MATT ROBLES/Arizona Summer Wildcat Tucson residents Rachel and Fernando Ochoa stand outside Empire Laundry. The Ochoas returned to the Laundromat to retrieve their clothes, but instead found it closed early.

Last Friday, I realized I'd hit bottom when I had no choice but to wear a dress to class. So, Saturday afternoon, I decided it was time to do my laundry.

Instead of competing to use the washing and drying machines at my apartment complex, I went to the charmingly offbeat Empire Laundry. (You know, next door to the Buffet, Tucson's favorite dive bar.)

While waiting for my underwear to dry, I didn't plan on meeting an ex-con or a Korean War vet, or getting an earful about a community of Tucson I never knew existed. But I did. This is how it went down.

After starting my laundry, while wearing another short dress, I stupidly sat on a couch that was about one foot off the ground. Fortunately, I was wearing underwear that day, so I didn't hear any complaints.

I began to observe all the magazines, particularly Guns and Ammo and bound volumes of National Geographic. On the wall behind the attendant's counter hung a beautiful painting of Empire Laundry by Alyssa Burr.

On the counter was an empty aquarium. I would later find out that the fish were poisoned by soap when the tank was improperly cleaned a few weeks prior.

Joni, a Brooklynite who walked into the Laundromat for the first time, summed up every one of my thoughts about Empire Laundry by exclaiming, "Wow, this is my first time in here ... I'm really impressed ... This is a lot more fun than my Laundromat."

While jotting this all down, I noticed one of the attendants walk in with his five-year old son and 10-year-old daughter. We struck up a conversation and exchanged stories. Then he eventually asked me why I was writing in a notepad.

When he found out I was an actual customer, in addition to being a nosy journalist, he decided not to kick me out. Instead, he told me all kinds of stuff no one should tell a journalist. I guess this means we're friends now.

"Calistro" is the name he gave me, which means "hard to kill" in Yaqui. After spending four years in prison for sellin' a little sumthin' sumthin' he was enjoying some time with his kids before their mother came to pick them up.

After Calistro told me about being friends with Melvin, the owner, since junior high, Melvin himself walked in and told me about growing up in the neighborhood and about his regular customers.

Melvin also told me about helping out all the interesting people he meets, many of who are homeless drifters and teenage squatters.

As we continued our conversation, I learned Empire Laundry was an appliance store and then a furniture store before it became a "Chinese laundry" in 1974. Not realizing Mel was Chinese, I was completely baffled when he told me this. Then he took me next door to Empire Market and introduced me to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lee, who were both born in China.

While Mrs. Lee and Melvin tried to figure out the history of the market and Laundromat (a hilarious sight), Mr. Lee and Melvin's brother Alvin joined us to shed a little light on the details.

From what I could decipher, Mr. Lee moved from China to Tucson as a teenager to work with his uncle. Five years later, Mr. Lee was drafted into the Korean War. Long before this, Mr. Lee's great-grandfather worked on the railroads in Tucson.

Alvin also explained to me that Tucson once had a Chinatown, which was located where the TCC currently stands. I almost fell over when I thought about all the Chinese green tea leaves I could have been buying.

This particular Empire Market was the first of four stores in Tucson; the other three have since closed down. Mrs. Lee said that the market has been here since the 1920s, but was purchased by her husband and his business partners in 1962 from the Tang family. Mr. Lee says it was 1959.

Just seeing the smiles on their faces as they recollected warmed the cockles of my heart. Then I realized my laundry had finished drying.

The Lee family is full of interesting stories, but it's best to just go to Empire Laundry and the market and speak with the Lees in person. Trust me, it's worth it.

Plus, they'll even "fluff and fold" your laundry for you for 69 cents a pound - but there's a 20-pound minimum. And, with about a hundred books and several magazines, Empire Laundry doubles as a small library, so you'll never get bored waiting for your own undies to dry.

Empire Laundry is located at 536 E. Ninth St. and is open every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. with a last call at 8:30 p.m. There is always an attendant present, be it Melvin, Calistro or another kind member of the neighborhood.