Honestly, I don't recall ever hanging out with people as a kid, in fact I don't think I ever socialised at all until I was at university. Then a bunch of us from the sf&f soc used to hang out together at one of our mutual friends room... if you can imagine upwards of a dozen people all crammed in one small dorm room.. But Louise was a sort of unofficial 'mum' for us.
Both? I'm less likely to be happy during inside with other unmasked humans because pandemic. But also the noise levels inside can be too much.
I like sitting outside when the weather is nice, so even in the before times I was more likely to hang out at a place with outdoor seating, which is dependent on it being dry and within a temperature range I find comfortable.
Diesel. City parks and places where there are benches, or even better, a table where I can put the laptop to write.
Danger Planet, when it existed, but your FNGS in general. Library, but only for solitude. The mall, though they seem to have removed the comfy couches this past year.
The mall's really two things, one where you go and do mall stuff, and the other where you use it as a public space (e.g. for indoor walking in winter, or just to sit there and have crowds mill around you).
NYC from March to Dec has its parks pretty much full of people, because that's the public's back yard. When I was a kid, many of our back yards connected up, so the whole thing was kind of an extended playground, but I think that's rarer these days?
My main answer also used to be "friends' houses" but that, again, seems to have fallen off in middle age. Different kind of hanging out, though it was pretty much similar if a pile of us all ended up at John's house or whatever (which often happened).
And the last place isn't really a place, it's an activity: walking. One of the nice things about walking is that generally people let you do it, unlike sitting around, where sometimes they get antsy if you don't buy something.
Yeah, outdoors is preferable, but not in the cold for me. Alas!
Coffee shops have definitely done a good job of publicizing themselves as a third place, although the lack of free makes me skeptical. (and the pandemic messed things up, too)
once upon a time there would have been a plethora of places on this list—everything from coffee shops to the mall to clubs to museums and two dozen things in between—and then we entered and continue to live through a global pandemic and now…
honestly, nothing.
maybe the backyard, or a common courtyard or other outdoor space. maybe a park.
It depends entirely on the library. I've seen some that were basically community centers full of books -- they had a children's wing, a tween/teen wing, all the adult stuff, a senior area, study cubicles or roomlets, some larger rooms for classes or workshops, etc. Then a bulletin board listing all their activities like story hour for children, tutoring for students, various book clubs, offshoot activities with their affiliated organizations like if they had contacts at the Y, etc.
One problem nowadays is that where libraries used to be quiet, lined with carpet and wood, now they're mostly hard surfaces and metal so the sound bounces around. And they've gone from books to so much computer equipment that the clattering keys and wheezing electronics add to the racket, making a very unpleasant atmosphere for people who need quiet to work.
Another problem is that most towns have few resources for homeless or other poor people, but public buildings like libraries typically can't make someone leave unless the person is misbehaving. So then the library becomes the default homeless/poor shelter, which makes most other people want to avoid it and refuse to fund it, so the whole thing declines and the town basically doesn't have a library because nobody will go there except those who have nowhere else to go.
Contrasting that, some libraries have started lending other things besides books, such as a seed library or tool library, and that's relatively new as an added service.
Coffeeshop. Park, preferably with playground attached. Beach. Bar. Lobby (I'm thinking of large hotels plus conventions, or the atrium at my workplace, which has seating).
"Hang out" to me has social connotations, even if we're sitting in companionable silence. So places where I'd go to 'hang out' by myself don't really register in the same way: library, bookstore, garden.
I live on a small island, and there's a dearth of places to hang out. About ten thousand people live on the island, maybe about half rural and half in the small town, though the number doubles during tourist season. A lot of the restaurants cater to tourists looking for a Vacation Experience, and aren't really places to linger. It's regrettable.
There are some beaches that are further away from the areas tourists end up in, but the weather has to be good. There's a tiny beach just down the hill from us, not very impressive, but we can walk there and watch the sea and in the winter swans nest there, which is nice.
