Alex Moya was walking through Westwood at the end of last school year when he came across a dining table with four chairs, apparently abandoned, sitting out in the street in front of an apartment building.
“I couldn’t believe someone had abandoned it,” said Moya, who graduated last spring.
As students move in and out of apartments each year, the streets of Westwood fill up with furniture, though not all of it is an as good condition as the table Moya found.
But while perusing the streets in the North Village is a popular way for students to furnish their apartments, it is far from the only way ““ many students rely on personal contacts, search online or simply buy new furniture from local stores.
In recent years, with the rise of Facebook and Craigslist, many students have turned to the Internet when buying and selling furniture.
Moya, who had previously bought items online, took advantage of that trend.
After finding the dining table, Moya and his roommate began collecting abandoned furniture they found in Westwood, repairing it when necessary and then selling it online.
“It’s amazing the types of things people give away,” he said. “I find things that people abandon that really do have potential.”
Moya said he can typically sell such items for around $100 and has brought in nearly $1,000 this summer.
He added that he believes outlets such as Facebook Marketplace are popular among students because they are specific to the university community.
“The Internet provides a sort of local market … you can see things for the lowest price possible,” he said.
Hossein Nasseri, a fourth-year civil engineering student, has also experimented with using the Internet to find furnishings for his apartment.
But instead of buying items online, Nasseri has concentrated on the free sections of Web sites like Craigslist.
“I started looking and I was really surprised ““ there’s all this free stuff,” he said.
Nasseri said the only drawback to items listed for free is that the owners typically do not provide transportation.
“You (sometimes) have to drive 15, 20 miles to go get it,” he said.
But Nasseri emphasized that looking online is not the only way for students to find cheap furniture for their apartments.
“Different people know a lot of different stuff,” he said. “There’s a lot of stores out there, there’s stuff like the Salvation Army. There’s many different ways.”
Though Nasseri had previously bought some furniture through forums on MyUCLA, he said he generally relied on non-Internet sources to furnish his own apartment.
Like many students, Nasseri acquired some items through personal contacts. His roommate provided two sofas from a family friend, and Nasseri bought his own dining table from the apartment’s previous occupant.
Maggie Matthews, a second-year undeclared student, used family contacts to acquire most of her furniture.
Matthews’ family runs mortuaries, and she was able to bring an couch from one of them to use in her living room.
“It’s this couch from the ’70s, and it was just sitting there,” she said.
Moya also said most of his own furniture was not bought online. When he originally set out to furnish his first apartment, he shopped at local stores.
Pico Boulevard has many furniture stores, and major warehouses such as IKEA are 11 miles away from UCLA.
Matthews said she would likely turn to a large store such as Target or IKEA if she needed additional furnishings.
“If I was living in a more permanent place, I’d probably look for something more unique, but (those stores) are just really convenient,” she said.
But Westwood itself is short on furniture retailers, and for students without easy access to a car, shopping in a store may not be particularly convenient.
Nasseri emphasized the importance of patience in finding good deals, whether students are searching online or through other sources.
“Don’t be in a rush,” he said. “If you wait, time will bring you everything.”