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New York City is known for many things. It is a haven of diversity, a global hub of finance and arts, and, as a famous popstar once encapsulated it, a “concrete jungle where dreams are made of.” It is also where you can take home free stuff from the streets.
For New Yorkers, this practice is known as “stooping,” and fascinatingly enough, people do encounter excellent finds. This trend has taken a life of its own, and there is a dedicated Instagram account for it.
We’ve collected photos from the page showing discarded furniture, pop culture mementos, and artwork worthy of the centerpiece spot in the living room. Indeed, NYC is a captivating place.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Nizumi 10 months ago
No but seriously... This person couldn't do their grandfather the honour of finding a charity to give it to? A Church, synagogue, mosque, temple? A women's shelter where there are often children?
Rouch Houz 10 months ago
Tempted to agree but you never know the reason for this. Maybe they were the one fleeing to a shelter and didn't have the resources/time to do this.
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joanofargh 10 months ago
I wonder why someone just left it outside for someone to take? It seems like it should be a very precious possession
Robert Beveridge 10 months ago
At a guess, either the final child in the family has aged out of it (and they are medically certain there will be no more) or the last person it was handed down to died and the family finds it too painful to keep.
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UKGrandad 10 months ago
I have an old doll's house in my shed that I'm planning on restoring. I found it last year, dumped along with a van-load of fly-tipped rubbish in woodland near my home. It looks to have been made around the 1940s but modelled as a Georgian house, with three storeys and a loft. The roof is hinged like the one in the picture and both the front and back walls are in two sections that open outwards like cupboard doors for access to the front and back rooms.
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#2
Featherytoad 10 months ago
If I had money and a big house, I would by that just for show. Actually, I would probably start taking lessons.
#3
coffee_meowniac 10 months ago
Dont come after me, but is that a stove? If so.......Its the most coquette stove I have ever seen. 💟
UKGrandad 10 months ago
Yes, and despite being found in NYC it's actually a Belgian stove, dating from around 1900-1920.
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A Brooklyn-based couple runs Stooping NYC, and they have chosen to remain anonymous. In an interview with Vogue, they revealed that the idea came about thanks to their young son.
Walking around their neighborhood, they would see random stuff they’d refer to as “treasures.” However, most of these items had been discarded by their owners, who would wait for sanitation to dispose of them or for a random person to collect them.
#4
Sofia Monteiro 10 months ago
I have one just like this for purses and scarfs/ gloves. I love it!
Sofia Monteiro 10 months ago
Idea for the inside doors, put litle metal hooks for necklaces
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#6
Xenia Harley 10 months ago
My son lives in NYC and you do have to be careful taking couches off the street. Sometimes have bedbugs. It's a big problem everywhere in NYC!
Suzanne Pollick 10 months ago
Where's the bed bugs hiding? I want to believe but too many times I've been wrong. Sometimes other people's trash is just other people's trash. Lucky you to have found something that doesn't need has Matt outfit
They soon began posting photos of their finds on their Instagram page, which grew almost overnight. When they started in the summer of 2019, they would receive hundreds of direct messages per day. Their “stooper” community primarily looked forward to the “thrill of the hunt.”
“What started out as a hobby has become a real service to the community,” the couple described their venture.
#7
PrettyJoyBird 10 months ago (edited)
I see a physics, stalin, and sëx for dummies along with a half gallon of milk.
ohjojo (you/your's) 10 months ago
Zen motorcycle repair? Jack Kerouac? are you there Margaret?
Chris the Bobcat 10 months ago
Like a lot of these, not trash. Just a "hey, you want it, you take it" sort of thing. That's a small library there.
#8
coffee_meowniac 10 months ago
If you want to be savvy, after you bring them home, you can sell them 🤓
#9
Stooping NYC also became a source of community during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a 2021 interview with Time Out, the couple felt responsible for posting excellent finds on their page since people expect weekends to be “stooping days.”
“I think people are craving for things to do, and it’s become a social activity and community when socializing hasn’t really been a thing,” they said.
#10
Canadian_Casey 10 months ago
Look like there is a piece of paper facing away. Probably on there.
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#11
Featherytoad 10 months ago
I know, every time I see cool furniture, I always picture where it would go in my house, or what I would get rid off to make it fit.
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#12
Those who happily engage in this activity see it as a way to help Mother Nature. Manhattan resident Lori, a fine artist and production designer who regularly sends items to the Stooping NYC page, shares this sentiment.
“I hate to see waste," she told Yahoo! “Stooping is balancing the universe in a fun, free way.”
#14
coffee_meowniac 10 months ago
For anyone wondering, I think this is a very old cash register :) maybe from 1910?
#15
Given how popular stooping has become, coming across a “treasure” or two may be more challenging these days. However, the couple shared some tips, like knowing when garbage days are.
“Sundays in Brooklyn are always amazing because Monday is a garbage day,” they said, adding that turning alerts on may help you get ahead since Instagram algorithms may show late posts.
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Luis Hernandez Dauajare 10 months ago (edited)
Looks like most books are on politics or economics. There is a commentary here...
#18
Tamra 10 months ago
Can someone explain what Christian capitalism is? I've never heard those two words together before.
tameson 10 months ago (edited)
I can't find an answer easily on the web. Apparently there are longstanding arguments that capitalism became established as a widespread economic system at least partly because of the support of the Catholic Church. Christian socialism then developed through an emphasis on the teachings in the Bible to love thy neighbor, feed the poor, heal the sick, welcome the stranger, etc.
