Serendipity in the city

Yesterday I finally had a chance to visit Royal Coffee Bar’s new location at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market. I met up with my friend Tony Arranaga, aka The Light Rail Blogger. We had a great conversation over some tasty coffee and pastries, and we also met up with Tyson Crosbie, who happened to be at Royal getting some work done. Not only did I have a great conversation with Tony, I serendipitously had a great conversation with Tyson.

None of this is particularly remarkable, and that’s the point of this blog entry. Unremarkable things like meeting one friend and then having an unexpected conversation with another are what make a city alive and vibrant. It’s the human connections that matter. These kinds of things don’t happen when we all get in our cars, drive to work and then drive back home again.

These connections need to happen more and more. The more chance encounters, the more accidental conversations, the more human connections which are made, the better this CenPho will be. The way to make them happen is to get more people there, living, playing AND working.

In the course of the conversation with Tyson, I realized that coffeehouses are good indicator of where an urban area is headed. Coffeehouses are “third places” which are all about people making connections. Where there’s a lot of them, there’s a lot of great urban energy. Given the number of coffee places opening up in CenPho, there’s a tremendous amount of potential energy to be found. Now we just need to use it.

Matthew Petro Recommends

Apple has lost the magic (Tyler Hurst)
Gangplank in Downtown Phoenix (Derek Neighbors)
Nothing found for 2010 02 10 %e2%80%98schelling%e2%80%99-the-city-2 (Yuri Artibise)

View Comments to “Serendipity in the city”

WesleyTech 8 December 2009 at 3:57 pm #

Fo sho! This is exactly why I'd like to work from coffee-shops/co-working places more often.
Derek Neighbors 8 December 2009 at 8:20 pm #

You sum up one of the big benefits of Gangplank. I disagree that a bunch of coffee houses in the area helps. I actually think it hurts. If people spread out among multiple spots they decrease their chances for serendipity not increase them. Density is important. CenPho is far from dense and has no clear leader where people know they can go to get interaction with the most people.
tonyfelicepr 8 December 2009 at 8:43 pm #

I've been wishing for years for CenPho to become what it's on the cusp of becoming. As a former DC/New Yorker I miss these chance encounters with friends.
Stacey Champion 9 December 2009 at 12:58 am #

I disagree with the comment about more coffee shops hurting. As a midwestern girl (who's been gone many years but is still very midwestern at my core,) what this city needs is simply more INTERACTION. Coffee shops were the hub of social causes and inspiration of all kinds in not only Mpls. where I grew up, but many other cities as well.

My thought is that because Phoenix tends to be such a “transient” sort of place, there is not as much “accountability” for what I call “Minnesota nice.” People just don't talk to each other as much in this city as in other places (in MY personal opinion.) Or at least they're not talking to me… ha.

There have been days when I've walked into say Lux, and not only is there no talking because everyone is plugged into their computer with their headphones on – but there's not even any eye contact! We're losing our “human” connections, yet that is the thing everyone is craving at their core. A sense of community – a sense of belonging.

Well how the hell is that supposed to happen if people aren't even willing to look up from their frickin' Mac to say hello???

I'd practically pay someone for a game of scrabble and lively conversation at this point. Jeesh.

Sorry for being so long-winded!
Matthew Petro 9 December 2009 at 5:35 pm #

Thanks for your comment! You bring up some good points.

Yes, Phoenix has been a place without a lot of human connections. I'm sure there's a couple of blog posts worth of discussion as to why this is the case, but it's reality. With the advent of free wifi and portable computing, coffee shops have changed in the way in which they connect people.

I don't think coffee shops are the best place to meet new people as they may have been in the midwest in previous years. What they have become are great places to strengthen existing relationships. Now that the concept of coworking has spread throughout the ranks of office-free and independent workers, people find that coworking together at a coffee shop is a good way to be productive and deepen relationships with others. Sometimes coworking is planned, sometimes it happens just because people randomly wound up in the same place.

I've found that social media and other events have become a far better forum for making new connections. I met both Tony and Tyson through Twitter and their blogs, rather than meeting them in a coffeehouse. But it was because I knew them in other forums that I had great planned and unplanned conversations with them at Royal.

As a side note, if you're looking for ways to interact with more people, check out events like Phoenix Friday Night or the monthly Smunch.

