Admittedly I’ve been in Boston less than 24 hours, but I thought it was a bit average until a couple of hours ago when I crossed the bridge to the south side and found the Fort Point harbour-front warehouse district. I got a big rush of “oh, that’s what all the fuss is about”. Actually it probably isn’t for most people, but any district that houses over 300 working artists, and seems to do it totally in converted wool warehouses, is a friend of mine.
I’m staying in an amazing loft just across the river in the Leather District (which sounded even more thrilling before I discovered it was named because it used to house the leather industry). Rosanna, our gorgeous host, was encouraging a walk into the South End. Probably because it’s the rainbow flag centre of the city and it’s full of appropriately fru-fru cafes, stately brownstones and shops with gorgeous dog accessories. We did the walk, it is beautiful, but I wasn’t excited.
Fort Point is edgy though. I like it. I’ve parked myself at the source of the city’s best BLTs, Flour, (Applewood-smoked bacon and fresh-from-the-oven wheat bread, what an unbeatable combo) along with what feels like a fair percentage of the district’s arts workers. Lots of people kicking back with friends, a magazine or their laptops… because Americans are great lovers and patrons of “the third place”.
If you haven’t heard the term, it was coined in the very late 90s, probably as the result of someone’s PHD thesis. It’s basically the place you feel comfortable relaxing in that’s not your home or workplace. In pop culture it would be Central Perk in the TV series Friends, or the bar in Cheers.
Marketers saw potential to exploit the need for a Third Place and it was developed into theories for product offerings, customer service and store design. Starbucks is the most obvious example. The idea is that you can charge a big premium for your product if people want to hang out in your store, and if someone adopts you they’ll invite their friends, so there’s a kind of word-of-mouth viral effect. Everyone will hang out (buying more) and they’ll come back every day (buying more).
On the train ride from New Jersey to Boston yesterday I had a chance to relax with some of the free reading you seem to be able to pick up on any US street corner and I read an interesting interview with the founder of Starbucks, who was saying that since the 90s he’s noticed a significant change in customer behaviour, which has significantly affected the theories of the Third Place.
Starbucks stores are (or at least were) designed to facilitate social interaction, but in the past 8 or 9 years, since the term Third Place was coined, many of us have stopped using cafes in that way. The classic combination of laptop and wireless internet (and now iPhones and other internet-enabled devices) means that many of us are now flying solo. People are still socialising in cafés, it’s just that their friends aren’t there. The actual interaction is taking place in a Fourth Place.
As you can imagine, Starbucks is taking this social trend seriously, and it’s starting to be reflected in store layouts and the services they offer. It’s also flowing on to all kinds of other businesses here in the US, from bars that offer free wireless to clothing and computer stores with cafés inside them.
Our ambience now has a name and businesses are competing to try to give it a location.
pic by creativespark
1 Comment
June 16, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Hi Marc
Sounds like the trip is going so very well.
Love the photos and your writing is as interesting as always.
Wish I was there with you … and then there’s New York!
xxx sis