We're hoping our greenhouse (10 meter diameter hemisphere) can be a good hanging-out place for visitors to our house. We bought a bunch of discount holiday lights to hang in it.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2023-03-30 11:47 pm (UTC)Library... not that I hung out with people, but it was a quiet place to go.
no subject
Date: 2023-04-04 01:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-04-04 09:30 am (UTC)Honestly, I don't recall ever hanging out with people as a kid, in fact I don't think I ever socialised at all until I was at university. Then a bunch of us from the sf&f soc used to hang out together at one of our mutual friends room... if you can imagine upwards of a dozen people all crammed in one small dorm room.. But Louise was a sort of unofficial 'mum' for us.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-31 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-04-04 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-04-04 01:48 am (UTC)I like sitting outside when the weather is nice, so even in the before times I was more likely to hang out at a place with outdoor seating, which is dependent on it being dry and within a temperature range I find comfortable.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-31 02:23 am (UTC)Diesel. City parks and places where there are benches, or even better, a table where I can put the laptop to write.
Danger Planet, when it existed, but your FNGS in general. Library, but only for solitude. The mall, though they seem to have removed the comfy couches this past year.
The mall's really two things, one where you go and do mall stuff, and the other where you use it as a public space (e.g. for indoor walking in winter, or just to sit there and have crowds mill around you).
NYC from March to Dec has its parks pretty much full of people, because that's the public's back yard. When I was a kid, many of our back yards connected up, so the whole thing was kind of an extended playground, but I think that's rarer these days?
My main answer also used to be "friends' houses" but that, again, seems to have fallen off in middle age. Different kind of hanging out, though it was pretty much similar if a pile of us all ended up at John's house or whatever (which often happened).
And the last place isn't really a place, it's an activity: walking. One of the nice things about walking is that generally people let you do it, unlike sitting around, where sometimes they get antsy if you don't buy something.
no subject
Date: 2023-04-04 01:15 am (UTC)libraries seem to have spaces for non-solitude now, although perhaps mostly for kids and teens.
And yes - I may know the list, but having it written helps!
no subject
Date: 2023-03-31 02:36 am (UTC)And cafés, although they're not so much my thing as just... culturally designated as "where you go to hang out". So I think of them too. :-)
no subject
Date: 2023-04-04 01:14 am (UTC)Coffee shops have definitely done a good job of publicizing themselves as a third place, although the lack of free makes me skeptical. (and the pandemic messed things up, too)
no subject
Date: 2023-03-31 04:58 am (UTC)honestly, nothing.
maybe the backyard, or a common courtyard or other outdoor space. maybe a park.
no subject
Date: 2023-04-04 01:10 am (UTC)Clubs, though - interesting. Dance clubs?
Thoughts
Date: 2023-03-31 07:56 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-04-04 01:11 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-04-04 01:25 am (UTC)One problem nowadays is that where libraries used to be quiet, lined with carpet and wood, now they're mostly hard surfaces and metal so the sound bounces around. And they've gone from books to so much computer equipment that the clattering keys and wheezing electronics add to the racket, making a very unpleasant atmosphere for people who need quiet to work.
Another problem is that most towns have few resources for homeless or other poor people, but public buildings like libraries typically can't make someone leave unless the person is misbehaving. So then the library becomes the default homeless/poor shelter, which makes most other people want to avoid it and refuse to fund it, so the whole thing declines and the town basically doesn't have a library because nobody will go there except those who have nowhere else to go.
Contrasting that, some libraries have started lending other things besides books, such as a seed library or tool library, and that's relatively new as an added service.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-31 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-03-31 05:11 pm (UTC)"Hang out" to me has social connotations, even if we're sitting in companionable silence. So places where I'd go to 'hang out' by myself don't really register in the same way: library, bookstore, garden.
no subject
Date: 2023-04-04 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-04-01 05:11 am (UTC)There are some beaches that are further away from the areas tourists end up in, but the weather has to be good. There's a tiny beach just down the hill from us, not very impressive, but we can walk there and watch the sea and in the winter swans nest there, which is nice.
We're hoping our greenhouse (10 meter diameter hemisphere) can be a good hanging-out place for visitors to our house. We bought a bunch of discount holiday lights to hang in it.
no subject
Date: 2023-04-04 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-04-14 11:19 pm (UTC)