Downtown Restaurants and the Third Place

Well, that was nice...After lots of fishing and watching basketball Saturday and Sunday, I'm back on the scene. I definitely needed a few days without the laptop sitting in my, uh, well....my lap.


In celebration of the Icehouse opening around sometime in the next few weeks, I went back and found this entry from one of my favorite blogs (Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space) regarding the importance of restaurants to the Main Street economic model.

He writes:

...this reiterates the importance of restaurants as places to eat and to gather (and a place to go to the restroom!) as necessary components of commercial district revitalization. You can't have a "complete destination" without places to eat and refresh yourself. (Also see the "third place" work of Ray Oldenburg.

Ok. So maybe that's a little hard to digest and make sense of. Bear with me. Before I continue about the restaurant bit, let me back up and explain just a little bit about Ray Oldenburg and the idea of the "third place." In short, the third place is that place which is not our home or work; a place where we gather with other people, bump into our neighbors, and interact with others (outside of the safety of our automobiles.)

The "third place" is one of the reasons the Bride and I love living in downtown Bentonville, Because our house connects to a sidewalk with meaningful destinations, we see our neighbors on a regular basis as we walk to the square, the coffee shop, or the grocery store.


Part of how I've always described the importance of the third place is that it sort of "tricks us" into thinking that we know people better than we do, which can be important in the beginnings of fostering community. We actually DO know many of our downtown neighbors, but when we bump into a neighbor as we walk to Harps, or stand in line next to someone we recognize at the coffee shop, or stop to have a quick chat with a neighbor sitting on their front porch, it provides an avenue of contact other than the first or second places of home or work.

So when we go to invite a neighbor over to dinner, we feel like we know them, and it doesn't feel like we're so far out on a limb because we see them all the time as we come and go through our daily routine. I can't tell you how many people I've met at Java Junction since they opened, just by being there 2-3 mornings a week. Or by one of our many walks through the square or to an event on the Bentonville Square. Compare that with the automobile-dependent lifestyle of driving from place to place, walking only from car to door; living in a subdivision with no sidewalks, and nowhere to walk even if you did have them.

We're not against the car, we just don't like living somewhere that forces us to use it for every little thing we want to do. An important lesson also, is that the "third place" can most certainly be a place that people drive to. It's just that walking affords more opportunities for contact and community.

Here are a few quotes from the Oldenburg book, The Great Good Place, about the importance of the "third place" in our communities. Which, I might add, the Bentonville Square is a wonderful example. But it shouldn't be the only one in the city.

“Most needed are those ‘third places’ which lend a public balance to the increased privatization of home life. Third places are nothing more than informal public gathering places. The phrase ‘third places’ derives from considering our homes to be the ‘first’ places in our lives, and our work places the ‘second.’”

“Life without community has produced, for many, a life style consisting mainly of a home-to-work-and-back-again shuttle. Social well-being and psychological health depend upon community. It is no coincidence that the ‘helping professions’ became a major industry in the United States as suburban planning helped destroy local public life and the community support it once lent.”

“What suburbia cries for are the means for people to gather easily, inexpensively, regularly, and pleasurably -- a ‘place on the corner,’ real life alternatives to television, easy escapes from the cabin fever of marriage and family life that do not necessitate getting into an automobile.”

“Most needed are those ‘third places’ which lend a public balance to the increased privatization of home life. Third places are nothing more than informal public gathering places. The phrase ‘third places’ derives from considering our homes to be the ‘first’ places in our lives, and our work places the ‘second.’”

So as of right now, we've got The Station, The Bristol (which may be struggling..that's another story), the Sanctuary (fantastic, yet expensive food), and Java Junction right in the heart of downtown. As I said before, the Icehouse will be open soon. That's four more restaurants than we had downtown just a few short months ago.

So I would say that downtown Bentonville is headed in the right direction. There's no doubt in my mind that restaurants (and "third places" are absolutely critical to the success of the downtown economy, as well as the viability of downtown as a destination, especially an after-hours destination.

So here's a big cheer to all of those business owners who have taken chances to open new businesses downtown. Save your money and have a fantastic dinner at the Sanctuary, stop by Java Junction and let friendly people pour you a cup of coffee, and swing by the Icehouse for an affordable meal and your frosty beverage of choice.