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A 27-year-old television production set designer who pays $1,850 a month to live in an old laundromat in New York City wants to take his home to the next level.
When Sampson Dahl went to check out the space in Queens with his girlfriend in March 2019, she dismissed it as “disgusting,” but that didn’t stop her from cleaning it up.
Over the past four years, he has transformed the old Maspeth laundromat into a quirky home, keeping its doors open much of the day and allowing musicians and artists in when they need a place to create or perform.
Dahl’s quirky home has garnered attention in recent months as his collection of random trinkets, furniture and outdoor paraphernalia has grown.
But on Wednesday, Dahl said he would stop living in the space and hopes to turn it into a full-time studio and venue with a group of artists.
Set designer Sampson Dahl, 27, pays $1,850 a month to live in an old laundromat in Queens, New York.
Over the past four years, Dahl has transformed the former laundromat into a quirky home where he and his friends play music and create art.
Dahl describes himself as an independent production designer, carpenter, and visual artist with the goal of “creating spaces where adults feel free to be children.”
His property, which sits on the corner of two residential streets in Queens, hasn’t been a laundromat since 2005, according to Dahl. “It hasn’t been any kind of functional business in 15 years,” she said. CNBC.
For Dahl, who says he once lived in a Chicago warehouse, taking up unused commercial space is less invasive than filling up apartments.
“I like the freedom of a commercial space, even though there are less rights for tenants, but moving into a vacant store that’s been empty for years feels more ethical than moving into an apartment in a residential neighborhood you’re not in touch with.” acquainted”. ,’ he said.
In the 1940s, the place was a delicatessen. It was then a bar in the 1970s before finally becoming a laundromat in the 1980s, he said. YouTuber Caleb Simpsonwho recently toured the property for his channel.
The 800-square-foot storefront consists of a main living room with a homemade bunk bed, a small bathroom, and a narrow kitchen in the back.
The laundry room has a scruffy look and is furnished with a wide range of paraphernalia Dahl has collected over the years, pieces left over from production design work, and other things he found on the streets.
He even has an organ, which he told CNBC he got for free in Connecticut.
“I don’t think a space should be a perfect representation of what we expect a simple mind to look like,” he told the network. “I believe that a space should be an imperfect representation of the people who are in it and of any place in their life at any given time.”
The laundry room has a scruffy look and is stocked with a wide range of paraphernalia that Dahl has collected over the years.
Dahl maintains a community fridge on the street, allowing people with leftover food to leave it for others in need.
Dahl said creating a sense of community is at the heart of what keeps him at the old laundromat. He maintains a community fridge on the street, allowing people with leftover food to leave it for others in need.
In recent years, community refrigerators began to appear throughout the city, and according to New York City Community Refrigerators there are 124 in the five boroughs.
“I was mugged in this neighborhood a couple of months ago, it’s not always safe, I’ve had things stolen, but my neighbors are very protective of me,” Dahl said. “I couldn’t leave my door open, I couldn’t have a fridge out there, I couldn’t have an outside bench or a table if I didn’t have my neighbors watching over me.”
He told CNBC that he has neighbors who are also friends: “Dave sometimes opens my door at midnight and says ‘shut your door,’ so I’ll close the door because Dave tells me to.” I don’t even remember to lock the door half the time.
“I got to know real community as a kid and I recognize it now, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but it’s so wonderful to be in a neighborhood of people who know each other and care for each other, it’s amazing,” she added.
The 800-square-foot storefront consists of a main living room with a homemade bunk bed, a small bathroom, and a narrow kitchen in the back.
Many of the things in the laundry room were left over from production design work and other things he found on the streets, Dahl said.
A small but functional kitchen is to the rear and was installed by the previous owner but was not present when the space was an active laundry.
On Wednesday, Dahl announced that he would stop living in the space and hoped to turn it into a studio and venue with a group of four or five artists.
Dahl sees the laundry room as a collaborative space for “creation, recording and interaction.”
“I only live here right now because that’s what I can afford, but eventually, I’ll move out of here and it’ll just be a studio space, it’ll just be a store open for whoever wants to come in and learn how to paint.” , or continue a painting, or learn to record a song, or continue a song,’ she said.
Earlier in the week, he took to Instagram to ask if other creatives would like to fill the space and help him turn the laundry room into more of a studio than a home.
‘We are looking for 4-5 artists (seamstresses, painters, photographers, musicians, etc.) to divide the laundry! Slowly transitioning from a living space to a full time studio space!’ he wrote on Instagram.
However, he is grateful for the time he spent living there and the wit he says it taught him.
“I really can’t be too picky about what comes my way, I just have to make the best of it and that’s the best skill I could ask for.” It’s nothing I can teach myself, something you can only learn from life,” she said.