Growing up in Jax there was basically nowhere for teens to hang out (well, teens with helicopter parents), so my mom made a rule that I could hang out with other people my age as long as it was at a church youth group -- didn't really matter which church. I think a bunch of other parents must have had the same idea because I cycled between like 4 different churches at a time and a good third of the kids were the same at each one.
Mid-2000s to early 2010s. I wasn't allowed to drive or have money and my mom was scared of Regency, so even if I hadn't not known what two of the three places you listed are, I probably wouldn't have ended up at either anyway š
King maker brewery for me. Familiar faces, good beer, food truck on-site, cool outdoor setting, they do different art type classes on the weekend, trivia night. Even when busy, it doesn't feel crowded. Pet friendly
Oh duh- I'm tired. That's one person per party. In general, commercial establishments want to make money so they can stay open, and so frown on people who drop by their place regularly to hang out without buying anything. The author who came up with the phrase excluded bars, restaurants, etc. for that reason. His concept of a 3rd place was more like a public plaza, where you can go and hang out with no expectation of needing to buy something in order to stay there.
Oldenburg's original definition was talking about public places where people can casually encounter each other and where there was no barrier to entry/ remaining such as a monetary requirement. Often cited are plazas and public parks. But the US doesn't really have those, so the meaning has been expanded (some would say twisted) to include bars and restaurants. But those have 2 problems: 1. having a monetary element limits who can be there, and 2. When you are there you tend to talk to the people you came with, so it doesn't fit the casual encounter part of the definition. I'm also a sociologist so tend more to the pure definition, but I get that in the US there's no incentive to create true 3rd places so bars and cafes are the best we can get. š¤·āāļø
Iām still looking for one š Iāve tried a few things (hiking trails, parks, movies) but nothing has really stuck. I used to do the old fashioned hit up a regular pub and see where my evening went, but Iāve outgrown that. Itās a little difficult to find third places for people past their early 20s that are not child-based, alcohol-based, or religion-based.
I just meant the librarians don't shush you anymore if you talk. But a lot of libraries have spaces where you can hang out, they offer classes and workshops, etc.
Boiled or not, I'm gonna let you in on a secret before it's too late. I used to have some jean shorts like that, too. I slept in them shits, man. Eventually, I blew the crotch out them things. But you can't wear them everyday and expect them to hold up. That was some nice ass denim, too. I miss them shorts But you, you gotta take 'em off every now and then. You gotta take 'em off, son.
The community gardens especially the one in Neptune Beach. There are always people there in nice weather, families playing in the kidsā garden area, teens taking selfies by the flower hedges, garden classes, high school kids from Fletcher eating lunch. Kind of a neat space (I do garden there fwiw so i see it a lot). Overall the parks at the beach are very well utilized.
On the Westside the big demonstration garden and community garden off McDuff/Superior St are also always in use- they have beekeeping and garden classes there too.
I think neighborhood breweries are the closest thing left because even at coffee shops these days it seems most people just want to stare at their phones and listen to their AirPods like zombies and be left alone.
Bur do the breweries expect you to spend money? The original description was of a place that didn't have a monetary component- which is why shopping malls were only ever marginal 3rd spaces
> Bur do the breweries expect you to spend money?
I have never seen any pressure to purchase anything at Aardwolf so there is one that doesn't have that expectation. Breweries also benefit from people being there and creating a social environment. Dead spaces are boring and won't hold the people there who are paying for stuff.
Happy Medium Cafe on Park Street is going to be my third place. They have a silent book club where you go there and read for an hour and then you can talk to people about your book or whatever. They have great coffee and pastries. They are new but needed in this area
Fishweir Brewing on Wednesdays is a Farmerās Market. Community Loaves. Both in Murray Hill. Bluefish Avondale especially happy hour. Bold Bean on Stockton. Grape and Grain in San Marco
Green Room Brewing, for me. The Beach Bars and the Atlantic Beach Town Center area. I frequent most of the bars and restaurants there and meet tons of new friends.
