Day 59: Studio City, CA
No money found.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Day 56
Day 56: Studio City, CA
$0.01 found.
Harvard Westlake Upper School: $0.01
Today I stumbled across a fantastic article about a couple who were rewarded for their curiosity regarding objects on the ground when they dug up $10,000,000 worth of gold coins. Do you still think that picking up change is silly?
Monday, February 24, 2014
Day 55
Day 55: Studio City, CA
$0.12 found.
Starbucks at Ventura Blvd. & Alcove Ave.: $0.01
Harvard Westlake Upper School: $0.11
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Day 54
Day 54: Echo Park, CA
$0.03 found.
IN MY RENTAL CAR: $0.01
Von's on N. Alvarado St.: $0.01
Rite Aid on Glendale Blvd.: $0.01
Above is the sneaky little penny I found under the driver seat of my rental car.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Day 49
Day 49: Hollywood, CA & Studio City, CA
$0.03 found.
Hollywood Blvd & Taft Ave. 7-11: $0.01
Harvard Westlake Upper School: $0.02
I was expecting to find a lot of money just lying around at Harvard Westlake while working there this year, but so far in three days, I have only found any money today. One of the pennies was almost underneath a soda machine and the other was on top of a trash can. I did not realize that money is not often exchanged on campus. For the most part, the students pay through an app on their phone and do not bother with any cash or change at all. I suppose that because Los Angeles is such a big city that I probably will not find money unless I am in heavily-trafficked areas or parts of town that are more geared towards tourists than others. It seemed to be the case in New York - Manhattan - that I was much more likely to find loose change on the ground in places such as Time Square, or the village. Working up in Studio City, I am much less likely to find change, but if I were to spend a day in, say, Hollywood, I would probably make out like a bandit. We shall see. I get to spend the better part of a month and a half in the City of Angels. Hopefully I can provide you with enough data to draw a comparison between two of the greatest cities in the world.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Day 46
Day 46: Brooklyn, NY, Queens, NY, Culver City, CA & Echo Park, CA
$0.64 found.
Eastbound L: $0.03
JFK Terminal 4: $0.01
Venice Blvd. & S. Durango Ave.: $0.50
Mohawk Bend: $0.10
Friday, February 14, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Day 43
Day 43: Manhattan, NY
$0.28 found
34th St. CE Uptown Platform: $0.01
Penn Station LIRR: $0.26
Penn Station Starbucks: $0.01
I've also had a few times where I've seen money on the floor but have been unable to pick it up! It is, in some cases, extremely frustrating! Here are some examples:
The above penny was spotted at the Jefferson St. L Station amidst the detritus on the track. How much money is lost on or around the tracks in the subways?
This penny got caught between the window and the door at one of the Starbucks in Penn Station. I tried to move the door to get to this one, but with no luck.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Day 42
Day 42: Manhattan, NY
$1.84 found
Penn Station Starbucks: $0.02
360 W. 33rd St. (Post Office - Event Space): $1.82
Another huge find today at the end of work. Standing around amongst the crew and everybody saw all the change lying on the ground but nobody wanted to pick it up. Even the quarters were left behind! Today was a good day for finding things. It seems that there was a certain amount of hastiness involved in other people's decisions to leave the money on the ground as well as it was scattered about. All the crews were trying to load out of there as fast as possible to save money on manpower and on the event space rental. Perhaps because the little amount of money on the floor was nothing compared to the amount they were spending while working in there, the money could be left on the floor. Or perhaps that is a bit of a stretch. That is not to say that it was not very expensive to be working in there, but that the cost of the event rental had anything to do with the money being there is maybe a little far-fetched. It definitely was a new record for largest find at a single time.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Day 41
$0.08 found
NY Penn Station LIRR: $0.03
34th St. ACE Station: $0.02
8th Ave. L Station: $0.03
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Day 40
Day 40: Manhattan, NY
No money found.
Nobody has confessed to leaving the change on the stoop of my building! The mystery continues..
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Day 39
Day 39: Brooklyn, NY & Manhattan, NY
$0.14 found
Corner of Scott Ave. and Jefferson St. - My apartment stoop: $0.11
Downtown CE 23rd St. Station: $0.03
I have become suspicious of money I find around my building. Today's find is especially suspect as the penny and dime were found fairly evenly spaced on two of the steps directly outside the door. I will have to question all of the people who live in the building and know about my blog. It is a small list of people so it will not take long. I will hopefully report back tomorrow.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Monday, February 3, 2014
Day 34
Day 34: Manhattan, NY
$0.24 found
Starbucks at 6th Ave. and 36th St.: $0.22
Herald Square Station: $0.01
Union Square L Station: $0.01
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Day 32
Day 32: Manhasset, NY
$0.01 found
King Kullen, Manhasset: $0.01
Today is the beginning of the second month of my search for the streets of gold and I have definitely learned a lot. I can tell you with some certainty now in which areas I am likely to find change on the ground. To come to the end of the first month and already have found so much money is incredible to me. I know a lot of my readers have been wondering what my Year-To-Date dollar amount is, and I'm excited to say that at the end of the day yesterday, I had found $5.73 and B/.0.01. That is almost double what I thought my average would be! A lot of that has to do with the great find on Day 27, but in no way does that detract from the overall takeaway of this project. There is money to be found on the streets and plenty of it. It just is not always clear why the money is left there. Throughout the course of the first month, I have learned and noticed a lot about both this project and people in general. So here are the top five things that I can take away from my first month.
1. People that know about my project love to tell me when they find money.
This is awesome, and please continue. What this means is that people are actually noticing and perhaps making a small change in their lives. Pun intended. Did you find a dollar? Two? A nickel? That is fantastic. Keep telling me, post it on this blog in the comments, and tell your friends to pick up all the money they see on the ground as well.
2. There are more reasons for money to be on the ground than I had originally expected.
I am starting to categorize each find in my mind. There are quite a few reasons why money might be left when dropped, but as I wrote on Day 27, there are many as to why money might be left on the ground for much longer. A commenter on that post pointed me to a pretty amazing TED talk that delves into how we hold ourselves back because of our own fears and inability to be vulnerable. I have included it below because it really hits home. Brene Brown on Vulnerability:
3. New York City is the perfect place for a project like this one.
The requirements for a city in which a project like this can work are few, but New York City meets them all. Both the amount of foot traffic, and the number of places that require the exchange of small change need to be large in number. There needs to be areas in which there is not a standard every day routine. I have not spent much time down there this year so far, but I imagine that the financial district in Manhattan will be far less lucrative than Times Square, even though it is still heavily frequented on a day to day basis. I am also about to spend a long time in Los Angeles and California in general. It will definitely be interesting to see how that affects my numbers. The same goes for this summer when I spend close to three months in Germany.
4. I hate walking around with my head down.
One of the detriments to this blog is that I am constantly looking around for change. This might be a bit much, and maybe going passed the original intention in starting this project, but now I am deep in it and can not change now. It has been especially difficult when walking with one other person, or in a group of people. I have found it difficult to carry on a conversation and look around for change at the same time. There is a lot of human connection that you miss when you fail to make eye contact with the person with whom you are speaking.
5. I have stopped caring what the people around me are thinking when I stoop to pick up money and block the way for other people.
This is not something I ever had a problem with, but coins are not always the easiest items to pick up off the ground, and when I am on the stairs during rush hour, and I see a penny, stopping to pick it up definitely makes me a little red in the face. However, after a month of doing this almost every day, I no longer really care. I am not ever so late that I do not have the time to stop and pick up money, and each time I find money, I feel like I have won some small lottery.
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