Riviera Village! What's Your Favorite Thing About Your Body?
Riviera Village, South Redondo Beach | 4:30-7:30pm | Friday, April 17th, 2026
On Friday, April 17th, 2026, I took my sign and drove down to Riviera Village.
I’ve been wanting to take my sign to the different pockets of my community, so Riviera Village was next up on my list. It’s a cute little dining/shopping area in South Redondo Beach, CA. I had a feeling it would be a fun spot to bring my sign to - and that it was.
I beat the rush by about an hour or so, finding my spot to park around 4:30. It was quick, and I headed over to the crossroads right at Vist Del Mar & South Catalina Ave. right next to The Aloha Bungalow.
When I got there, I held my sign up. There weren’t many people yet, but I knew traffic was likely to pick up as it grew closer to dinner time.
Like I usually tend to be, I was a bit nervous but also excited and feeling empowered to be there. I was standing, smiling, the sun at my back when people started to respond. It took a bit longer than it had in the past to get a response, but that didn’t bother me. To be quite honest with you, I don’t recall the exact first person to contribute to my question, but very early on I noted a theme for the day: eyes and legs.
One woman passing by said she didn’t know, to which I replied, “It can be anything!” As she was halfway across the opposite street, she grabbed her hair and yelled, “My hair!” She did have fabulous hair.
A younger man driving past in a car shouted out the window, “My eyes!” while pointing both hands to his eyes.
These first few answers had me close to tears. The experience of witnessing people voice an answer to my question is always truly powerful and honestly sometimes overwhelming. It’s so moving. And I’m so happy I’m doing this project, because how beautiful to get to hear from the strangers in my community.
The first two people to approach me to answer were Joe and Sue, a presumed couple who stopped to answer. Joe said his chest/pecs. Sue said her neck/back. It took Sue longer to think up an answer than it did Joe, but I appreciated that she took the time to dig to find something she appreciated about her body.
I then met a younger girl, Sophie, who was with her grandmother. She stopped to chat for a while, which was wonderful. Sophie shared many things about her body that she appreciated - her feet, her lips, and lastly her spine. She said her spine is her ultimate favorite because she recently had surgery on it. So she is now half iron and half human. Her grandmother’s favorite thing is her smile (which was beautiful).
Another guy, Jedidiah, stopped by to chat, saying he saw one of my videos when I was with my sign in Hermosa. Which, like, HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT?! Jedidiah’s favorite thing about his body was his laugh (which was truly infectious). He’s in a band, Feed The Kitty, that was playing at The Craftsman in The Village. As I do, I gave him a sticker for his willingness to be videoed for part of the series, and he gave me a band sticker in return.
I saw two women who’d previously given me an answer - the woman who said her boobs because they feed her baby, and another woman who said her neck. The second woman was with her friend from San Diego, who just so happened to be a therapist who specializes in eating disorders. We all had a chat about how powerful the question is, which was truly just a wonderful conversation to be part of.
This was such a fun place to stand because of the car cross-traffic. The number of people in a car who answered their favorite thing (many, by the way) was so cool to see too! I didn’t anticipate people either reading through their window, shouting responses out their window, or smiling at the question. One woman held up and waved her hands through the window, another pointed to her head/face. This was just so neat to experience.
I was also able to jot down more notes this time around than I had before. The direct quotes are so fun to be able to share, and I wnated to ensure I captured as many as possible.
Before I knew it, my friends Justine and Tanner came over with their friend Chris. Justine answered for the camera, saying her favorite thing about her body is her smile because she uses it to spread positivity - how beautiful is that. Chris said his eyelashes because he used to be bullied for them in school and kids would tell him it looked like he was wearing mascara. But they’re nice and long and he likes them now.
Overall, the day was a hit. The woman who was working at Aloha Bungalow this day was Vicky. She initially laughed when she saw my sign and said something along the lines of how she didn’t have an answer, to which I said, “It can be anything! Like… your aura.” And she said, “Yeah, that’s it - my aura.” I think she was half-joking, but whatever works to get people thinking kindly about themselves, amirite?
By the time she was wrapping up the shop, she asked what I was doing and what my favorite thing about my body was. We spoke about how kind and wonderful our South Bay community is, and she wished me luck as she left for the evening. Vicky is a gem of a human, and I’m so glad she ended up coming over to chat.
I took some time after my time on the street to reflect after the experience and wrote down those that I remembered most:
“What’s Your Favorite Thing About Your Body?”
LOCATION: Riviera Village, South Redondo Beach, CA
DATE: Friday, April 17th, 2026
TIME: 4:30-7:30pm
Answers I heard:
My eyes
My legs
My smile
That I have one
What I can do
My hair
My belly
My ankles
The fact that I can move
My spine
My singing voice
My tits
My clavicles
My feet
My brain
My laugh
My butt
Everything!
