The third place and the communal table

What’s the equivalent of the piazza in Italy when it comes to third places?  Maybe the communal dining table.

In the heart of Old Town, Alexandria, VA, The Best Coffeehouse in the Washington DC Area (as voted by the readers of Washingtonian Magazine), Misha’s takes its coffee more than seriously.  However, its popularity largely permeates from the sense that you can spend the whole afternoon there free of guilt, especially at their communal table (pictured).  One of my friends should know - he fell asleep at that table one afternoon, and we eventually left him behind.

Two other favorite third places (recently featured here) with communal tables are Tryst Cafe and The Dairy Godmother.

Fast Company magazine lists five great ones around the country here.

ps We waited discreetly across the street for my friend to find us after we called him on his cell phone.

Celebrating the third place

There’s no better way to communicate the concept of the third place than to experience one.  The author of the book on third places wrote a sequel, Celebrating the third place: Inspiring Stories about the “Great Good Places” at the Heart of Our Communities to help you out.

Here are the following third places listed in the book:  Annie’s Gift & Garden Shop, Amherst MA; The Third Place Coffeehouse, Raleigh NC; Crossroads, Bellevue WA; Horizon Books, Traverse City MI; Old St. George, Cleveland OH; Square One Restaurant, San Francisco; El Taco Nazo, Pomona CA; Tunnicliff’s Tavern, Washington DC (I have to check them out!); Miami Passport Photo Shop, Hialeah FL; Good Neighbor Coffee Shop, Pensacola FL (author’s hometown); Joe’s Cozy Corner and Galatoire’s, New Orleans; Civilization, Cleveland OH; The Great Good Gym, Atlanta GA; The Natural Ground Coffeehouse, The Sharpest Irony ?, The Blue Moon Tavern, Seattle WA; Planck’s Cafe ?, Maxwell Street, Chicago IL; and the Coffee Beanery.

If any of you have been to any of these places, or know about any others, please comment below!

The first place is your home.  The second place is your workplace.  The

third place is where you hang out in between.  Ray Oldenburg wrote the book on it.

A cool town is full of great third places.  If you aren’t motivated to leave home or your workplace, chances are you don’t live around too many successful third places.

The UK has long had the concept of the third place down pat.  While staying with a friend in the small town of Streatley-Goring in England, I’d usually find him at “The Bull”, a small pub across the street (literally).  There he was, laughing it up with his good friends or playing a game of darts amid philosophic discussion.  This was available to him whenever he felt like walking 50 yards.  In fact, during my stay there it was available to me as well, as they made me feel right at home.  Now that’s what a third place is all about.

Keep up with third place trends right here.

Investing in a local economy

Here’s where CoolTown-oriented institutional investors are putting their capital to create sustainable job growth:

1. $1 million in matching funds (another $1 million to be matched by a public entity) for development of a specific industry, an existing local strength.
2. $1 million in matching funds for a venture capital fund to invest in that specific industry.
3. Substantial affordable office space and living units for the entrepreneurial-minded.
4. Numerous third places (see next week Monday) to catalyze informal and formal business networking.
5. Partnership with a market development firm like CoolTown Studios to ensure the participation of the best tenants within the most effective urban planning and community of commerce for economic success.

CoolTown guilds

I foresee the economies of future CoolTowns run through guilds, loosely defined as an association of common interests.

Imagine working in a neighborhood that established an arts & entertainment guild, a high tech guild, and a main street guild.  If I were a musician, I’d frequent an affordable community recording studio, with 20-30 fellow musicians I’d know within walking distance that could help me record a song.  If I were a techie, I’d be able to network with dozens upon dozens of fellow techies to collaborate on a new video game until 3 in the morning, as well as ensure the town had a fiber optic network.  If I wanted to open my own business, I’d network with the main street guild to find out what business would really fill a missing niche among the other stores and restaurants.

If I didn’t belong in any of these guilds, there are hundreds of ‘beta tester jobs’ for undiscovered music, unreleased video games or chefs who need samplers.

Communities of Commerce

A business is only as good as its strategy, leadership and talent - and a community of commerce (eg a network of local businesses working together with a common purpose) is no different.

The first step to creating strong, sustainable job growth is strategizing what your city’s business talent is good at and where the growing business opportunities are.  This is the clustering of strengths, as described yesterday.  The next step is to identify the leaders by assembling the most creative businesses and individuals, as they are who will be your agents of change.  The third step is to build a village where the nightlife, arts & entertainment, affordable housing and workspaces, and socially active environment will attract the best talent.

Over time, a community of commerce will emerge, that is, a community of businesses working together as a cohesive, resonating, cross-pollinating economy, a concept that is well-documented in the book Going Local: Creating Self Reliant Communities in a Global Age

Can a CoolTown help create jobs?

Yes, yes, yes.

To create jobs, CoolTowns focus on the intersection of three trends: 

1. The clustering of local industry strengths, executed by Michael Porter and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City;

2. An investment in creative people, businesses and industries to generate economic performance, as is statistically proven;

3. The Smart Growth/New Urbanism movement of investing in live-work environments that enable social interaction and community building.

Stay tuned tomorrow to see what happens when these three trends align strategically…

When everyone else is on their morning commute…

This week’s blog focuses on jobs and worklife, ending with what our investment associates are doing about it.

Perhaps it’s easiest to illustrate what worklife will be in a CoolTown by comparing it to working in an office park:

1a. Instead of getting up at 6:00 am to beat the rush hour, you’ll be getting up at 7:00 am to walk or transit to work, or at 8:00 am if you work at home.

1b. Instead of getting home at 7:00 pm because of rush hour, you’ll be getting home by 6:00 pm via walking or transit, or 4:00 am if you want to cap your work day at your fiber optic-connected home workstation.

2a. Instead of getting excited at what new menu item the cafeteria is providing today, you’ll be enthused at what new menu items the dozen adjacent restaurants are offering.

2b. Instead of talking about what’s wrong with your company with colleagues over lunch, you’ll be talking about new opportunities in your industry with people from other ventures.

Sex and the City

It’s not called Sex and the Suburbs for a reason.

The popular HBO series is based on the dating adventures of four women.  Quite simply, there wouldn’t be much to write about if they all lived and worked in, say, a subdivision and an office park, and socialized at the local Walmart power center.  The bottom line is that the city is where you go to meet people, the burbs are where you go to avoid them, and one of these choices probably isn’t going to advance society as we know it.

Of course, there’s always a differing opinion - a sea of filth? Now really…

Only in New York City

Where else can you have a #1 show about nothing?  Where else would the #1 comic book hero reside?

If you want to know if you’ve got the makings of a CoolTown, see what people are willing to associate with your town.  It’s not a coincidence that the biggest TV hits of the last three decades: The Cosby Show, Seinfeld and Friends, were all set in New York.  Why?  Because not much happens in the suburbs, except the 10:00 local news headlines, and that to me isn’t worth watching.

As for the Manhattan-based Man of Steel, since evidence show that cities are safer per capita than suburbs, he can enjoy a reverse commute.