The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and

Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community by

Ray Oldenburg

Reviewed by: Lorrie Ensley
Knowledge Management Systems • Spring 2005

& 1999 with a new subtitle and preface

Ray Oldenburg is

an urban sociologist at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida. He writes about the importance of informal public gathering places

family
Not a good place for friends to gather and socialize
Not

everyone is comfortable in the setting
Usually not adequate furnishing and seating
Damageable personal objects are present

competitive
This is where people earn a living
Inappropriate for leisurely, informal

socializing

informal public life”

- leveler
- low profile
- full

of friends
- character
- conversation

of meeting friends, looseness of structure, and eternal reign of

the imp of fun all combine to set the stage for experiences unlikely to be found elsewhere.” (p.43)
Conversations in third places develop human relationships and understanding of society
Friendships that develop in third places fill the human need for “intimacy and affiliation.” (p.63)
Companionship and humor are “spiritual tonics” that enrich the lives of third place visitors. (p.55 )

community life” (p.90)
Hub of community activities
Welcomes all genders and ages
No

prohibitive pricing
Main Street USA
Can stroll down the street to break activity and catch up on gossip
Children play on the sidewalks
Old-timers sit outside socializing

create atmosphere
Is “superior to drinking establishments in most other cultures”

(p.125) in that it offers scale and warmth
Is welcoming and encourages laughter and leisure
“Unlike the American tavern or cocktail lounge...enjoys a good press, an aura of respectability, and a high degree of integration in the life of citizenry.” (p.123)
Le Bistro (French Café)
Encourages visits of longer duration
Is scenic, inviting, and never a far walk from the modest French residence
“The French expect more from their institution than do Americans, and theirs ha(ve) provided the tripodal base of the good life. The fulfillments of home and work coexist with a full, informal public life available to all French people” (p.163).

“failing institution.” (p.166)
The private consumption of alcohol has become vogue

in America, rendering taverns endangered species and contributing to major social problems.
Remaining taverns suffer low-class regular patronage and do not promote friendliness and conversation.
Classic Coffeehouses
European coffeehouses cherish association and elegance
Attract all members of society to their warmth and their brews

suffers from a deficiency of third places
Americans today shuttle between

home and work
Americans fill free time with television and consumerism
American third places are distant, loud, and antisocial; often drunken and inhospitable
Results of America’s lack of third places
Isolation of individuals
Buildup of stress
Absence of friendly outlets in society

bonding within the genders
Need for male-bonding institutions
Age
children are “undesirabl(e)...in our

present culture” (p.266) and are either overlooked or overscheduled
Teenagers are socialized at shopping malls that focus on consumerism

Oldenburg advocates the defragmentation of American society and return to a lifestyle that includes a positive, public social sphere
His parting plea to “those who despair of suburbia’s lifeless streets, of the plastic places along our ‘strips,’ or of the congested and inhospitable mess that is ‘downtown,’ is: It doesn’t have to be like this!” (p.296)

but limited to Western cultures
Socialness is an attractive concept
Arguments are

occasionally anecdotal, highly-biased, and outrageous
Criticism and narrow-view of American likely offensive to many readers

of social interaction
Explorations into different cultures

bars do not encourage compulsive drinking, as do those in

the United States.” (p.160)
“Germans valued reduced potency above taste.” (p.90)

Outrageous statements
“I recently chatted with a practicing psychiatrist all too familiar with wife-beating. He lamented the decline of the neighborhood tavern in which he felt men could ‘let off steam’ and not have to ‘take everything out on their wives.’ He was convinced that much of the irrational aggression and violence of the wife-beater is due to the lack of safety valves such as the lively tavern once offered to a far greater proportion of the population than it does today. My suspicion is that a good tavern keeps ‘steam’ from building up more than it provides a means to ‘blow it off,’ but there seems ample evidence to support both views” (p.80).

shops
What else?
Supply and demand

social networks, chat rooms; and even instant messaging, text messaging,

and email
Allow communication and social exchange
Virtual atmospheres created by site design and format
Video communications enhance experience
WiFi hotspots encourage virtual communication

Would Oldenburg approve of these places that don’t involve physical presence and environment?