My back
My shoulders
My heart
My hands
The theme that stuck out to me the most:
All sorts of various men who said:
“I can’t say…”
“Well, I can’t talk about that.“
“Can’t tell you that.“
[A man who’d previously passed me once] “You’ve given me time to think, and I can’t share because it’s private.”
The two older women had similar responses:
One was with her friend who answered her shoulders. When she said vajayjay, we were all laughing. But like, yes, queen, pop off.
One older woman (she must have been in her eighties) passed by me the first time saying, “That’s none of your business” in a very joking fashion. On her way back from, what I presumed to be dinner, I was standing with friends when she jokinly shouted, “My vajina is none of your business!” We were all dying laughing at the boldness. This queen.
First-Time Responses:
My eyeballs.
My ovaries - that I had three children.
My singing voice.
That I’m kind - this was from a gentleman who was with his daughter. At first he said it feels vain to have to answer, and I told him it doesn’t have to be a physical attribute - it can be an organ or an energy. His daughter’s favorite thing about her body was her eyes.
One gentleman said, “All bodies look the same to me,” which I thought was a very neutral, fascinating response.
One woman said, “My earlobes - they’re the only thing I have left,” while another woman said, “Not my ears!” So interesting.
One man on a bike stopped over to chat for a bit. He said his favorite thing is that he feels younger than he actually is. He called his wife to ask her, but she told him that questions feel invasive. Fascinating how everyone interprets it differently.
Powerful responses that stood out:
One man asked what I was doing and why, to which he replied, “If we think better about ourselves, maybe we won’t be so harsh on others.”
I had a couple of people mention their brain, and one guy said, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”
A woman saw my sign and asked to hug me. She then said, “Hugging you!”
Another woman said, “That it allows me to move and gives me strength.”
One woman said, “I can’t decide!” Like, yes, queen! What a great problem to have.
A young boy said, “My smile!” *cue tears*
Various groups that approached me:
A sweet family stopped over, and the mom asked one of her young girls who said her eyes. Her other daughter didn’t know, and her son kept saying, “Nothing!” We were laughing because we told him there has to be something, but he kept saying, “Nothing!” then laughing.
A group of four women and one guy walked past me, and the man was one of the dudes who said, “I can’t tell you that,” while none of the women wanted to answer.
Two women walked past. One pointd to her friend and said, “Everything!” The friend pointed back and said, “Everything about her too!”
A 17-yo and her mom on bikes rolled up and said they loved the question. The 17-yo said her legs, and her mom pointed out that it was really cool her daughter wanted to answer. *cue more tears*
Stand out words of encouragement:
One woman hugged me, said hers was her belly, and told me to never stop being me.
The women who’s a therapist who specializes in eating disorders and her friend offered kind words about what I was doing, which was just lovely to hear from a clinical psychologist.
Patterns I noticed:
The amount of people in cars driving past that were looking at my sign.
To all who participated in answering my question last Friday - I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am changed because of you, and I hope you are a little bit too.
My chosen place to reflect: Mi Casa (because I had leftover pasta and an open bottle of wine with my name on it).
I went to my yoga studio, YogaSix Redondo Beach, this morning (Tuesday, April 21st, 2026), and after class, a member came up to me asking if I was out in Riviera Village with a sign about bodies. And I said yes!!! She introduced herself, her name is Corrie (Kori? Cori?), and I’m so thrilled she came up to me. She said she knew she recognized me from Y6, and, though they didn’t stop, that her husband said something along the lines of, “That it’s still working.“ I shared that I’m so happy to hear it got them talking, and she said it was an excellent conversation starter. Such. A. Cool. Moment!!!!!!
My favorite thing about my body that day was… my smile!!!
Stay tuned for more of this! I cannot wait to continue this experiment with my community.
As always, I’ll leave you with this: What’s your favorite thing about your body?
❤️🔥Megan
If you want to be a part of the conversation… either reach out to me via email at themegangill@gmail.com to schedule a conversation or fill out this form to share your body image story anonymously.
Do you have a friend, family member, or peer who might want to be part of the conversation? I’d be honored if you could help me spread the word about Continued Conversations
While I’m not a licensed therapist, registered dietician, or medical health professional and cannot speak to body image topics from a clinical, trauma-informed place, I am an expert of lived experience. I’m an academic of my own body, and I’m passionate about facilitating conversations with other humans about their relationships with their bodies. I believe it’s important to continue conversations about healthy body image in creative spaces as a means to heal individuals as well as the collective whole. But just know the information presented in this medium is not professional mental health advice or medical advice, and any questions or concerns you have should always be directed to your healthcare providers.