THIRD PLACE
Kirk had to explain to someone in Argentina that McDonald's in the US is a fast-food restaurant. Apparently in Argentina McDonald's are more like Starbucks -- places where people go to hang-out -- quite the opposite of what they are in the States.

In much of the world people operate with a concept that sociologists call "third place." The first place is home. The second place is where one goes to work. And the third place is where one goes to hang-out and build social bonds.

For example, in the UK a pub is a third place. In many small towns during the first part of the 20th century the barber shop or the corner store also functioned as a third place where the community gathered to hang-out.

However, starting after WWII, third places in the US went into decline (apart from a few bars where drinkers would get sloshed together -- e.g. Moe's on the Simpsons).

This is why the recent Starbucks phenomena is so significant. It has less to do with an interest in coffee and more to do with the reintroduction of the third place concept into the mainstream of American society.

McDonald's was introduced in the US at the height of the era when people were not looking so much for community hang-outs as a place they could get in to and out of quickly and cheaply -- thus fast-food. So in the US they are not designed to be places where people spend hours and hours drinking coffee and socializing.

In some other countries, though, the McDonald's people realized that a third place was a stronger niche than fastfood (how do you sell fastfood to people who don't have that concept in their culture?). Thus in Argentina they have McCafe's.

McDonald's in the US is gradually moving toward third place restaurants in various locations -- as evidenced by their eagerness to install WI-FI in ordinary restaurants and the introduction of McCafe's in the US starting in 2001.

In reality, some regular McDonald's already do function as third place gathering spots -- in spite of their design. Senior citizens looking for a place for inexpensive coffee will often frequent the same McDonald's at about the same time everyday and see the same people.

In Turlock there is a group of 5-10 old Assyrian men who sit at the tables outside the McDonald's on Geer Road for several hours every morning. They smoke, talk, drink coffee, and occasionally play board games. The interesting thing is that the restaurant wasn't designed with this in mind. The seats are fixed and uncomfortable for long-term sitting and interaction. But the community value is so much a part of their collective psyche that these immigrants have ignored the inconveniences and have turned their neighborhood McDonald's into a third place.

I suspect that we'll see more and more of this under the golden arches -- and not just for old immigrants.