Celebrating the Third Place: Inspiring Stories About the "Great Good Places" at the Heart of Our Communities

by Ray Oldenburg (Editor)

Nationwide, more and more entrepreneurs are committing themselves to creating and running "third places," also known as "great good places." In his landmark work, The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg identified, portrayed, and promoted those third places. Now, more than ten years after the original publication of that book, the time has come to celebrate the many third places that dot the American landscape and foster civic life. With 20 black-and-white photographs, Celebrating the Third Place brings together fifteen firsthand accounts by proprietors of third places, as well as appreciations by fans who have made spending time at these hangouts a regular part of their lives. Among the establishments profiled are a shopping center in Seattle, a three-hundred-year-old tavern in Washington, D.C., a garden shop in Amherst, Massachusetts, a coffeehouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, a bookstore in Traverse City, Michigan, and a restaurant in San Francisco.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, History, Urban, Cities, Society, Architecture

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 9, 2001

About the author

Ray Oldenburg was an American urban sociologist who is known for writing about the importance of informal public gathering places for a functioning civil society, democracy, and civic engagement. He coined the term "third place" and is the author of The Great Good Place (which was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice for 1989) and the 2001 Celebrating The Third Place.

Reviews

[Sandy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had heard about this book on a conference call and immediately downloaded it to my Kindle. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was simply a collection of stories when I bought it; as I've now discovered I'd have been better off searching for his original book, The Great Good Place. I enjoyed the first handful of stories in this book but then found myself reading basically the same thing over and over; I got to about 40% (reading more and more quickly as I went to see when I'd get to the next new concept), then went to the clickable table of contents and just started skimming through a handful of paragraphs in the rest of the book. After a few stories, you get the basic principle, and the rest is simply repetition. I don't want to take anything away from the people and businesses highlighted in the book--good people, good work. But for what I was looking for (principles I could apply in my own setting) this book became redundant quite quickly.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where Do You Go for Community that's not Work or Home?

This is a wonderful book. It clued me in to something I've been yearning for without realizing what it was--a community. The examples provided range from coffeeshops to restaurants to a garden center to a gym to a barbershop to a prison (yes, really). These places seem to be disappearing quickly in our sterilized, cookie-cutter society, so if you have one or manage to find one, hang onto it!

[julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

stories of varying quality about inspiring 3rd places - great for getting more of a feel of what it takes to be a third place (and how broad that category is), but not all of the stories are equally a pleasure to read. some are superficial and self-serving and don't get at the heart of what it is that makes a great third place.

[David Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently read about a small-town bowling alley that started noticing a gradual but significant drop in their business a few years ago.

The owner suspected social media could account for the change. Folks were using Facebook to find out what everyone was up to; they didn’t need to stop in at the bowling alley or bar.

The owners offered the Facebook followers a $100 certificate for hosting an event for a group of 10 or more people. The result was a big goose egg.

The owner in the story explained it this way: “The people we gave certificates to had a lot of friends on Facebook, but they didn’t have much real influence. They liked the idea of hosting a bowling party, and several of them tried, but they couldn’t get a group of people to show up.”

The decline of social interaction across the United States was documented in Robert Putnam’s classic book “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.” Putnam’s work was published in 2000, before the advent of social media.

He attributed the decline to several factors that changed society in the 1960s and 70s, things like automobiles, suburban sprawl, and television.

Computers and social media are simply the latest development in a trend of technological advances that collectively make us less dependent on one another for our daily needs.

Each new technological development promises to make us happier by giving us greater freedom and control. Think of how companies such as Netflix and Hulu changed home entertainment. They made our lives easier by removing the inconvenience of trips to the local video store. But they also removed numerous small opportunities for social interaction.

Amazon is doing the same thing with home delivery. The freedom of shopping at home comes at the cost of meeting one’s neighbors, saying hello to an old acquaintance in the shoe aisle, and catching up on the news of the summer.

I would challenge you to read Ray Oldenburg’s book “The Great Good Place” and describe your favorite informal gathering place. This must be a place that is neither home (“first place”) nor work (“second place”), but the place where you socialize regularly (their “third place”).

It turns out that most people today do not have such a place. It’s time to reverse the trend, slow our lives down and spend more time together.

The benefits are enormous. People who have a regular third place greatly expand their circle of friends, laugh more often, are more engaged in their community, and live longer.

Third places also benefit entire communities by serving as places to get to know your neighbors, build social trust, and help decrease political polarization.

It’s not that hard to make a change. The first step is to find a third place: a coffee shop, a cafe, a tavern, a church, or a park. The next step is to go there regularly. It is good for you; it is good for your community; it is good for America.

[Em · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was so interesting to read about how some of these third places were built and embraced by their communities. But, like others have said, it got a little tiresome to read about the same story in more or less different fonts over and over. There was a decent variety of “third places” including open markets, coffeehouses, garden shops, and more, but the wide range of styles and focuses of the testimonies to third places was confusing at times and tedious at others. Plus the random little bits of sexism and racism and anti-semitism and, yet again, the book seems to investigate men’s or mixed third places over women’s third places just like The Great Good Places had. But worst of all was the prison chapter where the author for that chapter downplays his crime of statutory rape that landed him incarcerated as “having a sexual relationship with a teenager” 🫥

[Shannon C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. It wasn’t what I expected, but it was a Christmas gift. It’s an anthology of different businesses who applied the principles of a book called “The Great Good Place”. I’ve added that book to my TBR list, but this one could have potentially been skipped over. Some hood and heartwarming stories were included and some useful tidbits, but I imagine once I read the book all of those included were referencing? I’ll pick up those principles on my own. Side note: Not a bad book to have in your bag and read a bit here and there while waiting for doctors appointments and the like.

[Jeno · Rating 2 out of 5]

What was it about?

Comparing to his original work on sociology of places this 'work' ain't nothing more than a brochure, useless waste of paper if you ask me.

As I have mistakenly purchased this one first I was quite furious :D

Don't buy it, just don't

[RaeAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on vacation this summer! It got me all fired-up and dreaming again about the 3rd Place. It brought out a lot of great conversations between me and my husband and our son too. I love books that spark good conversation!

[Sue Ann Painter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly interesting, but stories similar. Not of much use to the researcher.

[Brooke Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read if you’re someone trying to build a third place or learn about them!

[John Swinburn]

Interesting, but not riveting. Finished the book long, long ago, but just now got back on Goodreads.

[Steve Fenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the opening chapters on the concept, but found the case studies a bit lengthy. Others may find those examples useful.

[Dianne J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everyone who wants to create a sense of community in their town or neighborhood needs to read this book. The face of libraries across the US is changing and the Third Place might just be a coffee shop or community center, not necessarily a library. Librarians need to make their libraries welcoming as the third place in their community.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this after Ray Oldenburg's classic "The Great Good Place." This is a collection of stories and cases of Third Places across the U.S. Quick to read; also I must note that this was compiled 14 years ago and several of the places included have since failed/shut down.

[Audrey Webster · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found it interesting to begin with, but the stories got old after awhile. They just seemed to repeat themselves. Same storie different location. Prison best example of third place!

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book…it brings alive The Great Good Place in a way that only the stories of third places can.