# Is a clothesline in the backyard not a thing anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2018, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209 "2018-04-27T09:17:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/21 "2018-04-27T16:12:49Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > We have a rotary clothes line in our back garden. I guess we’re old-fashioned, but we’ve never had a dryer. When the weather isn’t good for drying outside (which is most of the year), we use a clothes airer in a spare bedroom. There isn’t room in our kitchen for a washer and a dryer, and my preconception of washer-dryers is that they are less good at either job (and more prone to break down). Not to mention the additional electricity costs. True, but my daughter in NYC has a stackable washer/dryer pair. The washer is a good washer and the dryer a good dryer. When we moved in here there was a double line that went from a reel on the back porch to one on a tree 30 feet away. You could stand on the back porch and mount the clothes one at a time, reeling the line out. Quite convenient, but it broke at some point and I never replaced it. We still have a line in the basement for things my wife would rather not put in the dryer. When I was growing up, there was the great day every spring when the clothes lines were moved from the basement to the back yard and of course, the not-so-great day in the late fall when that was reversed. But those were the days before dryers became common and the washer had a mangle. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/22 "2018-04-27T16:30:53Z")
Clothesline related - we recently watched A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. In many old movies and images of city tenement life, you see the image of [countless clotheslines crisscrossing between buildings.](https://blog.mcny.org/2012/08/07/a-fine-line-the-art-of-the-clothesline/) How did those work? Did each apartment have their own clothesline? Who installed them? Did you have to get the approval of whomever owned the opposite ends of the line? Did folk just assume this was one aspect of the lack of privacy in such situations, and social covenant had it that you didn’t mess with each others’ clothes? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/23 "2018-04-27T16:49:19Z")
I live in an older neighborhood – the houses were all built from the 1920s through the 1950s. I’d bet that every single house in this neighborhood had backyard clotheslines originally, but they’re now so rare as to be noteworthy when you see them. There’s one house, in particular, a few blocks from here: it’s on a corner, so you can easily see the large clothesline setup in the backyard. Their clothesline is nearly always in use, which is why my mental nickname for the place is “Laundry House.” Then again, their yard is also nearly always full of toys that have been left out overnight, and other random stuff, so the whole place does have a bit of that white-trash vibe. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/24 "2018-04-27T17:10:53Z")
I have one, and I’m pretty sure both my neighbors to the south and north have one as well. I use mine for things that should not be put in the dryer (e.g. my bicycle shorts) Brian ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/25 "2018-04-27T17:13:00Z")
Yeah - in the 60s-70s I grew up in a neighborhood of Chicago bungalows built in 1927(the year my dad moved in w/ his family. He moved out in 1997 - quite a stretch!) Just about every house had active or vestigial clotheslines - most commonly 1-2 metal posts buried in concrete, possibly with one/both end(s) anchored to the house/garage. It was relatively uncommon for them to be used, but they were there. Can’t recall my mom ever hanging clothes out. Actually, I tell a lie. I do recall her hanging clothes to dry in our unfinished basement on rare occasions. And we definitely had a sack of clothespins. We still use a clothesline up at a vacation home, but usually just for wet swimsuits/towels, rather than laundry. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/26 "2018-04-27T17:18:13Z")
We have a rotary one in the back yard. When we bought the house, my wife thought it was some sort of satellite dish. It has, as you might imagine, never been used. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/27 "2018-04-27T18:00:13Z")
Nothing outside but in our laundry room I suspended two long rods from the ceiling. All shirts and pants are put on hangers wet and hung. Only thing that goes in the dryer is socks, underwear, linen. Takes 24 hours to dry but keeps everything from shrinking. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/28 "2018-04-27T18:15:51Z")
we’ve still got one, and use it (although we use the dryer more). Just used it to dry the tarp we’d spread over the lawn furniture through the winter. There’s no way I’d be able to put that in the dryer. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/29 "2018-04-27T18:27:16Z")
