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Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

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Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#291

Post by xeromal »

jacobolus wrote: post #253
lolinder wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Suburbs often have physical constraints with the way houses are laid out making this "stoop coffee" approach more difficult, if anything. Houses laid out in a way that you're more likely to drink your coffee on your back patio surrounded by a fence or hedges to avoid being seen. This has not been my experience in the surburbs. A typical suburban home has both spaces: a front yard/patio and a back yard/patio. If any…

It’s easier to sit out in the suburbs, but the layout and infrastructure don’t generally encourage walking around, so there are a lot fewer neighbors walking past.

Contrary to apartment buildings where you have to go inside to your unit and there's not a great place to hang out and meet people

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#292

Post by ketzo »

chrisdhoover wrote: post #290

I went to school in Richmond Va. Our flats had big covered porches. Summers there were brutal. The buildings were brick. While sturdy, bricks are excellent. Storing heat and releasing it slowly. None of us had AC. Porch life dominated. Everyone would sit out. Some folk had gliders. I once sat on porch as Dave Brockie strummed away on guitar working out some of his songs It struck me that no one really did that in San…

Based on other comments in this thread it sounds like this takes place in SF’s Mission neighborhood — among other things, the warmest and least foggy area in the city!

I wonder about how to do this in my own, much chillier neighborhood… guess getting started in the summer is a big key (the author hits on the broadening/deepening event split re: weather)

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#293

Post by fma »

Your community is what you make of it. Both suburbs I have lived in were tight knit. With kids now, in my current home, I know most of the parents with kids and we have a WhatsApp group. We host occasional BBQ and play dates and when the community pool is open we schedule time to hang out and swim. That's just scratching the surface at what I see. Other suburban community Diwali, Christmas light drive through etc.

For those who have had a poor experience in the suburbs, unfortunately that is on you. The author here created stoops and you could have organized something too.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#294

Post by hugs »

kirtakat wrote: post #135
hugs wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hey neighbor :) we should totally do this in oak park. oak parkers already kinda do "stoop coffee", but usually only twice a year during a pre-planned block party. i could see this expanded to something a little more frequent, like maybe sunday mornings from memorial day to labor day.

I'm amused to see so many of my neighbors on here - we could do a Hacker News Stoop at one of the coffee shops (Whirlwind is my regular, but it's not like any of the ones in OP are hard to get to!)

yes!

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#295

Post by gonzobonzo »

bryan_w wrote: post #266
tptacek wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in an inner-ring suburb of Chicago (Oak Park) and stoop coffee would be much easier to do here than in San Francisco (where I lived many years ago). This is what my suburb looks like: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9014246,-87.791197,3a,75y,17...

Those aren't suburbs, this is a suburb: https://maps.app.goo.gl/iS3Zi4CT1vnWkD5P7?g_st=ac

Looking around the neighborhood, I'm seeing sidewalks on many of those streets, paved paths along public green spaces that run between the houses, multiple apartment buildings and a retirement center. Looking at the map, there also appear to be trails through the woods leading to a nearby sports center that's a 5 minute walk away, as well as a nearby bakery.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#296

Post by sokoloff »

LawnGnome wrote: post #51
drcongo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived most of my life in cities, I moved from London to the suburb of a smallish town about 4 years ago. Since that move, I've got to know maybe 20x more of my neighbours here than I managed in two decades in London. However, I also got a dog and I think 90% of this is down to that.

The dog part is definitely key. We moved a few blocks — so within the same neighbourhood — shortly after getting our dog, and it was amazing how much more quickly we got to know our new neighbours with our (extremely extroverted) then-puppy compared to the previous place. (And, on the flip side, I'm on a first name basis with every dog on my block, which usually implies also being on a first name basis with at least…

I can recognize and name more dogs on our block than people.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#297

Post by def13 »

lolinder wrote: post #182
jimbokun wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suburbs often have physical constraints with the way houses are laid out making this "stoop coffee" approach more difficult, if anything. Houses laid out in a way that you're more likely to drink your coffee on your back patio surrounded by a fence or hedges to avoid being seen. And even if you are sitting in front of your house, neighbors are more likely to be driving by instead of walking so not very likely to stop…

> Suburbs often have physical constraints with the way houses are laid out making this "stoop coffee" approach more difficult, if anything. Houses laid out in a way that you're more likely to drink your coffee on your back patio surrounded by a fence or hedges to avoid being seen. This has not been my experience in the surburbs. A typical suburban home has both spaces: a front yard/patio and a back yard/patio. If any…

I think this may vary massively depending on what suburbs in what country and even what city you are talking about. The "usable front yard" or "front patio" is an almost non-existent design feature in free standing homes in Australia, at least in the more moderate climates in the southern side of the eastern seaboard.

I'd heavily agree with the idea that my suburban experience is that I do not know my neighbours, and the only time I've known them has been for bad reasons (harassment, fencing disputes etc.). In the inner city, I may not know my neighbours, but you probably know and interact with your general community in public spaces a lot more than the suburbs, mainly because you don't get everywhere by car. The small coffee shop on every corner in the gentrified inner city where people wait on the path for their coffee is a bit reminiscent (to a lesser degree) of the "stoop coffee" idea. That experience in the suburbs only really exists through your children (i.e. via schools and sports clubs) and doesn't exist much for child-free people.

With growing high density development near train stations in the suburbs, there is a bit more of this experience further from the city center. However it is really limited to a few square kilometers of urbanism and apartment living that then gives way to endless free standing houses and car dependent suburbia.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#298

Post by gonzobonzo »

jacobolus wrote: post #253
lolinder wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Suburbs often have physical constraints with the way houses are laid out making this "stoop coffee" approach more difficult, if anything. Houses laid out in a way that you're more likely to drink your coffee on your back patio surrounded by a fence or hedges to avoid being seen. This has not been my experience in the surburbs. A typical suburban home has both spaces: a front yard/patio and a back yard/patio. If any…

It’s easier to sit out in the suburbs, but the layout and infrastructure don’t generally encourage walking around, so there are a lot fewer neighbors walking past.

Generally, surburbs are better at encouraging walking/cycling around (since there's very little traffic), but worse at encouraging people to walk to commercial areas (since they're usually far away and the path there is unpleasant).

In my experience, you're far more likely to see kids biking/wandering around neighborhoods in the suburbs than in the city. This is the reason why people want things like cul-de-sacs, because eliminating through traffic means that people are able to use the area much more freely without having to worry about cars.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#299

Post by aussieguy1234 »

For the political side of this, a good next step is to have a few peoples assemblies anyone can attend, where issues are voted on.

In my ideal world, these votes would be the "law" of the land. But currently, you'd have to send the results to whatever government is in power. What is and isn't allowed in a particular area should be decided by the local community.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#300

Post by nextts »

afavour wrote: post #2

> my husband Tyler and I wanted that sense of community that feels like it’s only possible in the suburbs, but we believed we could achieve this while living in San Francisco. This genuinely threw me because in my experience the suburbs are the antithesis of this, just lots of people occupying neighboring space and rarely talking to each other. Still, a heartwarming story all the same. And yes, this is _exactly_ what…

Depends on your burb but yes in general this seems to be the case these days.
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