Can a 'speed roommating' event help you find a perfect match in L.A.?

Inside a dim New Orleans-style barroom successful Hollywood, dozens of strangers mingle nether the thump of popular euphony portion nursing complimentary cocktails. Each idiosyncratic is sporting a sanction tag on with a property sticker, oregon a few, that champion captures their vibe. Neat freak. Plant parent. Night owl. Craft brew aficionado.

The country reads similar a affable singles mixer, but perceive to their conversations and it’s wide the chemistry they are hoping for isn’t romantic. They are present to find the cleanable roommate.

Participants mingle astir the barroom country during SpareRoom’s “speed roommating” lawsuit astatine the Sassafras Saloon successful Hollywood.

(Kendra Frankle / For The Times)

Hosted by rental level SpareRoom, the monthly “speed roommating” lawsuit connects radical who are renting rooms with those who are looking for 1 successful a low-key, in-person mounting — nary endless online profiles to capable out, nary awkward interviews. Loosely based connected velocity dating, sans the timed interactions, attendees enactment connected sanction tags indicating either “I request a room” oregon “I request a roommate” on with their perfect fund and neighborhoods. Then they rotation freely. One pistillate passed retired flyers for a furnished workplace successful downtown L.A. with aerial conditioning, a Murphy bed, an in-unit washer and dryer and streaming TV. Another pistillate showed radical her rental connected an iPad.

Pris Liora, 40, who was looking for idiosyncratic to rent the other country successful her Koreatown apartment, didn’t hole immoderate questions for imaginable housemates, saying she conscionable wanted to bash a vibe check. Her lone woody breakers? “No pets, nary children, nary cigaret smoking and nary concealed cocaine problem,” she says with a laugh.

With the mean rent for a workplace starting astir $1,688 per month, $2,166 for a one-bedroom flat and astir $2,983 for a two-bedroom flat successful Los Angeles, according to Apartments.com, much radical are embracing shared surviving arrangements. Rupert Hunt, laminitis and CEO of SpareRoom, says they’re doing truthful not lone to chopped expenses, but besides to foster community. The company’s mixers tin assistance spark those connections, helium believes — they’ve been hosting velocity roommating events successful L.A. since June, pursuing palmy events successful London, San Francisco and New York.

“There’s thing truthful contiguous astir the event,” says Rupert Hunt, laminitis and CEO of SpareRoom.

(Kendra Frankle / For The Times)

“There’s thing truthful contiguous astir the event,” Hunt says. “You conscionable 10 radical successful the clip it would instrumentality you to conscionable 1 the accepted way.”

Hunt has adjacent recovered a housemate for himself astatine 1 of the mixers. “I emotion sharing,” says Hunt, who notoriously rented retired 2 rooms successful his New York City flat for conscionable $1. “I deliberation I’m a amended mentation of myself. I deliberation I get a spot lazy if I’m surviving connected my own.”

At the event, Aeris DeLeon, who was wearing a sticker with the operation “foodie,” says her parent was the idiosyncratic who told her astir the velocity roommating event. The 25-year-old was temporarily surviving successful Bakersfield but precocious moved backmost location to L.A.

“It was conscionable dormant implicit determination and I was conscionable location sick, and it wasn’t truly moving retired for me,” she says.

Upon arrival, attendees tin prime retired property stickers with phrases similar java addict, works person and aboriginal bird. (Kendra Frankle / For The Times)

She decided to be the lawsuit due to the fact that it’s much “personable than conscionable going connected Craigslist oregon Facebook, and it’s the champion [way] to weed retired scammers,” she says. Her ngo was to find an flat that outgo $1,300 a period max with idiosyncratic preferably adjacent successful age.

James Caton, 68, was conscionable getting started successful his hunt for a room. After learning that his flat gathering — wherever he’s lived for astir a decennary — mightiness beryllium sold, helium jumped into action.

“To me, arsenic soon arsenic you find out, it’s amended to spell up and commencement looking for something,” says Caton, who attended the mixer with his puerility person who was looking to rent a room.

SpareRoom’s velocity roommating events are escaped with an RSVP, and each idiosyncratic receives 2 complimentary drinks on with a 1 period proceedings of SpareRoom premium.

Speed roommating is escaped to be and comes with complimentary drinks.

(Kendra Frankle / For The Times)

Even if attendees didn’t find a roommate astatine the event, respective of them continued their conversations precocious into the evening. Some adjacent stayed for karaoke astatine the bar. It seemed that successful a satellite wherever talking astir finances tin beryllium seen arsenic taboo, having a abstraction to openly sermon rent prices, however to woody with nightmare landlords and housemates and different grievances was its ain win, a infinitesimal erstwhile they could consciousness a spot little alone.