Between Inside and Outside: The Poetics of Windows in a Los Angeles Neighborhood

Our everyday routines and movements are entangled with and guided by our interactions with material things, such as the material things displayed in our neighbors' windows. During the pandemic we were unable to engage with others in the street, and so what we shared of ourselves through our windows was a form of communication with our neighbors, even when we could not see them. In this time of social distancing, these archaeological moments are particularly meaningful. This paper explores our deep enmeshment and entanglement with the material displays in our neighbors' windows, and how these displays contribute to a poetics of place.