Cal Suds

Decent laundromat, a little small (therefore sometimes machines are all in use), not the best kept up, weird art on the walls, but prices are lower than at some other laundromats in the area and you can pick up the free WiFi from Sack’s Coffeehouse on the corner. (Buy something from Sack’s and get the WiFi code.)
Also note: Apparently for safety reasons, the change machine is in the convenience store next to the laundromat.

At one point, it was cool coming here for a convenient laundry spot but there are always homeless people, hiding in the back area especially. This happened just today and the dude started smoking a cigarette when the space has no ventilation. It’s not the best environment and it’s also not very clean. Honestly, I think the place just needs some more attention, maintenance, and care.
Until then, an alternative spot to check out is Elmwood Laundry.

Has drastically gone down in service and cleanliness. They have vagrants sleeping inside the place. The counters need to be washed off and attended to way more often. The broken machines need fixing. Air conditioning is badly needed. It sinks up to high heaven in here. A once nice washing experience is now a living hell early in the am

I had a problem with one of the machines and became frustrated and left a few agitated voice mails. The owner was out of his officer at another job when I called but got back to me as soon as he could. He was super apologetic and really nice. He even washed, dried, folded my clothes and compensated me for any troubles I had. So if you ever have issues with a machine, give them some time to get back to you the owner is a great guy and really took care of me. Thanks Bob!

I come here because it’s near my house. That’s about it. There’s nothing in particular wrong with it… hasn’t destroyed any of my clothes or anything, but it’s not great. I’ve definitely selected cold water and had it use hot instead (luckily nothing got damaged) and seen machines leak before. It’s pretty expensive as far as laundromats go. I usually use a double load, which fits about a week to a week and a half’s worth of clothes for me, and it costs $ 2.50 to wash and about $ 1.50 to dry for half an hour.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to come here, but I also wouldn’t go out of my way to avoid it. Basically if it’s the closest thing around, I’d use it.

I like this laundromat.
Its clean, washes well, dries well, decent parking nearby, and clean seating. It’s great that there is a café next door — Sacks, which has a great menu to choose food and drinks from while you wait.
My main complaint is that they don’t have a quarter machine, so you have to go next door to change money at the grocery store. Not a smart business move. Oh, and the people in this neighborhood are a bit strange…
Overall, I would wash here again, laundromat cleanliness is most important.

Decent laundromat. Does the job.
Laundry is pretty typically priced for a laundromat — single load washers are about $ 2, triple load washers range on size — the smallest goes for $ 3 and they have a larger size that’s $ 4.50. The good news about the triple load washers is that they’re meant to be filled to capacity so you can get quite a bit of laundry for that $ 4.50 but it’s still 18 quarters which just seems a bit excessive.
Drying is $ 0.25 for 6 minutes — very standard price, but again, it adds up.
There’s no attendant on the premises and you have to go next door for an atm/​change machine.
They have desks inside, which as a student I really appreciate. And the sketch side of Berkeley isn’t really present inside.
Again, does the job. If this is the closest laundromat, just come here — going somewhere else won’t save you any money.

Price: Pretty outrageous. $ 3 for a medium wash, $ 4 for a large load, and $ .25 for 6 minutes of drying! Ridiculous! This basically led me to overload the washers, which in turn, led to clothes that weren’t thoroughly washed. Not to mention the run around with finding enough quarters to pump into the machines. Yikes!
Atmosphere: As far as laundromats are concerned, it doesn’t make you want to abandon your clothes to find hospice elsewhere. The walls are adorned with quirky art pieces, and the place has plenty of chairs, tables, and baskets to relax yourself, transfer your clothes, and fold your completed laundry.
Service: Since it’s a laundromat, there weren’t any employees on site. All of the washers and dryers were fully functioning as far as I could tell. The laundromat has a detergent dispenser, in case you happened to forget yours.
Take-​It-​from-​Me: If you live in the College and Derby area, you may be better suited walking your clothes south to the dry cleaners by the ⁷⁄₁₁. You may end up spending a dollar or two more, but get your clothes perfectly washed and folded in return. If you do choose to use their service, keep in mind that the quarter machine is next door at the Derby Market.

exPENsive.
I was going to do laundry in my house on friday night. our machine was broken. well, there goes my raging friday night.
I lugged my laundry to cal suds on saturday morning to tumble em up, and the place was empty. the floors weren’t dirty either.
but here’s the deal. this places is sweet-​lord-​to-​god-​jesus expensive. 2.50 for a small load of wash, ranging up to 3.50 or something ridiculous for the triple load washing machine.
50cents for 6 minutes of tumble drying.
next time I’ll just buy new clothes or be smelly.

I had to come here once because Elmwood Laundry was way too crowded and damn, was I disappointed! The place is dirty, small and expensive. The only thing good is the fact that it’s practically across the street from my house, and there is a pretty cool coffee shop next door.

The location is the only thing I really like about this place.
It is expensive, no management on site (I lost about $ 5.00 in a particularly evil machine which seemed to be fine until 1 had 1 quarter to go, and then it kept eating my quarters and would not return them nor start… calling the management number does not help either), dirty floor and random trash strewn about.
After an evening spent with a little fight with the washing machine, almost slipping multiple times on the soap that was spilled over the floor from a previous customer, and getting no response from the management, I left feeling in a pretty foul mood.
Hopefully, next time I won’t be too lazy to try a place a little farther away…

This place is kind of really expensive. It’s not like it washes your clothes any better than a regular washing machine, but it costs twice as much as a washing machines you’d find in an apartment complex. it is conveniently located though, and if you have a gigantic load of heavy laundry that you physically cannot carry more than a couple of blocks this place will do.

