When David Brown went from Chicago to Los Angeles this summer, one of the first things he did was downloading an application that aims to “fight against the solitude of big cities”.
The 35 -year -old sales director had seen an Instagram ad for Timeleft, which corresponds to users with foreigners for dinner via a personality algorithm. As he only knew a handful of people in his new city, he decided to give him a shot.
During the night of his first dinner, Brown, a self-written introvert, was “super nervous” because Timeleft provides participants limited details on whom they will dine, including their employment industry and the sign of the zodiac. No names or photos are disclosed. But the fears of Brown were quickly dissipated once the host led him to his assigned table and he met the other guests, which were as anxious as it was.
“It is difficult to meet people in Los Angeles and I know that it is not only me because many people who have come in these dinners have lived in Los Angeles for 20 years,” explains Cristina Haraba.
(Etienne Laurent / for time)
“Everyone has sort of engaged in experience and was simply open -minded,” said Brown, who lives in West Hollywood. Subsequently, the group went to a bar hangout, also facilitated by Timeleft, to take drinks and to meet other users of applications who also went to a dinner that evening.
“I made at least two best friends at this first dinner,” said Brown, adding that one of them is now his roommate. Since then, he has been going to Timeleft Dinners almost every week and has launched an Instagram group to keep users in contact.
Brown is one of the nearly 10,000 Angelenos who attended a time dinner from the platform – which started in Lisbon last year and which is now in more than 300 cities in 65 countries – extended to Los Angeles in May. Los Angeles is the second market in the United States, behind New York.
Every Wednesday (excluding a few holidays), Timeleft welcomes more than 400 dinners in the Los Angeles districts – extending from Santa Monica to North Hollywood – in order to help participants meet new people and hope to have a friend. In an effort to fight against solitude, especially during the holiday season – a 2023 survey by ValuePenguin found that 61% of Americans expected to feel alone or sad during the season – Remaining time Organize dinners on January 25 and 1, which both fall on Wednesday. Among the participating restaurants, open to the public during the holidays, are the daughter of Butcher, Zinque and Formosa Cafe.
Carlie Armstrong, who heads the region of the west coast of Timeleft, says that the company wanted to offer an alternative option during the holidays for people who may have lost dear beings, who live far from their family or those who may not have good relations with them.
“It is also a particularly polarizing year, so there are many people who may move away from these interactions and who may want to try something new during this period, but always with other people,” she said. A recent American Psychological Association Survey Of more than 2,000 American adults found that almost 40% of participants said they are avoiding parents with whom they are politically disagreement during the holiday season.
Jonathan Alexander listens to Cristina Haraba Talk during a recent time dinner with foreigners in Bacari in West Hollywood.
(Etienne Laurent / for time)
Each of the parties of the holidays will follow the format a typical timeleft gathering. To join, you can buy a ticket for $ 16 or register for a subscription from $ 26 per month, you will be invited to select your favorite dinner date. Users can also indicate their budget for dinner because the application works with various types of restaurants (relaxed, gastronomy, etc.). Tuesday before the event, you will receive a brief introduction to your colleagues. Customers are responsible for paying for their own meals.
Before your Timeleft dinner, you will learn some details about your comrades in the application.
I attended my first Timeleft dinner last month in Bacari in West Hollywood. When I arrived, I showed the hostess my table number, which was provided by the application, and two other people who were there for dinner presented themselves to me. A staff member then guided us to our table and finally four other guests – one of which celebrated his birthday – sank to join us. Everyone in my group had attended at least five dinners with the platform, so they had exceeded clumsiness which, in your opinion, had just met a group of foreigners for the first time.
The conversation took place effortlessly at our table, so much so that we did not even remove the question game that Timeleft provides to help break the ice. While we put strong cocktails and nibbled on delicious shareable plates, we talked about our jobs, our hobbies, our natal cities and our education (a woman had moved to Los Angeles in Romania). At one point, I told the group that someone I used to go out with a year, but that I had not seen for a year, had entered the room, which launched a ventilation session on the problems of meetings in Los Angeles, we were comfortable, at the very least, and whoever walking would have thought that we had known ourselves much longer than two hours.
The restaurant would only take a limited number of credit cards, although the staff encourage us to share plates, so we had a minor headache trying to understand how to divide the bill. In the end, a person made his card and we sent them money.
Maxime Barbier, who lives in Paris, founded Timeleft in 2023 because he wanted to help people fight solitude in big cities.
(Etienne Laurent / for time)
Cristina Haraba, 42, who moved to London three years ago, plans to attend one of the application vacation dinners because she has no family in town. Like Brown, she came across an ad for Timeleft on Instagram and decided to go because she had trouble making friends.
“It is difficult to meet people in Los Angeles and I know that it is not only me because many people who have come in these dinners have lived in Los Angeles for 20 years. Some of them were born here, “said Haraba, who said she used to have a” very rich social life “.
Haraba, who is from Romania, has been about six term dinners so far and has made some friends with whom she remains in contact. What brings her back is an opportunity to try new restaurants in her region and meet interesting people with whom she can explore the city, she says.
The founder of Timeleft, Maxime Barbier, who lives in Paris, says that it was important for him to target the application with people of various ages, including people like his 71 -year -old father. Barbier encouraged his father to attend a dinner after undergoing a serious brain accident that made him less social. He now goes at least once a month, says Barber.
“Something that I find sad is that all the new concepts are really focused on the new generation like” it is only for generation Z, “explains Barbier. “But people who are the same age as my parents know how to use a computer or iPhone and I think they need help because they can (become) alone.” In most timeleft dinners, people are twinned with people who are in their age 10, but some people have also been twinned with people from other generations.
Myra Hermosa, 37, grew up in the San Fernando valley, but recently returned to the region after having lived in San Diego and North Carolina for a few years.
“What sold me for me is that you have five people at this table that you would never have met if you have just lived your daily life,” explains Myra Hermosa, 37.
(Etienne Laurent / for time)
“When I came back here, I said to myself” Welp, most of my friends left, or at least not in the region, “explains Hermosa, who works at home. She decided to attend her first chronology dinner this summer because she is “looking forward to getting out, making friends and being social again,” she said.
“What sold me for me was that you have five people at this table that you would never have met if you had just lived your daily life. And they simply shared their stories, their history, where they come from and what they do in life,” said Hermosa, adding that she met an actress and an army veteran. They played the timeleft game in the application, which included reflective questions like “Why did you move to the?” And “What is an event that has a significant impact on your life?” “I thought how crazy these five people at a table and really speak and interact?” It's pretty cool. ”
For those who plan to attend one of the timeleft holiday dinners or another Wednesday evening, the former participants say that it is essential to stay open, to be yourself and to follow if you vibe with someone.
“Don't be afraid of being honest,” said Brown, adding that dinners helped him gain confidence. “If you cannot be vulnerable, it will be really difficult for people to bring you to your experience. We are all at this table for a reason. Most of us are there to make more friends, not only to sit with a stranger for two and a half hours.”
