Life

The Absurd Conversations You Overhear In LA

by Eliza Castile

Do you dream of visiting the City of Angels but never manage to come up with the money for a plane ticket? If so, allow me to direct you to OverheardLA, an Instagram account that's almost as good as the real thing. Sure, you might not get to experience the kale, kombacha, and Kardashians found on every corner of the real Los Angeles, but you do get to read all about the residents' Thanksgiving seances, pre-sex dairy consumption, and, of course, the do's and don'ts of juice cleanses. (Five days, minimum, and it absolutely must be cold-pressed.) When you get right down to it, isn't that what Los Angeles is really about?

As you've no doubt guessed by now, the Instagram features the most absurdly hilarious conversations overheard in Los Angeles, as told by people who actually live there. Submissions range from the insanely un-self aware, like the mother who told her child to tone down the resting bitch face, to the exquisitely Millennial, like the man who used Postmates to deliver Plan B during a date, but trust me — every last post is a treasure trove of ridiculousness that will restore your faith in humanity. Perhaps "restore" isn't the right word, but it'll certainly affect it somehow.

"We were inspired by the unique culture in Los Angeles, although people in NY, London, Charlotte, Dallas, Sydney, and many other places can relate to the 'LA culture' as it has spread around the globe," the creators of the account tell Bustle over email. They have a point; as comical as some f the posts are, others are totally relatable. Who hasn't stayed in and cried to Adele once or twice (or a thousand times)?

"We get dozens of submissions a day, and many of them stretch credulity. We don't post anything that doesn't seem like it was genuinely overheard... But at the same time, LA is a crazy place, and it never ceases to amaze what outlandish things are said," the creators add. "We have turned down seemingly fictitious posts that later on seemed to be real."

While most city stereotypes tend to irritate their residents at best and actively harm the population at worst, the creators of OverheardLA take pride in their city's unique reputation. "We like the posts best that seem to capture the Zeitgeist of this crazy city. The sorts of things that would make you go, 'only in LA!'" they wrote.

The concept of "overheard conversations" is hardly new — OverheardLA joins Overheard in New York, Overheard in the Office, and other similar blogs all over the world. What makes OverheardLA so darn fun, though, is how it manages to combine relatable, millennial conversations with topics that are uniquely, hilariously specific to Los Angeles. After all, where else in the world could you complain about all the pesky sci-fi screenwriters taking over your coffee shop?

Check out a few more posts below, and head over to the OverheardLA Instagram for more.

Images: daveynin/Flickr; OverheardLA/Instagram (6)