Can a ‘speed dating’ event help you find the perfect match in LA?

Inside a New Orleans-style bar in Hollywood, dozens of strangers mingle to the beat of pop music while nursing free cocktails. Each person sports a name tag with a personality sticker, or several, that choose their vibe. Wonderfully strange. The father of the plant. night owl Craft beer lovers.

The scene reads like a friendly singer mixer, but listen to their conversation and it’s clear that the chemistry they hope for isn’t romantic. They are here to find the perfect roommate.

Participants gather around the bar area during the Spare Room’s “Speed ​​Room Meeting” event at the Sassafras Saloon in Hollywood.

(Kendra Frankel/For The Times)

Hosted by rental platform Spareroom, the monthly “speed room meeting” event connects people renting a room with those looking for one in a low-key, private setting — endless online profiles to fill out, no awkward interviews. Loosely based on speed dates, with no time interactions, participants placed name tags that read either “I need a room” or “I need a roommate” along with their ideal budget and neighborhood. Then they roam freely. A woman flew in for a furnished studio in downtown LA with air conditioning, a Murphy bed, an inline washer and dryer, and flat-screen television. Another woman showed people her fare on an iPad.

Press Leora, 40, who was looking for someone to rent a spare room in her Koreatown apartment, didn’t have any questions prepared for potential housemates, saying she just wanted to check the Web. Its only deal breaker? “No pets, no kids, no smoking and no hidden cocaine problem,” he says with a laugh.

Average rents start at about $1,688 a month for a studio, $2,166 for a one-bedroom apartment and about $2,983 for a two-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles, according to Apartments.com. Rupert Hunt, founder and CEO of Spare Room, says they do this not only to cut costs, but also to grow the community. The company’s mixer can help clarify those connections, he believes — they’ve been hosting speed room sessions in LA since June, after successful events in London, San Francisco and New York.

“There’s something immediacy about the event,” says Rupert Hunt, founder and CEO of Spare Room.

(Kendra Frankel/For The Times)

“There’s something immediacy about the event,” says Hunt. “You’re meeting 10 people in the time it would normally take you to meet.”

Hunt even found a housemate for himself in a mixer. “I love sharing,” says Hunt, who infamously rented two rooms in a New York City apartment for just $1. “I think I’m a better version of myself. I think I’m a little lazy if I live by myself.”

At the event, Iris DeLeon, who wore a sticker with the phrase “foodie,” says her mother was the one who told her about the speed room laundry incident. The 25-year-old lived temporarily in Bakersfield but recently returned home

“It was dead there and I was just sick at home, and it wasn’t really working for me,” she says.

Upon arrival, attendees can choose personality stickers with phrases such as coffee addict, herb lover and early bird. (Kendra Frankel/For The Times)

She decided to join the event because it’s more “personal” than going to Craigslist or Facebook, and it’s better. [way] He says to eliminate counterfeiters. Her task was to find an apartment that would cost $1,300 a month with someone close in age.

James Keaton, 68, was just looking for a room. After learning that his apartment building — where he’s lived for nearly a decade — might be sold, he jumped into action.

“To me, the sooner you find it, the better to go ahead and look for something,” says Keaton, who attended the mixer with a childhood friend who was looking to rent a room.

SpareRoom speed room events are free with RSVP, and each person gets two free drinks with a one-month trial of SpareRoom Premium.

The speed room is free to join and comes with a free drink.

(Kendra Frankel/For The Times)

Even if the participants did not find a roommate at the event, many of them continued their conversation late into the evening. Some even stayed for karaoke at the bar. It seems that in a world where talking about taxes can be seen as taboo, having a place to talk openly about rent prices, how to deal with nightmare landlords and housemates and other grievances was a triumph of its own, a moment when they could feel a little less alone.