YOU ARE HERE Each month, we’ll throw a dart at a map and write about where it lands. LOCATION: 3100 Central Ave.
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Around and Around, Around the Clock THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE when you step into 24 Hour Laundry on Central Avenue is the colorful mural of a clothesline with shirts that proclaim “welcome” in more than a dozen languages—Arabic and Somali, Thai and Vietnamese. The mural encircles the room. Owner Marc Fuller commissioned a local artist to paint it after he bought the laundry in 2016. It seemed right for the laundromat to reflect one of Charlotte’s most culturally diverse neighborhoods, Commonwealth Park. “This is often a first stop for people who come to this country—and you feel that excited energy,” Fuller says, gesticulating
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with both hands to make his point. The dryers spin, and oscillating fans attempt to take the edge off the oppressive afternoon heat. Fuller owned three laundromats in Charlotte, but he sold the other two on South Boulevard just before COVID, after development scattered the neighbors who had been his customers. This laundry, the only 24-hour laundromat in Charlotte, was always his favorite. Before the virus, Fuller hosted English classes here and distributed donated school supplies. When the pandemic hit, he passed out kits with hand sanitizer, vitamin C, and face masks.
Fuller is a lifelong traveler who’s visited about 90 countries, and he always choosing to eats and stays where the locals do. So it’s natural for him to want to know the cultures of the people who live in his city— and to respect that many of them can find time to wash clothes only at night. “That’s one thing I want to contribute to the city—a place you can go to get your laundry done at any time of the day. The way that Charlotte is growing, that kind of service is needed,” Fuller says. “Who are we to tell someone when they can and cannot do their laundry?” —Cristina Bolling
SHAW NIELSEN; CRISTINA BOLLING
Marc Fuller’s slice of multicultural Charlotte is open whenever you need it
