- Teddy Siegel, 24, launched a TikTok chronicling bathrooms in NYC in 2021
- She provides reviews and guides for public restrooms in all five boroughs of the city.
- Through her @got2gonyc platform, she has successfully advocated for alterations in local policies.
A young lady has gained recognition in New York City as a ‘bathroom influencer,’ recording public restrooms in all five boroughs.
Theodora ‘Teddy’ Siegel, 24, inadvertently launched her brand back in summer 2021 with a 12-second TikTok sharing intel about a bathroom on the second floor of a Times Square McDonald’s.
According to her account, she was having a pleasant shopping day with her sister when she suddenly needed to use the restroom. However, her anxiety grew as each store she approached refused to let her in.
After rushing into the McDonald’s located at 7th Avenue and 45th Street, she was informed that she needed to make a purchase in order to use the restroom. Reluctantly, she spent $3 on a bottle of water.
Theodora ‘Teddy’ Siegel, 24, is behind social-media platform @got2gonyc, which documents publicly accessible restrooms across New York City
In the summer of 2021, Teddy introduced her platform by sharing a TikTok video that showcased her experience of finding a McDonald’s in Times Square where she could use the restroom after a desperate search.
One of the initial viral tips on Teddy’s TikTok was a post featuring a Taco Bell in midtown, along with the code for its bathroom.
She later realized that the restroom was not even secured.
“She expressed relief that she arrived on time, but she was greatly irritated,” she informed Insider. Eventually, she felt the need to bring attention to the McDonald’s restroom’s whereabouts on social media.
Afterward, she proceeded to create @got2gonyc, a TikTok account that documents restrooms in public places and businesses throughout NYC.
An 11-second clip shared on August 2021 that identified a restroom at a Taco Bell on Lexington Avenue and 57th Street – plus its door code, ‘1987’ – was among the first posts to go viral, racking up nearly 125,000 likes.
It received numerous comments that successfully gathered suggestions from the crowd for more bathroom spots.
Teddy ultimately started gathering all the bathrooms, both from submissions and her personal research, and organized them into a Google Maps list called NYC Bathroom. This list currently includes almost 2,000 locations.
After two years, the TikTok account of @got2gonyc has gained over 150,000 followers, and the Instagram account associated with it has reached 213,000 followers.
A significant portion of the showcased bathrooms are located within corporate establishments such as fast-food chains, hotel conglomerates, and multinational clothing stores.
Teddy started creating a Google Maps list that included all the bathrooms, gathered from both user submissions and her own investigation.
Teddy started to understand the severity of the restroom shortage in NYC as horror stories flooded her inbox, coinciding with the increasing popularity of @got2gonyc.
The luxury sector, too, is fair game for the @got2gonyc mission – with the likes of the the Soho location of Bloomingdale’s, Williamsburg’s posh Hoxton Hotel, and the Cartier building on Fifth Avenue making it on to the bathroom radar.
Teddy reported that the Cartier bathrooms did not meet her standards of approval because it was unclear if they were accessible to everyone.
Another upscale instance: a recent post highlighting Dover Street Market on 30th Street and Lexington Avenue lauded the high-end concept mall and exhibition space for its chic single-person lavatories – each outfitted with a bidet.
Though the project started off as a playfully subversive resource for bathroom-seekers of NYC, Teddy soon realized how dire the public bathroom shortage across the city really was as horror stories began trickling into her inbox.
She informed Insider that it was a significant moment for her in the account. This is not just a public health crisis, but also a crisis of fairness.
It was with this epiphany that @got2gonyc evolved into a platform by which Teddy has championed a vision of loads more publicly accessible restrooms throughout the five boroughs to city leadership.
Teddy has suggested Bloomingdale’s in Soho as one of the more upscale options for bathroom shopping.
Teddy was let down when he realized that the bathrooms at Cartier were not conveniently reachable.
Teddy’s book gave the bathrooms at Dover Street Market a flawless rating, particularly praising the bidet feature in the advanced toilets.
In January, she wrote an op-ed for the New York Times, where she explained the main point of her argument.
She wrote, “New York City has a population of 8.5 million people, yet there are less than 1,200 public restrooms available. This doesn’t even include the tourists. It’s simple arithmetic. Where are the residents of New York supposed to find a restroom when they need one?”
Hitting home the point is the rather graphic Stories section on @got2gonyc’s website, chronicling the woes of New Yorkers who were barely able find a bathroom in time – and many who didn’t.
One of the individuals affected was a construction worker, aged 44, who suffers from Crohn’s disease. He was unable to find a nearby restroom when urgently needed and unfortunately ended up soiling himself in a stairwell while working.
He remembered having to retrieve cleaning supplies and doing his best, contacting his manager, and exiting the premises. The experience was extremely embarrassing and unforgettable.
Also featured on @got2gonyc’s website are tales from New Yorkers who almost didn’t find a bathroom in time – and some who didn’t
Amidst the intense nausea caused by chemotherapy, a woman battling brain cancer was unable to locate a restroom and ended up vomiting on the sidewalk.
During her coverage of an early-morning fire in Far Rockaway, news anchor Lindsay Tuchman had to approach a random individual and request permission to use their restroom.
A woman who had endometriosis found herself drenched in menstrual blood while walking on Fifth Avenue with her young child.
The unsettling stories prompted city officials to take necessary measures.
In October 2022, Mark Levine, the borough president of Manhattan, and councilwoman Rita Joseph implemented a measure that mandated the establishment of a fresh organization responsible for identifying ‘viable sites for public restroom facilities’ within every zip code.
In August, councilwoman Sandy Nurse proposed a bill to establish a permanent and comprehensive planning process for the development and upkeep of a public restroom network throughout the city.
Teddy spoke at the press conference announcing that initial measure back in late 2022.
She expressed her belief that addressing the issue of insufficient public restrooms in New York City would have a beneficial effect on the lives of countless individuals.