In the interests of full disclosure, I'm one of the organizers of Smunch. I recommend it because I've made some great connections through it and I know other people have as well.
Matthew Petro 9 December 2009 at 5:38 pm #

I've never been to NYC, but I've heard stories from multiple people about how chance encounters seem to happen with startling regularity there. I think it's a result of the density…you encounter so many people in an average day that you're bound to run into someone you know.

This is why I think critical mass is a key for getting CenPho past the cusp and into what it can become. We need more people encountering each other to build a really great and sustainable urban core.
Matthew Petro 9 December 2009 at 5:57 pm #

I agree that serendipitous encounters at Gangplank are a great benefit, but having multiple coffee shops in the same area isn't harmful. As you pointed out in your blog post Restaurants Are Not a Zero-Sum Game, having restaurants in close proximity is beneficial and the same is true of coffee shops (Why Starbucks actually helps mom and pop coffeehouses).

Density certainly is important and CenPho needs to get denser to become a sustainable urban core. But there doesn't need to be, nor should there be, a single place where people go to interact. CenPho itself should be the destination with diverse places for people to go.
David Bickford 9 December 2009 at 8:43 pm #

I like this post. Coffeehouses are one of the best third places around, and I'm pleased to see more of them opening in Central Phoenix. I just hope we don't end up with more than the market can support. I'm not terribly familiar with Gangplank, but from what I've heard, it's a sort of coworking space for tech workers in the East Valley. Nothing against any of that, but none of it applies to me. I want places in Central Phoenix and Tempe where I can meet up with people in the evening or on weekends as an escape from work…and I want more than one to choose among.

Coffeehouses fill that niche particularly well; however, I can think of two other third places that I've had recent experience with:

First, light rail itself is a third place. You and I met up unexpectedly when we were on the same delayed train last week. Our serendipitous meet-up made a potentially frustrating commute a little better. I've had several occasions on which I've run into old friends on the train and have had a chance to catch up with them. If I had seen those same friends on the freeway, we could not have done much more than wave at each other.

Second, the traditional men's barbershop can be a third place. At the Downtown Barbershop, I recently found that the person sitting in the chair next to me was Ben Bethel, owner of the Clarendon Hotel. I had long followed him on Twitter, but it was an unexpected pleasure to meet in real life. Chairs in a traditional barbership are equalizers in which people of different backgrounds and professions sit side-by-side and chat to pass the time. You can't get that experience at Great Clips or Super Cuts, nor at most metrosexual salons.
Matthew Petro 17 December 2009 at 5:26 pm #

You bring up a good point about the light rail being a third place. I hadn't thought of it that way, but it's true. Serendipitous meetings occur there, as well as chatting with new people.

For some reason, the light rail inspires much more passenger chat than buses do, especially on weekends. My wife and I spent a day visiting places along light rail and we chatted with all kinds of people while we were riding the train. These kinds of interactions, however casual and fleeting, are important. Even the small amounts of human contact give the city a better sense of connectedness. Driving down the freeway or street in your car involves isolation, but even simple chit-chat on the train helps to feed people's need to be connected.
Light Rail Blogger 2 January 2010 at 12:32 pm #

Nice post! Since early December, two new coffeebars opened in the downtown area and I hear another is on the way. Although I believe in the more-the-merrier theory, I was curious to see what happens with so many entering the market at once. Instead of spreading coffee lovers too thin, the coffeebar variety adds to the excitement of downtown living. Most importantly, the establishments have helped me build on some wonderful friendships.

How do I keep the energy flowing? When I know someone is unfamiliar with downtown, I invite them to join me at one of my favorite places. I get a chance to catch up – and they get a chance to see what our urban core has to offer. In my perfect world, they'll use the light rail to get here.
Light Rail Blogger 2 January 2010 at 7:32 pm #

Nice post! Since early December, two new coffeebars opened in the downtown area and I hear another is on the way. Although I believe in the more-the-merrier theory, I was curious to see what happens with so many entering the market at once. Instead of spreading coffee lovers too thin, the coffeebar variety adds to the excitement of downtown living. Most importantly, the establishments have helped me build on some wonderful friendships.

How do I keep the energy flowing? When I know someone is unfamiliar with downtown, I invite them to join me at one of my favorite places. I get a chance to catch up – and they get a chance to see what our urban core has to offer. In my perfect world, they'll use the light rail to get here.