It's hard for me to think of one. I would consider reddit my quasi-third place. The best example of a real life third place I can think of is my college's dining hall or a friend's house.
So what's yours?
When I was younger, my friends and I would play soccer and hang out at a community jungle gym. Over the years, the park rotted away and gathered graffiti, but we would still keep coming back. It was there where I learned about life. I got the chance to form my own opinions away from my parents about religion, politics, science, and ethics. Most often, it was just three of us, but sometimes more. At the beginning of it all, there was a christian, muslim, and agnostic, but over time, we came to a consensus on the matter. I felt like it was the place dreams were discovered and societal issues were solved. It was the place I wanted to fool around with with my first love. It was the place where I fought some people who would remain enemies and some who would become friends. This was the community center for our generation then. Now, while I don't see the friends as frequently as I wish because of different places of enrollment for college, I have made other friends with the floor of my residence hall. Our third place is the study room late at night or in each others' rooms.
Great vivid story about the jungle gym. My third places growing up definitely shaped who I am today.
reddit was more of a third place when I first discovered it, but now that position is definitely debatable. I think it's gotten too big for its own good. Hubski seems to be where it's at now. There is a more authentic community spirit and everything I read is thought-provoking in the best ways possible. On reddit I lurked for about a year before I started posting, but here I've been comfortable diving in head first.
Haha, you literally took the words from my mouth. I've been saying the same words for as long as I can remember (or, the bulk of 2013). Reddit has become a cesspool of ignorance disguised as pseudo-skepticism and intellectualism, and a cesspool of teens looking for cheap laughs. And they're not always mutually exclusive. Whenever I say the latter, people go "You can't generalize an entire demographic! How can you say that?" and I say that because in my mixed grade classes the freshman are always going "Did you see that new rage/may-may/vid?" or "You should submit this video I found for the epic Karma. I would, but I don't have an account." That last comment really hits hard. Reddit has eras, like humanity. Originally there weren't comments or subreddits, but that's no matter. The content was niche enough so as not to warrant discussion. It was just programming articles upon programming articles upon programming articles. Then it shifted, comments were added and Reddit became somewhat like Hubski is now. Discussion. About science, ethics, humanity, you name it. However, at some point, imgur was created. I call what it is now the "imgur/qkme era" where on all the big subs, 99% of posts are images. I really want you to think about it. 99% of posts on /r/funny, /r/gaming, /r/atheism (what a joke), are just images. Where's the discussion? To quote Kleinbl00, people need to realize your Karma isn't a pachinko game, it's an odometer.
Or at least I think Kleinbl00 said that.
Hubski. I've cried and laughed over discussions here. I've taken knowledge, and I've given insight. We all have, that's what makes Hubski great. I've learned and I've lost. It's truly a brilliant third place. That, and whenever I'm playing any music with others. Complete therapy.
Lately, my third place has been a local coffee shop. My fiancee and I are planning our wedding, which despite its small size (we're trying so hard anyway), seems to take up a disproportionate amount of time. It's been mentally awesome to have a nice space to grab the laptop and head to to get planning done, and we're always more productive there. We usually have a list of items walking in the door that need resolution, and we walk out with a consensus on each of them.
Conversation is Main Activity
Playful and happy conversation is the main focus of activity in Third Places, although it is not required to be the only activity.
Just back (again) from Key West FL where we "joined" the White Street Pier Sunrise Society - some number of people between 2 and 20 that meet at a bench on the pier and watch the sunrise. Conversation is the main activity, but it's the amazing sunrises that get them out there.
I don't now have a dog, but I've observed that urban dog owners gather informally in off-leash areas at the same time for conversation and otherwise seem to fill the criteria listed in the post, although the only food is dog biscuits.
Are there other societies for watching the sunrise? Or maybe ones for sunset? I would really love to be a part of one, that sounds like a great way to gaze the twilight and reflect upon/look forward to the day.
If you're a seatraveler maybe you can start a sunrise society on some beach facing east. The sun seems to keep coming up over rooftops and cityscapes, but when it comes up over the misty sea, it can be spectacular. This pic was taken by the above-mentioned sunrise society. They bring their bikes and their dogs and sometimes visiting grandchildren, maybe a take-out cup of Cuban coffee...watch, chat, get on with the day.
Mine would probably be my dance practice. Once a week I'm with various friends and acquaintances. These friendships then offshoot into other places as well (apartments, sporting events, etc.), but dance practice is the regular event for most of us that we experience together. Otherwise the closest thing for me would be friends' apartments or houses.
Hotels. I travel a few times a month and I have certain hotels that I like to stay in. I, like Cathal would also put the "pub" on my list too. I enjoy having a drink with friends or even occasionally by myself.
Probably the gym. It's interesting to think about though; I could see that for a lot of people, places meeting criteria laid-out for the Third Place are waning. A lot more of our time is digitized and I think that a lot of sources for the Third Place on the internet might be inadequate.
I prefer smoking weed to drinking alcohol. So, usually my third place involved was a living room somewhere, with like minded people. Sometimes the weed was the only thing to tie people together. I have cut back recently, and now only smoke one or two times a week, sometimes less. When Colorado and Washington legalized it as best they could, it wasn't the idea of legally buying weed that excited me the most. It was the creation of legitimate third places for people like me. There are many people out there who crave the pub atmosphere, but with a good joint instead of a good beer. Think about it. We've all heard of the coffee shops in Amsterdam. They draw a lot of tourists who all crave what I crave, a third place with weed. Alcohol is sold all over the place in the States, and while it is heavily regulated in the Maritimes, it is still way more widely available. I know we are a long way away from this. And I don't know if what I propose will ever be possible due to one reason. You have to burn, or at least heat, the weed. This produces smoke. Smoking isn't allowed inside anymore. Who knows though. It could still happen.
Here in CO, a new kind of mobile club has popped up to provide this kind of social consumption.
We shall see. I've been to Amsterdam twice, once in 1999, and once in 2007. In the eight years between visits, I could hardly believe how much the culture had devolved. (Or perhaps my memory had failed, too.) I remembered how laid back and enjoyable the coffee shop atmosphere was in '99, but in '07 it seemed that the whole city was infested by by drunk Brits on a weekend holiday. The character was definitely not the same. When getting high was a nice bonus to the city, it seemed wonderful. When getting high is the point, it is trash. Hopefully, CO and WA will figure out ways of discouraging an out of control culture.
The issue could resolve itself. Amsterdam devolved because those drunk Brits do not have the option back in the UK. Amsterdam would not be so unique if other places with similar lenience were allowed to operate. Pot tourism needs more places like Amsterdam so that a healthy competition can make everyone work harder.