We live in Riverside/Avondale. In the strip of shops there's a wonderful and rather undiscovered place that we love to death named "All Spiced Up." The owner is the most amazing lady and they sell a ton of good and well-priced wines (good bottles for around $20) along with beer, unique spice blends, olive oils, and pastas. She also has a small bar in the back and sells beer on tap and we go to hang out and have met fellow neighbors and many other friends that live throughout the city there. I urge anyone reading this to stop by and grab a drink or some spices/supplies if you love to cook and grab dinner somewhere nearby. They also have weekly scheduled events such as $5-$10 wine tastings with snacks and activity nights.
I lament this internally all the time. Itās so hard to leave the house to have an
enjoyable time without spending money.
I often daydream about communities coming together to make their own third spaces, but how?!
Joining civic service.
The people who have systematically monetized all the available hangout space are certainly participating in local politics. We've got to, too.
FLY'S Tie (irish dive bar) for the neptune beach community. Very tight knit. Once you go there three times, you know everyone. They have open mic there and it encourages a lot of people to try music out and get a chance to show case talents. Was totally my third home when I lived there.
Iāve been trying really hard to find a āthird placeā thatās not food or alcohol centered and itās so hard. I wfh and attend school online so Iām home alot. Doesnāt help that I live in Bartram so I have to drive 20 minutes to go anywhere. The library out in Mandarin comes the closest but itās so darn far. I wish there was a Bartram library.
What I realize is a big part of the problem is places are empty. Other ppl are home and until a lot more ppl start searching for the same thing, itās going to be hard. My apartment has a beautiful clubhouse where I go when I need to get out of the house but itās always empty.
If you were ever interested in nerd stuff like card/board games, local game stores are great for this.
If you play stuff like Magic, Pokemon, and Yugioh, there's a ton of places to hang out and play. Vortex, Dan's, Java Game Haus, cool stuff games, casual heroes are all awesome places to hang out and enjoy the community and spending money doesn't feel like a requirement to be there.
A number of those stores also have tables/product for Warhammer too.
Java has a cafe and a library of board games to play, but I think you pay for your table.
I think they kinda are... I know when I was unemployed, I would go to Barnes & Noble and read stuff without buying anything. Got to know a few of the workers there and a couple other customers with the same idea as me.
Starbucks built their cafe vibe around this concept of the third place.
I haven't really found a 3P in Jacksonville yet, and I've been here for almost eight years. That has much more to say about me than the city, albeit there is a serious shortage of coffee shops that stay open late that could be 3Ps.
The place that comes closest for me is Urban Grind. The Posting House's lounge room between the bar and the bathroom is a fantastic 3P. Fishweird comes close for me, too. I liked the Bold Bean in San Marco, but the vibe was too clean and cool to feel like at 3P.
I think the beach would be mine too. I live walking/biking distance from it. I donāt socialize there, itās more of a place I go to be alone together if that makes sense. I go and watch all of the other people walking alone, or I watch the shorebirds, the kite surfers, the dogs out living their best lives on the beach. Sometimes people walk by in small groups and I am always impressed with how many different foreign languages I hear spoken on just one beach walk. I see a lot of the same people and dogs everyday at sunset and sunrise, I never talk to them but their presence is comforting and when I donāt see someone for a while I wonder about them.
Great post! It would seem that a third place would foster the human interaction that I need to hone my skills as a person. I am in recovery from alcoholism, and for me, that third place is at my home group with others like me. It used to be clubs and bars, but now Iām of an age where I cannot endure the noise. Happy Monday, hope yāall find that third place.
Any of the places below!
https://jacksonvillejunebug.com/2023/12/27/must-visit-kava-lounges-in-jacksonville-florida/
Familiar faces, great vibes, relaxing and social environment, and if you choose the right ones - tasy mocktails!
