50 Couches in 50 Nights

My name is Dean MacKay. In June and July of 2010, I slept on 50 different couches in 50 consecutive nights. I took photographs of the couches, both as a couch and as my bed. I took portraits of my hosts and interviewed them. I documented their homes on film and digitally as well as in a journal. I was treated to home cooked meals and intimate secrets. I was cared for when I was ill and checked in on after I was long gone. There were sleepless nights and busy days and times spent discussing the past and dreaming about the future. I drank a lot of coffee at a lot of different coffee houses. There were old friends who became closer and acquaintances who I now call my friends. There were even strangers who invited me into their homes. Threads were woven among them all. My skills were honed as I practiced my craft on a daily basis. I learned many things about my hosts and I continue to learn many things about myself. These times are unforgettable. This journey was initially born out of necessity. The economic times had taken their toll. But the fruit of this labor is not simply financial. It is emotional and spiritual and societal. I tapped into something that is still developing. And as it develops I will share with you this knowledge as well as providing you a way to share it with others. I hope that you will support me as this journey continue and grows. I plan to unveil many things from this work including a coffee table book on the couches, and perhaps other books and a documentary. I'm also hoping to get the blog carried on a major website. Of course, and second project is also in the works although what form it will take has yet to be determined. Any assistance or advice that you can offer to further these projects is welcome. Your support, both financial and emotional, is crucial to my success. Thank You. © Dean MacKay 2010

50 Couches in 50 Nights has written 48 posts for 50 Couches in 50 Nights

Couch #19 – Greg – June 18th, 2010

Posted by 50 Couches in 50 Nights ⋅ October 1, 2010 ⋅ Leave a comment

Couch #19 belongs to Greg. Or more specically, to his girlfriend, Nicole and him. They live in the Bartlett Building, in a converted loft that Nicole owns, in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles, California. They live their with their chihuahua, Princess. Nicole and he have a group of friends, called Tren Way Bicycle Gang. One of the members of the group had the couch in their office on Magnolia in Burbank. He had a little IT business there. They used to have after hours parties there and Nicole absolutely loved the couch. Initially another friend took the couch for a while, but then wanted to get rid of it. Nicole and Greg were moving into the loft and arranged to pick up the couch. It was 4 sections long and was too large to be moved into their place. Nicole and two friends just couldn’t get it around the tight corners of the old downtown building. Once they had tried everything, Nicole then hired two guys she found on Craigslist who struggled for 3-4 hours with it. They were able to get it up the stairway to the fifth floor, but were not able to get it down the narrow hallway to the loft. Once they had done all that they could Nicole then contacted friends who had had some reupholstery done recently for some advice. The people that had done the reupholstery work took the couch then proceed to chop off and remove one of the sections and reattach the arm. It was now a smaller, 3 section couch, and was able to be moved into Nicole and Greg’s place. As you can see, it has a lot history among their friends. And it is definitely comfortable to lie on. Greg is employed doing IT work at NBC TV Stations in Burbank. Greg and Nicole like riding bikes and camping, and they are into photography and music. Greg is just getting into playing music. They also like seeing bands and watching movies. Opposite of where he is at now, which is being environmental and green and riding bicyles, Greg raced motorcycles as a kid, off-road, in the desert. He was really good at it and successful. Greg then went off to college and gave it up. It’s kind of dangerous. Bicycles are alot cheaper and safer.

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50 Couches in 50 Nights

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