (and is) extremely small, so the only fixture in the room is a urinal. We are currently making plans to increase the size of both restrooms. Our plans will, unfortunately, cost the ladies their lounge area; but
