Toilet-themed songs performed by elementary school students accompanied the opening of Portland's fifth public, 24-hour restroom Tuesday in Northwest Portland.

Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard and students from The Emerson School opened the newest Portland Loo with its inaugural flush Tuesday afternoon at Northwest Eighth Avenue and Couch Street in the Pearl District.

"I'm convinced Portland is the only city in the U.S. and maybe the world that celebrates the opening of bathrooms," Leonard said at the opening ceremony.

The city's first Loo was installed in Old Town-Chinatown in December 2008, followed by two more in Waterfront Park.

The fourth was christened in the Pearl District's Jamison Park in December 2010. City officials have said they want to install more near Portland State University and along the Eastbank Esplanade in the future.

The fifth Loo is unique because of Emerson's involvement in the design and installation. Students drew colorful plants and flowers that adorn the Loo's door, and they learned special songs for the opening ceremony.

"Loo, loo, skip to the loo," they sang, putting new words to the song "Skip to My Lou." "When you're in Portland, skip to the Loo. When you're outside, you can skip to the Loo. Even in the rain you can skip to the Loo."

After the performance, the charter school's students formed a line to the Loo. After some discussion about which thumb is the left one, they tapped each other one by one until the taps reached school principal Tara O'Neil, who performed the Loo's first flush.

"With the playground right here, it's great to have a public bathroom," O'Neil said, adding that they hope to retire the orange cones staff use to keep children away from human waste and other harmful things on the school's nearby playground. "Our playground is going to be that much more clean and safe."

Portland, which owns the patent to the Portland Loo, has sold the restrooms to other cities, including Victoria, British Columbia, and San Diego. Each Loo costs about $60,000 plus $1,200 a month for maintenance, which comes from the city's general fund.

They are manufactured in Northwest Portland by Madden Manufacturing, and are made to "create an air of a lack of privacy," Leonard said. The toilets are prison-grade, and there are slats on the top and bottom of the bathroom that allow police officers to see if there is more than one person inside.

"The thing that makes these bathrooms unique is their design, understanding that people can and will commit crimes if they can," Leonard said.

Carol McCreary, an organizer of PLUSH -- Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human, a nonprofit that advocates for public restrooms, also praised the installation of the Loo.

"It's so brilliantly designed," she said, "and we want to see safe urban toilets built into the streetscape to encourage active transportation, fitness, healthy aging, childhood fitness, all that."