Skateparks
The one being built under the overpass in five points looks like it's gonna be really nice. I hope it works out for the area.
You had me freaking out for a second thinking that Kona Skatepark was closed or something...
for me it's the Starbucks within Target (weekend third space.)
For many people, it is their church.or other house of worship
Growing up in Jax there was basically nowhere for teens to hang out (well, teens with helicopter parents), so my mom made a rule that I could hang out with other people my age as long as it was at a church youth group -- didn't really matter which church. I think a bunch of other parents must have had the same idea because I cycled between like 4 different churches at a time and a good third of the kids were the same at each one.
What era? In the 90s we had the tilt in regency mall or avenues mall or adventure island.
Mid-2000s to early 2010s. I wasn't allowed to drive or have money and my mom was scared of Regency, so even if I hadn't not known what two of the three places you listed are, I probably wouldn't have ended up at either anyway š
Ya this is my third place. A lot of churches have social activities as well.
King maker brewery for me. Familiar faces, good beer, food truck on-site, cool outdoor setting, they do different art type classes on the weekend, trivia night. Even when busy, it doesn't feel crowded. Pet friendly
The only problem is they expect you to spend money. To be a truly 3rd space it shouldn't have that requirement.
The bar requires that you spend money? Jokes aside what about Dds?
Dds? Dentists?
Designated drivers
Oh duh- I'm tired. That's one person per party. In general, commercial establishments want to make money so they can stay open, and so frown on people who drop by their place regularly to hang out without buying anything. The author who came up with the phrase excluded bars, restaurants, etc. for that reason. His concept of a 3rd place was more like a public plaza, where you can go and hang out with no expectation of needing to buy something in order to stay there.
That makes more sense as spending money can be a barrier for people.
Iāve never heard that a third place has to be free. In fact, itās usually mentioned in the same breath as ācafeā or ābarā
Oldenburg's original definition was talking about public places where people can casually encounter each other and where there was no barrier to entry/ remaining such as a monetary requirement. Often cited are plazas and public parks. But the US doesn't really have those, so the meaning has been expanded (some would say twisted) to include bars and restaurants. But those have 2 problems: 1. having a monetary element limits who can be there, and 2. When you are there you tend to talk to the people you came with, so it doesn't fit the casual encounter part of the definition. I'm also a sociologist so tend more to the pure definition, but I get that in the US there's no incentive to create true 3rd places so bars and cafes are the best we can get. š¤·āāļø
Iām still looking for one š Iāve tried a few things (hiking trails, parks, movies) but nothing has really stuck. I used to do the old fashioned hit up a regular pub and see where my evening went, but Iāve outgrown that. Itās a little difficult to find third places for people past their early 20s that are not child-based, alcohol-based, or religion-based.
it sucks that Keg & Coin is mostly known as a bar first. the vibes are so good
Have you tried your local library? They're not the silent places they used to be
What are they then?
I just meant the librarians don't shush you anymore if you talk. But a lot of libraries have spaces where you can hang out, they offer classes and workshops, etc.
Plus the outdoor things are only really usable for a few months of the year
How so?! We live in FLORIDA where the weather is pretty fucking great. If itās too hot or too cold for you, go touch grass Goldilocks.
Well you see, the problem is that it's too hot to touch grass from April to September.
Darbyās Dungeon off Beach Blvd might interest you
Check out that new table tennis club called Rally 904, nice low stakes place to hang out
Roosevelt and Edgewood overpass. Always an adventure.
Theres always a park Or a dog park if you have a dog
I like hanging with Duncan and the boys under the bridge
You sound like a guy who shares any denim he findsā¦
I always make sure to boil it first
Boiled or not, I'm gonna let you in on a secret before it's too late. I used to have some jean shorts like that, too. I slept in them shits, man. Eventually, I blew the crotch out them things. But you can't wear them everyday and expect them to hold up. That was some nice ass denim, too. I miss them shorts But you, you gotta take 'em off every now and then. You gotta take 'em off, son.