I don’t see dedicated clotheslines being put into back yards in the new home construction (and there’s a lot of it going on in my neighborhood). I know that starting in the '60s and’70s some of my friends have lived in neighborhoods where clotheslines were verboten if anyone from another house could see it from the street…or the next street, if you were on a hill. I would never have bought in such a neighborhood, myself. For me, sheets and towels must be dried with the solar clothes dryer. I’m not averse to hanging anything on the clothesline, though. My house, built in the mid-50s, apparently had a removable clothesline, meaning, there is one post, and then there was a retractable attachment on the house so you could pull out a four-line clothesline and attach it to the pole, then roll it up when you were done. I’m guessing it was somebody’s brilliant idea that never really worked out in practice because a lot of houses in my neighborhood have these single poles, without a bar (the bar came with the retractable art), but nobody has the retractable part. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/30 "2018-04-27T18:54:41Z")
I live in an apartment now, but I miss clotheslines. I always had one before the last two years. Someone upthread mentioned that dryers are less trouble, but I found the reverse to be true. With a dryer, I have to run and fold the clothes when the dryer stops or have wrinkly clothes. A clothesline let me fold/hang clothes on my schedule–unless we had a heavy rain. And the clothes smelled great! There’s nothing like sleeping on sheets that have that fresh outdoors scent. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/31 "2018-04-27T19:04:55Z")
Eh, it seems kind of like having an outhouse when there’s indoor plumbing. I don’t know if I would call it quite “white trashish”, but I wouldn’t want it in MY backyard. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/32 "2018-04-27T19:27:44Z")
My grandmother had one and I hated it. Clothes would come out stiff, and I also discovered natural spring scent sucks. That artificial spring scent you get from the dryer sheets rock though. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/33 "2018-04-27T19:42:32Z")
I used to dry all my clothes on a line. Big advantage: they smelled fresh, something you can’t get from a dryer. But the disadvantages were many: you needed good weather, it didn’t work well in winter, clothes were stiff when dry, it took a lot of time to put out the clothes and take them down, etc. The dryer had too many advantages to pass up. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/34 "2018-04-27T20:01:33Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Efficient of labor, not energy. They use a lot of fossil fuel, being heaters. I have always hung out my clothes whenever weather permitted. In California that was a lot of the time. Here in New England I may need to adapt. The last house I visited here in winter was liberally furnished with interior wooden racks for cold-weather clothes drying. I certainly intend to do the same. > > Air dried clothes last longer, and sunlight is a pretty good disinfectant. They smell much better too. And there is the inherent virtue of doing something better for the planet than burning noxious substances which are destroying the climate of the earth in order to more conveniently dry your clothes when there is a perfectly good sun right outside. I think The Lord meant more efficient than driers of yesteryear. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/35 "2018-04-27T20:07:17Z")
A lot of people consider it déclassé and HOA types are often against it. I can also recall my grandmother complaining about the neighbor hanging her and her daughter’s underwear and bras where her sons could see them. To me it’s just environmentally friendly. I also miss the smell of clothes and sheets dried in the sun. And if your bath towels were dried on a line there was no need for expensive exfoliants. LOL! But as mentioned above, it does capture a lot of pollen, and so I had to prioritize breathing over using the clothesline. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/36 "2018-04-27T22:19:32Z")
If you bring your clothes in just slightly damp and run them in the dryer for ten minutes, they won’t be stiff. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/37 "2018-04-27T23:54:48Z")
My clothes smell fresh when I take them from the drier. And the drier gets hot enough to disinfect them as well as sunlight does. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/38 "2018-04-28T00:00:31Z")
I live in Astoria, Queens, NYC. Mostly apartment buildings, but 2-4 storey ones. It’s amazing how many people on floors 1 and 2 have run lines out to the detached garages behind the buildings. I used to have one behind a building I lived in. Used it all the time. Clothes smell great when air dried !! Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/39 "2018-04-28T00:01:27Z")
We had a free energy checkup done, and the people installed one for us for free. We mostly use it for what used to be called unmentionables, since shirts and the like get stiff, but when the weather is good I might hang socks on it also. Clotheslines are a big thing in Hong Kong, since even fairly classy apartments have washers but no driers. We ate breakfast on the top floor of our hotel and you could see the apartment across the street full of clothes. The park behind the temple had a sign saying no dogs, no bicycles and no clothes hanging - a hanger with a line through it. I’d never seen that sign before. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209/40 "2018-04-28T00:51:12Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Efficient of labor, not energy. I was comparing modern dryers to old dryers, not to line-drying. Pretty much all of the home appliances use less energy than they did in the 60s and 70s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-clothesline-in-the-backyard-not-a-thing-anymore/813209.md?page=3)