At 16th and Albion, a defunct laundromat turns to art

Elizabeth Lee’s parents opened Lee’s Launderette in the 1970s, and ran it until they sold it to family friends in the 90s.

The friends kept it going till 2017. Since then, the building at 3151 16th St., near Albion has sat empty. But not for much longer.

Later this month, Lee’s Launderette, a new art space, will occupy the space.

“What was once a laundromat is now becoming a stage, a classroom and a canvas for the neighborhood,” said Alice Yoo, a friend of Lee’s and a co-founder of the new space. 

While Lee plans to eventually sell the building, the city’s vacancy tax and her parent’s memory pushed her to be creative. 

Instead of paying the tax, she wanted to create a space paying tribute to her parents’ hard work and to the Mission District, the neighborhood where she grew up.

It will not be the first time the building serves as a community space; Lee’s father hosted Alcoholics Anonymous meetings there. 

“She’s just been bugging me for two years to do this particular project,” said Mark Pinsukanjana, who joined Lee’s Launderette as director of operations.

Pinsukanjana is the co-founder of Saffron Communities, an arts nonprofit that works with schools and Themes and Projects, a gallery at the Minnesota Street Project.

He and his co-founder, Bryan Yedinak, are friends of Yoo’s from college and signed on as the curator at Lee’s Laundromat. Artist Jim Bhak joined as community coordinator.

Upcoming projects include a mural class collaboration with the Youth Arts Exchange, in which six students will train with muralist Joseph Lopez to design and paint a dragon for the facade of the building in homage to Lees’ Chinese heritage.

The team at Lee’s Launderette also hopes to host workshops with Meghan Shimek, a local weaving artist and teacher, and Peptoc, a collaborative project by artist Jessica Martin that collects pep talks and life advice from children, as well as classes in art forms like crochet and DJing.

“We want it to be like an outlet for arts and artists to work and try experimental things, maybe a little bit of an incubator,” said Yedinak. The space is for the whole community, Yedinak added,  including children and seniors. “We’re trying something new down here.” 

Lee’s Launderette is holding a soft opening on Oct. 17 and 18 from 1 to 5 p.m. with a lineup of mostly local and regional artists, including Cynthia McIntosh, Jessica Martin and Mexican and Denver-based muralist Charlo.

The exhibit will run through November, with another expected in December. Regular hours are currently not set, but will likely be on weekends and by appointment.