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#21
Christopher “Jester” Šašek 10 months ago
I believe the piece on the right is an easel like this https://meedenart.com/products/meeden-deluxe-multi-function-heavy-duty-large-artist-easel-walnut-dhj-3?variant=51672810356896&country=US¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=Pmax_M%E7%94%BB%E6%9E%B6_0102&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp8--BhBREiwAj7og102jwrKnLKD8wAzCvvlvlcQC9cDi6BON0EdjgUBeqw4mzdLNjAtvBhoCpR4QAvD_BwE
Sven Grammersdorf 10 months ago
Shorter URL: https://meedenart.com/products/meeden-deluxe-multi-function-heavy-duty-large-artist-easel-walnut-dhj-3
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#23
Firstname Lastname 10 months ago
I'd grab them for my Halloween costume. I'd be the toast of the town.
Luis Hernandez Dauajare 10 months ago
Gordon Ramsay would love this: "Now, you truly ARE an idiot sandwich"
#24
brandyy17 10 months ago
chances r it work anymore. im from new york the chances of finding a free working motorcycle is none. ya u can sell it but its harder to sell if it doesnt run so junkyards or searching for a buyer r ur other options. its more likely to b taken if it says free.
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Cyril Sneer 10 months ago
This one is painful. It looks like it is in such good condition. Even if it doesn't run any more, there is something seriously wrong with the world if this doesn't have any value. Get a wrench, take it apart, sell the parts.
ohjojo (you/your's) 10 months ago
I never thought of this as a revenge plot. that would have been perfect for my 20's now that I'm in older I don't hang out with bikers anymore.
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Savannah Newman 10 months ago
My in laws have 3 acres on the river in Montana. I would hide it amongst the trees so when your boating or driving down the road you would have to double back to see if you really just saw a Bigfoot. What fun.
Ivo H 10 months ago
Who is risking the chance of this being a guy in a costume that is just standing very, very stilll?
#28
Chris the Bobcat 10 months ago
A lot of 20th century Modernist furniture here. I love that sort of thing. My uncle inherited my grandparents Paul McCobb pieces, but he doesn't have kids. If I ever have a place of my own again, I'm putting dibs on it. This cabinet would go well with it too.
#29
Suzanne Pollick 10 months ago
Unless it's someone that you know personally and very very well, I would never touch a piece of furniture off the street. There's a reason that they're there. And you might not find out about it until a month after you dragged that sucker up the stairs
Chris the Bobcat 10 months ago
Looks like just the sort of furniture jd vance would like to fvck.
Featherytoad 10 months ago
Omg, I would love this. I have pink alabaster end table lamps, and this would go perfect.
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#32
Tele Avision 10 months ago
Last chapter titled: Beginning Your New Life as a Lesbian.
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#33
Glen Ellyn 10 months ago
With a little work this could be a nice home for a hamster or gerbil.
G A 10 months ago (edited)
Not really they would chew through it quickly and the veneer and glue would be very toxic.
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#38
Kiss Army 10 months ago
That is how my husband has my number listed in his cell phone. I call our cats the Kitty Kommittee and so he spells Kat's with a "K' for the home number.
Chris the Bobcat 10 months ago
For someone whose screen name is "Kiss Army", this could be an oblique reference to Peter Criss.
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#39
#40
Nikki Gross 10 months ago
My hair salon and my Brother's barber shop have a Sponge Bob chair, so that way they aren't gender oriented and make children comfortable. Both of them have safety straps to keep kids from falling out and flailing around while they're getting a haircut. Sharp scissors + squirming kids = potential disaster.
#41
Lady Eowyn 10 months ago
Yes, there was one similar to it in my previous apartment.
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#42
Robert Beveridge 10 months ago
If you could sum up the late eighties in a single photograph...
Featherytoad 10 months ago (edited)
I would take it just for the nostalgia. And, I still have a bunch of cassettes.
Load More Replies... Jonathan K 10 months ago
I am free and it works. (I can't make it all out)
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#50
Featherytoad 10 months ago
I like distressed furniture. I would clean it up and see what it looks like, and possibly leave it as is.
Load More Replies... Chris the Bobcat 10 months ago
We can restore it. We have the technology. We can make it better than it was.
#51
Jill 10 months ago
This is what happens when you drink the Grimace shake! :)
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#53
The Big Bad 10 months ago
I imagine a wall where these beasties pop out. A cool bathroom or something.
#54
G A 10 months ago
Not really worth it for chipboard cheap desk. Spend more than it cost.
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Rouch Houz 10 months ago
Society makes me so sad sometimes. I know it's also a case of logistics but some people would treasure these 💔
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#61
MotherofGuineaPigs 10 months ago
I have a neighbor that tries to look in my curtains. I want to put this in the window. Surprise a$$hole.
Chris the Bobcat 10 months ago
I'm a flabby middle aged man. I would probably start walking around naked and watch the neighbor tear his eyes out like Oedipus to unsee the horror. But that's just me.
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What do you think ?
Summer Days 10 months ago
Not a fan of this "dump it on the street, someone will need it" mentality. There are plenty groups now where you can gift, donate, etc. This is just littering. Not cute
Summer Days 10 months ago
Not a fan of this "dump it on the street, someone will need it" mentality. There are plenty groups now where you can gift, donate, etc. This is just littering. Not cute
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