Beneath the glowing lights of Broadway, behind the whirling sirens of careening fire engines, and hidden from the stylish fashions paraded around by hip New Yorkers, there is mundane life. Cleaning behind the refrigerator. Wiping toothpaste smudges from the bathroom mirror. And, yes, ironing clothes. 

Despite the world-famous glitz, grit, and drama of New York City, there is the boredom of life. The dull chores that remind us we’re all human. There is shit clinging to the toilet seat. Dust bunnies behind the bedroom door. That brown stuff burned into the corners of your favorite Pyrex cooking dish. 

This ironing board helped some anonymous New Yorker press their clothes smooth using heat from electricity and power from a human being. Was that human being a 20-something going to a life-changing interview, a 40-something going to work or perhaps a teacher’s meeting to address their son’s troubling behavior, or perhaps a 70-something widower who gave up ironing and asked his niece to trash it on her way out. We’ll never know. But someone does.

[Visit more NYC Trash Stories: Bathroom, Culture, Clothes, Furniture, Food/Drinks, Personal, Pets, Tech, Trash Cans, Travel.]