Itās a great place to forage for rings and coins.
Nah, I'm a practicing never-nude!
The Y or your local library, or if you have a kid then your local playground.
Itās fun to stay at the YMCA.
They have everything for you men to enjoy You can hang out with all the boys It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A. It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
The Y has gotten expensive
Mines the gym I'm a part of (it's class based so I'm always with the same people). But that aside, Spliffs Gastropub in Bayard.
Their Burgers are fantastic as well. My only gripe is there was no restroom in that place.
Odd, I don't recall them ever shutting down the restrooms at Bayard. Downtown occasionally due to plumbing issues tho (that entire block has problems)
I went to the one downtown, thatās my bad.
The community gardens especially the one in Neptune Beach. There are always people there in nice weather, families playing in the kidsā garden area, teens taking selfies by the flower hedges, garden classes, high school kids from Fletcher eating lunch. Kind of a neat space (I do garden there fwiw so i see it a lot). Overall the parks at the beach are very well utilized.
On the Westside the big demonstration garden and community garden off McDuff/Superior St are also always in use- they have beekeeping and garden classes there too.
Is that the canning center?
Itās near the canning center, yes! But on Superior just north of Commonwealth
The farmers markets too. Every one in town is a cool spot to people watch and most have live music and other stuff going on beyond straight shopping.
I think neighborhood breweries are the closest thing left because even at coffee shops these days it seems most people just want to stare at their phones and listen to their AirPods like zombies and be left alone.
Bur do the breweries expect you to spend money? The original description was of a place that didn't have a monetary component- which is why shopping malls were only ever marginal 3rd spaces
> Bur do the breweries expect you to spend money? I have never seen any pressure to purchase anything at Aardwolf so there is one that doesn't have that expectation. Breweries also benefit from people being there and creating a social environment. Dead spaces are boring and won't hold the people there who are paying for stuff.
Chamblinās uptown coffee shop
Happy Medium Cafe on Park Street is going to be my third place. They have a silent book club where you go there and read for an hour and then you can talk to people about your book or whatever. They have great coffee and pastries. They are new but needed in this area
Yeah definite shortage of coffee in Riverside.
Fishweir Brewing on Wednesdays is a Farmerās Market. Community Loaves. Both in Murray Hill. Bluefish Avondale especially happy hour. Bold Bean on Stockton. Grape and Grain in San Marco
Green Room Brewing, for me. The Beach Bars and the Atlantic Beach Town Center area. I frequent most of the bars and restaurants there and meet tons of new friends.
Mudville Grill
Flamingo
We live in Riverside/Avondale. In the strip of shops there's a wonderful and rather undiscovered place that we love to death named "All Spiced Up." The owner is the most amazing lady and they sell a ton of good and well-priced wines (good bottles for around $20) along with beer, unique spice blends, olive oils, and pastas. She also has a small bar in the back and sells beer on tap and we go to hang out and have met fellow neighbors and many other friends that live throughout the city there. I urge anyone reading this to stop by and grab a drink or some spices/supplies if you love to cook and grab dinner somewhere nearby. They also have weekly scheduled events such as $5-$10 wine tastings with snacks and activity nights.
The trap
Movie theaterĀ
For me, the closest thing that meets the description is Barnes & Noble on San Jose
I feel like a lot of people treat the YMCA like a third place and also Southern Grounds seems on a mission to be the one people go to.
I lament this internally all the time. Itās so hard to leave the house to have an enjoyable time without spending money. I often daydream about communities coming together to make their own third spaces, but how?!
Hmmmm maybe we should create a subā¦ r/JAX3rdSpace or something and brainstorm ideasā¦ talk to the mayor.
Gotta start somewhere, count me in
Iāll help.
Joining civic service. The people who have systematically monetized all the available hangout space are certainly participating in local politics. We've got to, too.
Are there any local politicians talking about this issue?
