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Robert Padnick, an L.A.-based television writer, was on his way to a meeting when he saw "a line of what looked like desks and young people working on laptops" on a bridge over the 5 freeway. Wait, what?
Yes, that's right—a co-working space on a pedestrian bridge over the 5 Freeway in Atwater Village, with free wifi and a cooler full of La Croix. Because why not?
Writer/artist/filmmaker Kailee McGee, who set up the pop-up space with her team at Sunnynook Drive, an Atwater-based content hub and lifestyle website, told LAist that she'd spent some time on the freeway pedestrian bridge and "I just thought this is such a weird, busy, chaotic energy. I wonder what it would be like to work here."
McGee, who uses a school desk as her main space to write during the day, said she thought, "What if I just bring a bunch of school desks here and invite people to work and change up the coffee shop thing with this overpass?"
She kept thinking about it, and ultimately teamed up with her friends YACHT, whose band members run the app "5 Every Day." The app posted a teaser last night, and dropped the full details in a post this morning:
Padnick, a former writer for The Office, said he happened to check "5 Every Day" after his meeting, where he saw the event listed as a pop-up workspace over the freeway with free coffee and La Croix and WiFi.
"It was like a sign, and I went after lunch. They said I was lucky because a desk had just freed up."
"We didn't set up any signs like 'Welcome,' or 'Here's the WiFi,'" McGee said. "It's been pretty much a lawless thing, and it's beautiful how people who've found out about it just kind of show up, look around, and take a desk. People just figure it out, you don't need to tell them what to do."
There are eight desks, which McGee says have been filled since they started at 11 a.m. this morning.
"The funny thing is that everyone sits at their desk and opens their laptop and gets a La Croix, and then they get up from their desk, step back and take a picture. Literally everyone," McGee said with a laugh.
If you want to head over, pop open your laptop, and Instagram the scene, you had better hurry—the pop-up will only last until 6 p.m. tonight.
