A New Cycle
When a neighborhood laundry spun out, two women stepped up to bring a vital service back to the community.
Winter 2025
By Amy C. Evans
Valerie Tulloch Cramer ’96, a former javelin-throwing phenomenon at Rice, majored in sports medicine and became one of the most decorated track and field athletes in the university’s history.
“Being a student athlete at Rice is one of the hardest things to do in the world,” Cramer explains. “But it taught me discipline and continuing to do things when they’re hard, so bumps in the road don’t bother me.”
A single mother of three children, Cramer knows something about bumps in the road. One such bump recently launched her on a new path.
In March 2024, Cramer’s children’s uniforms needed to be ready for school on a Monday. Cramer, who works in medical sales, dropped them off at Graustark Laundry, a small laundromat in Montrose. When she returned on Sunday, the business was closed. “I found myself overwhelmed, and I was buried in laundry. I really needed help,” she recalls. It was closed again the next day, too. When she finally found it open, Cramer asked the attendant about the unpredictable hours. Pretty soon, Cramer had the idea to purchase the business. She asked her friend Jacqueline Hawkins, a retired pharmacist, for advice. “We can go in it together,” Hawkins recalls telling Cramer. “Why don’t we do this, build it up and then go from there?”
By September, Cramer and Hawkins were the new owners of Graustark Laundry. The 30-year-old business had seen better days. The duo’s first order of business was to replace broken machines, update the air-conditioning system and add new ceiling tiles. But there were some things they kept the same: the store’s dedicated attendants and their regular customers.
Many customers kept tabs on the changes as renovations were taking place. Julia Bynum, a regular wash-and-fold customer, has been coming to Graustark Laundry for at least 20 years. She appreciates the improvements and neighborly attitude the new owners are bringing to the premises. “It’s a great atmosphere,” Bynum says.
“We want people to think of us as a ‘third place’ for the neighborhood,” Cramer says. The term refers to places that are neither home nor work — social spaces that function as anchors of community life. “That’s exactly what this is,” she adds. “Some people come in, and they just want to talk. And it doesn’t hurt that there’s a coffee shop [Black Hole Coffee House] next door.” Or that they’re now open on Sundays.
Check out our story, “Owls in Harmony,” with accompanying photographs taken at Graustark Laundry in December 2024.