[joe_the_user]

I was around for many of these things. At different points in my life from the 70s to the 90s, I'd hang around arcades, the local coop bike shop, a hobby shop that specialized in D&D and occasionally an alternative video rental place. It was honestly miserable. Shops seldom facilitated socializing but when that was it, some people did it. (religious groups are in a completely different category, I think and one didn't experience).

The era when people semi-hung out at shops wasn't the "glory days" but their end. The era, that I get only historical research, where you had broad socializing was the era of clubs organized around neighborhoods and interests. American society was pretty isolated by the 1950s and only got more so after that.

[sublinear]

Thank you for saying this. I'm in my late 30s, so I only experienced the tail end of it.

I remember everyone was stressed out all the time. Attitude was sorta: "I did not drive all this way just for you nor to be told...". Karen was not just that one lady. It was everyone. Customer service was objectively worse in most places than it is today. Hearing screaming babies and feeling carsick all the time was just a fact of life. Food was worse. Cars were ugly and slow. Disgusting smells were inescapable. People had no shame and were not shy with the vulgarities.

I suspect the audience pining for those days is split between the would-be perpetrators of the unpleasantness and younger people not knowing what to expect.

I implore those young people to search for "peopleofwalmart" and then imagine overhearing the worst parts of reddit in real life.

[joe_the_user]

Yeah,

Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone talks about the decline of community in America but the decline of community inside shops isn't mentioned because it never really existed. Taverns - yes, community once exist there but that was destroy by Prohibition, ie a long time ago. Cafe community in the US actually grew into existence in the 90s in my observation of the US.