A couple of readers in yesterday’s NYT Book Review took issue with P.J. O’Rourke’s review of Taylor Clark’s Starbucked.
At issue is O’Rourke’s view that we don’t need Starbucks as a societal ‘third place’ when we already bars to serve that purpose. Hear, hear!
But Marc Smirnoff of Conway, Ark. writes:
O’Rourke also argues that “third places” — “neutral, safe, public gathering spots”— are not on the wane because, as he cracks, we have bars. But many bars are screechy loud, urine-scented and sloppy with drunks. I don’t know what’s neutral or safe about that — at least for women and children.
Most egregiously, O’Rourke says nothing about the music played at Starbucks. I abandoned my local independent coffee house because it overplayed shopworn “classic” rock. At Starbucks, you’ll hear non-classic rock, old R & B, jazz, folk, international stuff, etc. I know that sounds awfully yuppie, but at its best, a lot of the music they play is very, very good. At McDonald’s, they don’t pipe in Jimmy Witherspoon or Love, do they?
…..while Howard Schranz of New York writes:
Mr. O’Rourke, have you ever sat in a bar, with or without laptop, without the barkeep offering to refresh your $10 cocktail or glass of wine every 20 minutes? For my part, I prefer paying $5 for a nonalcoholic beverage at a Starbucks in return for a couple of hours of use of prime Manhattan real estate. And I am grateful that teenagers and college students have this option as well.
A sarcastic ‘I want to party with these guys’ is in order here, except for the fact that I concede Starbucks puts out a good product. I’ve enjoyed plenty of bags of Starbucks coffee received as Christmas gifts, though I unfortunately didn’t get any this year. And while wondering around a Raleigh-area Target this weekend, a friend’s Chai latte from the in-store Starbucks looked so good that I plopped down $3.20 for one myself.
As for the argument that a coffee house is adequate as a ‘third place,’ we have a fine local coffee house here in Greensboro that serves that purpose quite well. Every time I go in Tate Street Coffee House, I plan to spend some time because I always find myself engaged in interesting conversation with someone I haven’t seen in a while.
While the success of Starbucks isn’t mystery, it seems to me it gets a free pass from socially-conscious consumers, considering the fact that it’s a name-brand chain that attaches itself to sprawling retail centers. I also have to wonder what the reaction from neighborhood residents would be if a Starbucks were planned for the corner of Lawndale and Cornwallis rather than a Walgreens. I like to think it would be the same, but you never know.
All this said, the bar will remain my favorite ‘third place.’ Locally-owned bars, of course. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of those in here Greensboro.
