As an art experiment, Julie Kim put a coffee table in a bus stop in Koreatown, Los Angeles, and filmed the results from a distance:
The table—set with a newspaper and a vase of flowers—becomes a hub of interaction for the corner. People not only flock to the table, they end up talking to each other about it. Kim says she was surprised to see so many serendipitous moments in what amounted to only eight minutes of video. "The number and variety of people milling about—workers, kids, the elderly, of every ethnic group—surprised me," she says. "I thought I'd have to shoot for at least an hour to capture anything worthwhile."
Unimpressive!
In my neighborhood, furniture on the sidewalk means: "free furniture."