No, because it would be exorbitantly expensive.
When I was a kid we hung out at the record store… it was free
I hung out at videogame sections at consumer electronics stores when I was a kid because they usually had a few game consoles with games on them to play. It was also free.
Was.
As in past-tense.
I spend like $3k/yr at my local bar.
The Pub
You guys can afford to go to a cafe on a regular basis?
You guys have friends?
When I was a teen our spot was Dunkin’ Donuts after school - we befriended another group - of retirees. As an adult it became a bar.
I had when I was young. Good times.
In high school in the '90s we were pretty close. It was a handful of places but not that many, basically anywhere we could get away with sitting for hours nursing a coffee or iced tea. If they had pinball, big bonus. Maybe not every day, but certainly many days in the week.
I think Luke’s was the only diner in Star’s Hollow.
If I’m hanging out with more than 1 person at a time we better be playing D&D. Otherwise I’m probably just there out of obligation.
Third spaces were much more common before the 2000s. Coffee shops where you could hang out with friends were actually a thing in the 90s. Open mic nights and karaoke. I remember we had a common ritual at the book store I worked where everyone who closed would meet up at TGI Fridays for late night drinks, TGIF doesn’t even exist any more. I used to meet up with a bunch of friends at Dennys every Thursday night, and then it fucking closed.
Holy shit how haven’t I noticed all the TGIFs were gone?
They absolutely still exist lol https://tgifridays.com/
There are 85 locations remaining in the united states. Thats down from 270 in the 90s. There are only four in California where I live.
They got bought up by private equity and gutted, just like red lobster.
Kmart and sears too.
Sears had it bad. It got stripped out and then bought by Kmart, and then it got stripped agian.
I don’t have friends, but the people at the coffee drive-through have started recognizing me. Can’t wait to get apartments together with them soon.
I’m not alone! My local coffee stand baristas have an insane memory and know all of the regulars by name. I could never have that kind of memory (likely attributed to decades of smoking the devil’s lettuce)
Dude, no joke.
I went back to a coffee shop like months later, i had only been a few times total, and the barista greeted me by name. Wtf. I was floored.
My memory is shit as well and i can’t even attribute to any fun activities…
“Third places” in this day and age, with this carbrained transportation and zoning policy?
Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Dear John, cheers; these places were either in very walkable cities, or their stories were structured so it would be a way-stop in someone’s commute or travels.
The diner in Seinfeld, the bar in Simpsons and Family Guy.
These are all set in walkable cities, it makes sense to have a favorite cafe near where you all live.
I have a favourite cafe near where I live but I cant afford to go there every day 😭
100% though there are groups of retired folks that definitely do meet up there regularly like in these shows.
I live in a walkable neighborhood, and I have a version of this with the other parents in our neighborhood, where we have a designated night of the week where anyone who can make it meets up at one of the patio restaurants where the kids can run around while the parents hang out. Not everyone makes it every week, but we’ve got a good group of friends.
Nobody can afford that shit anymore. That was a 80/90s adult thing. That or a bar @.@ our parents really got the last of it.
Mid-2000s in France I experienced this, tough we certainly weren’t drinking coffee lmao.
it’s called “my place” or “their place”, and we make coffee for a cent on the dollar
