Older Adults Are Sharing The "Third Spaces" They Loved That Don't Exist Anymore

"'Why aren't arcades a thing anymore?' I wonder as I pre-order another game on Steam. The doorbell rings. Amazon delivery. 'We used to have so much fun at malls. I wonder why they all closed down. Probably a conspiracy to remove all third places...' The phrase is familiar, something I've been seeing a lot online, and I spend a lot of time online. After all, that's where all my friends are. Who would want to go outside and meet people? It's 2024. I play my RPGs on Discord now." 

—kRkthOr

"We wanted to go ice skating the other week. Every single rink has a website to register for public skating sessions. Every single person going with you needs their own account. You literally just can't show up anymore during public sessions and go skating. It really sucks." 

—biological_assembly

"My hometown closed its only remaining movie theater during the pandemic. at that point, the ONLY form of entertainment (Excluding bars and restaurants) is a concert venue and a theater venue. In a City with a population of 205,918. This is the second biggest city in New England, after Boston. And they wonder why the only thing kids do is play video games and do drugs." 

—MourningWallaby

"I miss the bookstores that had a cafe. A place to explore and find new authors, relax, and enjoy a coffee with other literary-minded people. Talk with staff about what was new and exciting. All gone now." 

—rtopps43

"In my literature class we had a poem about front porches, and discussed their impact on the community as places to greet friends and neighbors, hang out, and talked about how modern houses have pretty well eliminated this in many places. We discussed so much evidence that society has shifted dramatically into a less face-to-face, friendly place. Much less community. I barely know my neighbors, and most of my classmates said the same." 

—earlofhoundstooth

"If you lived through the '80s and '90s, the mall was very much a public plaza for seeing your friends, group dates, or just stretching your legs. Now, did we still spend money a lot of the time? Sure. If 11-year-old me had money in my pocket, I was buying a snack at the food court, maybe some Magic cards or a CD. But probably about half the trips I went to the mall from ages 11-14, I bought nothing. And my friends with less money didn't feel out of place, because we were there to walk around, talk, and play cards." 

—PreferredSelection

"I miss them so much. This may sound gross, but I miss the smell of the VHS and DVDs. I miss going in either with a plan or without one and simply browsing to find a random movie to watch. I miss picking out candy and pulling out my Blockbuster card. It was a highlight of my week, especially each weekend."  

—__mentionitall__

"I worked at Blockbuster in 2012, well after its prime. We had regular customers who would show up EVERY DAY and spend tons of time in the store. People were nuts for their movie rentals."

 —paidbythekill

"Music (the media, not instruments) stores, especially the ones that let you sample music!"  

—thegreatestmeicanbe

"My dad owned a guitar store for a few years. It acted as a bit of a 3rd place, people would come jam and they had group music lessons and stuff. But, unfortunately, they had to shut down because people weren't buying enough stuff." 

—mdp300

"I grew up in a somewhat rural area. The only 3rd place I can think of was the hobby shop in the mall. We would play Yugioh, Magic, DND, etc., and just chill there all day. But once we started getting our own apartments/houses, we would mostly hang out there. That continues to this day, although we are a bit older." 

—deadrabbits4360

"Drive-In Movie Theaters!!! With pajamas on as a kid and being able to play on the monkey bars there while mom got snacks at the snack bar!!!" 

—Capable_Tale_1988

"A lot more people were in clubs. Elks lodges, Masons, VFW, that sort of thing. Some had ties to other stuff like VFW, American Legion, and Knights of Columbus... these still exist but not like they once did. Lots of people were in a club or two. Fancier clubs too, of course like the NY Athletic Club; these offered places where members could hang out, play games, drink, eat, get fit, and even sleep. But there was a lot of hanging out at these places (not to mention country clubs and that sort of place which haven't gone away)." 

—TheNextBattalion

"For kids/teens, the woods. I spent so much time wandering the woods behind my house when I was a kid and going to kegger parties as a teen, and all those woods are gone now. It's so upsetting that there's so little nature left and that kids today don't get to have those experiences." 

—panic_bread

"A teen center. When I was a teen we used to go there to socialize after school and play pool, plus watch bands rehearse and talk to the community leaders that were there to manage everything." 

—Capable_Tale_1988

"There was a little place in the town I grew up in for teens to go to have a safe space to hang out. Pool, ping pong, some video games, lots of board games, cheap food, hang-out corners, all free to use (‘cept the food, obviously). It was an amazing thing for that poor af, drug-fueled town. Iirc, they also offered resources for kids who were in bad situations and/or struggling with addiction. Really truly was a blessing. I spent a lot of evenings there with my friends" 

—mishyfishy135

"Bowling, way too expensive today compared to when I was a kid can you can do everything for like 2 dollars a game + shoes. Today you're going to be spending 20 bucks for the same, unless you want to show up on a weekday morning to get 5 dollar games." 

—pwn3dbyth3n00b

"Soda fountains. I recently read a story about a girl in the 1930s who enjoyed a strawberry soda at a soda fountain for a nickel. I looked it up, and the minimum wage in 1930 was 25 cents an hour. So at minimum, someone would need to work for twelve minutes to afford one strawberry soda at a soda fountain. Counterpoint, current federal minimum wage is $7.25. Priced proportionately, that soda should cost $1.25. In my area, it should cost $3.20 based on state minimum wage. But I can't even get a basic black coffee for that price from the local coffee shops. A bottled 20 oz soda costs about $3 from the local liquor store, but I'm sure it's not as good as the fresh soda served from the fountain. And the store is designed for me to grab what I want out of the cooler, pay, and leave." 

—stolenfires

"Until the pandemic, I was part of a billiards team and league. During lockdown, every pool hall we played at went out of business and never reopened. Now there’s just the occasional shitty non-regulation bar table, with drunk people and subpar felt." 

—Writer10

"I remember the early 2000's before there were things like steam and stuff, people used to hang out in cybercafes after work and play games, maybe surf the web. I liked hanging out in those places and just watching what games people were playing." 

—LordAdri123

"Skatepark, we used to hang there even if we weren’t really riding much" 

—Booliano

"Dance halls, and dancing in general used to be massively popular. If you were in an American town of more than 1000 or so people you could count on at least one social dance a week, often more." 

—backlikeclap

"I worked at a Pizza Hut in 1990 - 91, and that restaurant still had a booming dine-in business. Fast forward 15 or 20 tears later, that branch closed and reopened as a delivery-only operation about 2 blocks away. Around 3 or 4 years ago my wife and I, feeling nostalgic, took our kids to a different area Pizza Hut that still had a dining area, and at around dinner time on a weekend (can't recall if it was Friday or Saturday) it was a damn ghost town. Two other tables were being used, maybe. And they still had the island for the salad bar, but it was all closed down, at least on that night. Pizza was pretty good, but the experience otherwise was just depressing." 

—edgrrrpo

"It is the same in my country Malaysia as well. You can't even enter some parks without paying an entrance fee and you're not going to be able to get there without a car. A public beach in my state is going to start development into another private tourist hotel any day now and we won't even be able to see the sunset without paying ridiculous amounts of money as parking fee. I wish we just had somewhere to chill and meet people for free." 

—ven-diagram