Life has moved along a bit since the s, but certain concepts from that time still remain fresh. The book highlights local spots that are not considered work or home, but somewhere to informally gather and socialize. Cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars and barbershops are all considered "third places" where community, civic engagement and civil discourse is encouraged. Oldenburg, now professor emeritus at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, explains that he got interested in a place-driven urban sociology as a rebellion to the school of sociology teachings of "symbolic interactionism.
Oldenburg couldn't wrap his head around this. Oldenburg was also spurred on by the deficiencies of the modern suburb. For instance, there is in all [suburban houses] a large, useless and expensive front lawn," he laughs. Every place on the corner now is a private residence. Ironically, he moved to suburban life in Pensacola for his teaching position, shuttling back and forth between home and work, ne'er anywhere else.
Luckily, a third place was in sight. So I decided to stop. By the third visit, I was a regular there. I knew all the guys, and they all knew me. It just made life bearable. That was my introduction to the real third place. Regulars at the bakery would help each other by fixing a car or sawing down a tree at a neighbor's house, Oldenburg recalls.
When I started stopping at Krell's, I'll tell you honestly, I never had a bad day after that. Places like Krell's which doesn't exist anymore countered the complacency of the post-industrial life.
People do not get together. Oldenburg suspects that the economy is the driving factor for city and suburban layouts. Oldenburg suggests that finding one's own third place is a step in the right direction towards happiness. I've had older guys tell me, 'I used to think you guys sitting there laughing with one another and sipping your coffee, I used to think you were wasting time' If you have that attitude that every time you sit at a coffee counter then that's an impediment," he says.