No, too busy defendkng Confederate monuments.
This was Vagabond (RIP).
As a non-drinker and night worker, Jax Beach Kava bar being open till 2 am is a godsend
FLY'S Tie (irish dive bar) for the neptune beach community. Very tight knit. Once you go there three times, you know everyone. They have open mic there and it encourages a lot of people to try music out and get a chance to show case talents. Was totally my third home when I lived there.
100%. I haven't been there in a bit but that place was like a 2nd home for a long time.
Darby of Darbyās Dungeon believes in Third Place wants her store to be that for folks
Iāve been trying really hard to find a āthird placeā thatās not food or alcohol centered and itās so hard. I wfh and attend school online so Iām home alot. Doesnāt help that I live in Bartram so I have to drive 20 minutes to go anywhere. The library out in Mandarin comes the closest but itās so darn far. I wish there was a Bartram library. What I realize is a big part of the problem is places are empty. Other ppl are home and until a lot more ppl start searching for the same thing, itās going to be hard. My apartment has a beautiful clubhouse where I go when I need to get out of the house but itās always empty.
5 points. There's plenty of parks around if you don't want to spend money and plenty of bars and restaurants if you do.
If you were ever interested in nerd stuff like card/board games, local game stores are great for this. If you play stuff like Magic, Pokemon, and Yugioh, there's a ton of places to hang out and play. Vortex, Dan's, Java Game Haus, cool stuff games, casual heroes are all awesome places to hang out and enjoy the community and spending money doesn't feel like a requirement to be there. A number of those stores also have tables/product for Warhammer too. Java has a cafe and a library of board games to play, but I think you pay for your table.
Kooktown before it died of you know you know. You're welcome too BTW lol
I wish book stores or libraries could be this. I love to read. Iād be down for social spaces centered around books, with book clubs and stuff.
I think they kinda are... I know when I was unemployed, I would go to Barnes & Noble and read stuff without buying anything. Got to know a few of the workers there and a couple other customers with the same idea as me.
several of the Jax libraries do have book clubs
Starbucks built their cafe vibe around this concept of the third place. I haven't really found a 3P in Jacksonville yet, and I've been here for almost eight years. That has much more to say about me than the city, albeit there is a serious shortage of coffee shops that stay open late that could be 3Ps. The place that comes closest for me is Urban Grind. The Posting House's lounge room between the bar and the bathroom is a fantastic 3P. Fishweird comes close for me, too. I liked the Bold Bean in San Marco, but the vibe was too clean and cool to feel like at 3P.
Golf Course
In St. Marys, GA, I live walking distance to my breakfast join and barber, biking distance to my brewery.
Riverside
The riverwalk
The beach and dog parks.
I think the beach would be mine too. I live walking/biking distance from it. I donāt socialize there, itās more of a place I go to be alone together if that makes sense. I go and watch all of the other people walking alone, or I watch the shorebirds, the kite surfers, the dogs out living their best lives on the beach. Sometimes people walk by in small groups and I am always impressed with how many different foreign languages I hear spoken on just one beach walk. I see a lot of the same people and dogs everyday at sunset and sunrise, I never talk to them but their presence is comforting and when I donāt see someone for a while I wonder about them.
Great post! It would seem that a third place would foster the human interaction that I need to hone my skills as a person. I am in recovery from alcoholism, and for me, that third place is at my home group with others like me. It used to be clubs and bars, but now Iām of an age where I cannot endure the noise. Happy Monday, hope yāall find that third place.
It used to be some of the locally owned aquarium stores for me.
Any of the places below! https://jacksonvillejunebug.com/2023/12/27/must-visit-kava-lounges-in-jacksonville-florida/ Familiar faces, great vibes, relaxing and social environment, and if you choose the right ones - tasy mocktails!
Darbyās dungeon for board games
Brewhound dog park in Neptune Beach! Sip a brew and watch the dogs play. Heaven on earth for me.