This spot is OK. The floor was a little dirty, and it was obvious that the washers to far left are prone to breaking (3 were flooded when I was surveying the scene) and the Wifi that was advertised on the wall did not show up on my laptop.
But, it was quiet, warm, not disgusting, and next to a coffee shop and small grocery store, and in a decidedly sketch-​free neighborhood.
Probably won’t return, but won’t rule it out either. I’m just kinda «Eeehhh,» about it.

I found myself living in a house without a washer or dryer. Luckily, I only live one block away from Cal Suds.
There are a good number of washing machines available, in all different load sizes too. I always go in the afternoons when it’s not so busy, but I’ve heard it gets crowded at night. I usually save up all my laundry until I have a quadruple load. It costs around $ 10 to do all of my laundry, which I think is reasonable.
It’s usually quiet and people normally study while they wait for the laundry. It’s also located next to a coffee shop so you can hang out there while you wait.
Convenient location, lots of machines, and no fuss. 4 stars!

What’s great about this place?
It’s safe, clean and quiet — quiet enough for you to read a book while waiting. It’s rarely crowded. There are at least four types of community newspapers there (East Bay Express, the Guardian, etc.) for you to browse and read as you wait for your laundry. They have cute paintings and drawings on the wall (for sale), which adds color and delight to this laundry place. There’s Sack’s Coffee right next to it, where you can sit down and sip your hot coffee in this charming little café while waiting. You can also bring your laptop and «steal» wifi from Sack’s Coffee next door, whose wifi leaks to this laundry place. Long and wide table for you to fold your clothes. A small grocery shop next to it if you need to buy a drink and what not. What else… It’s convenient! Just a few minutes walk from my place.
I like this place :)

This place is super convenient because it’s within a block of my apartment and is open until fairly late in the day (it closes at 11 p.m. as long as there are still loads in the machines). The machines can also hold large quantities of laundry.
I don’t know what laundry’s like at other places, but it does get a little pricey. An average load is about 12 quarters ($ 3), plus if you dry it there, the cost is .25 for 6 minutes, or $ 1.25 for 30 minutes.

I may be biased because I live down the block, but Cal Suds is super user friendly and you can pick up the free wifi signal from the coffee shop on the corner. Oh, and while you’re doing laundry you can go get some good coffee and read the paper.
I have never had to wait for a machine and I just buy a box of detergent for 75 cents.

After reading reviews, i was prepared to pass this place up and go a few more blocks down to elmwood BUT College Ave was super congested so I went to Cal Suds as it was much closer.
And surprise, surprise it was just fine. I walked in, middle of the day, not crowded, no sign of a tweaker, a meth head or a loch ness monster anywhere. Maybe I just don’t scare as easily as some of these college kids ’round here, or maybe when uc is out for the summer the bums/​crackheads stop coming around to beg? Either way this place was relatively inexpensive, relatively clean and I was able to leave my laundry there with no problems.
Got about a month’s worth of laundry done for $ 10 in less than two hours. And I didn’t get poked with a hypodermic needle nor was I accosted by anyone sketchy or scary. All in all, it was a good day.

Expensive, sketchy and gross. I can’t think of any other good way to describe this place. I’ve been here a few times now, and I really appreciate the absentee nature of the laundromat business. This place seems to be cleaned once a night, and basically ignored other than that.
It costs around $ 4 a load (including drying), so pretty standard on that aspect. You get some tables to sit at, some crappy plastic lawnchairs, and some friendly meth addicts to keep you company. Last time I came here I was sitting by the window, enjoying the people watching on college, when a super-​tired looking woman wanders in. Her smell kind of hit me as a bit weird. Like not bad, not good, just not how a person should smell.
She didn’t seem to notice me, and headed straight for the huge blue recycling bin in the front of the laundromat (on this note — why the hell is this thing in the front of the laundromat?) and starts digging through the newspapers inside, muttering under her breath the whole time. At some point, she starts tearing out individual strips (I think they were sentences) and reading them out loud. I tried as hard as I could to ignore her, hoping that if I didn’t react she’d just go away.
She finally did go away, but so did my desire to ever come here again. What a shithole. Do yourself a favor and walk the 2 blocks down college to Launderland. You’ll never even think of going back.

I have been using Cal Suds for two years now and it’s the best laundromat I’ve encountered as a washer-​and-​dryerless young adult around here.
–Quiet, safe, and clean.
–Family run, and they take good care of their machines. On the rare occasions that something is out of order, it’s always repaired or replaced right away.
–Rarely crowded. (I’m one of those who likes to do several loads at once, and I always can here.)
–Ample folding space.
–Handy market next door for snacks.
Personally, I think no TV is a plus. I always bring a crossword puzzle or some crocheting to do while I wait. I agree that a clock would be a good addition, though. My only complaints are that some of the chairs are breaking and some of the dryers whistle when the one above/​below them is not also in use.
I’m not sure what Irene means about them «bitching at her» around closing. I am often the last person out and have never had a similar problem. I suspect it may have been a miscommunication between her and the gentleman who closes up at night, whose English isn’t great. I speak to him in Spanish and have found him quite pleasant and considerate – he even noticed when I got a haircut!