Wolf & Crane Bar, 7 PM
Hanging out and having drinks with my coworkers, I notice a tall, good-looking black guy wearing a baseball cap down the bar from me. He's talking to some people I know and while he looks really friendly, I also have no idea how he'll react if I ask him to make eye contact with me. So I approach him and do it.
At first he says "no." I push him a bit, though, and he agrees to do it. He wants to know why, like most people do, and I tell him I'll explain it after. I walk back to my seat to get my timer. He doesn't know how to react! He thinks it's weird, but he's going to do it anyway. We begin, and he starts to say something, then remembers the no talking rule. Making eye contact with him is so easy! He's a natural. 60 seconds goes by like that. *snaps fingers*
After the beep we talk about the experiment and I introduce myself. His name is Vince. I give him a card. He seems to be at the bar with Danelle, who watched out eye contact session, and we all talk for a bit. He doesn't want me to use his photograph, but his name is OK. Before I return to my friends I give him a hug.
What an interesting interaction! This feels "very LA" to me. I anticipate that people here in LA will be less open to the eye contact experiment. Yet, even though Vince didn't know what to think about it, and was very vocally unsure about it, he did it anyway.
LA is going to be interesting.