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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

#101

Post by ashryan »

I've been organizing a weekly morning coffee session in Astoria, Queens for the last 2 (or 3?) years. The morning coffees are connected to our local tech community's series of meetups, but they aren't hyper-focused on tech and they don't have an agenda. Just a chance to meet neighbors.

It's really been beneficial for me and my family, who aren't from here, to get to know more people in the neighborhood. These days I feel like it's a rarity to go outside without bumping into someone we know.

It's also been awesome to see friendships and even collaborations form among people in the group.

I recommend people give it a shot wherever they live. And if you're in NYC, come visit!

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#102

Post by eweise »

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…

I live in suburbia and one of the neighbors periodically hosts coffee and pastries in their front yard. I also do happy hour at different houses. I never got this community feel living in SF for 10 years.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#103

Post by NaOH »

skyyler wrote: post #34
renewiltord wrote: post #20

Amusingly, we live in a high-rise in SF and it's like what people talk about neighbourhood living. We have a Whatsapp group and people meet for ethnic festivals, borrow an egg, or sugar, or flour, or a jump start kit, or an iron. It's honestly quite nice. It helps that you self-select for the audience by who can afford the building, just like they've done the same with their neighbourhood.

>It helps that you self-select for the audience by who can afford the building, just like they've done the same with their neighbourhood. Heavens forbid we have to break bread with one of the poors . Did you mean to imply that you only prefer to associate with people that have around as much money as you?

>Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#104

Post by RHSeeger »

azdle wrote: post #95
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...

There's no official definition of what the "the suburbs" means, but when people say that they usually mean "areas that follow a post-war suburban style of development". Think culdesacs and no sidewalks. The area you linked looks to me more like an older "streetcar suburb", which I think most people would just call "the city".

Nobody I know would call that street the city. In my mind, "the city" is, minimally, houses that are a few feet apart, small yard in back/front, pretty much nothing on the side. Frequently, it's 2-3 story buildings, with whole floors rented out as an apartment. That's my "least dense" vision of a city. Anything less than that (ie, full yards) falls into my vision of suburb.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#105

Post by ryandrake »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #21
jjice wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why's that? Never used the app. Is it just a lot of negativity and you get negative vibes from them?

It exposes you to the mental illness of some people, like the kind of person who will make a thread asking if anybody knows this new runner they saw jog by their place because it's very suspicious and it's making them very angry that someone would jog down their street. Or bicker about street parking. Or people who post on social media in general, like to talk about politics or fake outrage over nothing or the weird…

Social Media in general (not just Nextdoor) has outed so many angry, belligerent, mentally-unwell, terrible people who, for a really long time, have successfully pretended to be normal and nice. Not just neighbors, but friends and even family. It's like the movie They Live, but where we all suddenly got the ability to see who the antagonists are, and realized there are so many more than we thought there were...

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#106

Post by eweise »

jimbokun wrote: post #73
happytoexplain wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>just lots of people occupying neighboring space and rarely talking to each other. This is a bitter stereotype that is leveled against both city-dwellers and suburb-dwellers, and, like many stereotypes, has some truth to it in both cases, but amounts to uncalled-for negativity. Some people don't want to interact with their neighbors, regardless of whether they live in a city or a suburb. Others are sociable with thei…

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…

Suburbia houses are usually right next to each other. Densely populated cities stack housing so you have to go down to get out. I've found that its much easier to meeting people in single family homes than five level flats. In any case, the US even in cities, is not set up for gatherings like it is in Europe where there are large spaces people go to socialize.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#107

Post by melenaboija »

I’m from a small town in Spain, about 800 people small, and this is what everyone would do every night during the summer, each group hanging out in different spots with different gangs, lol. It was just a way to chat with your neighbors.

Sadly, this has mostly disappeared, but I think it’s a good example of how the sense of community in Spain differs from that in the U.S. And this feeling isn’t limited to small towns, you can find it in big cities too somehow.

Without knowing for sure, I’m almost certain that people in southern Italy and Greece do the exact same thing.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#108

Post by tptacek »

RHSeeger wrote: post #104
azdle wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no official definition of what the "the suburbs" means, but when people say that they usually mean "areas that follow a post-war suburban style of development". Think culdesacs and no sidewalks. The area you linked looks to me more like an older "streetcar suburb", which I think most people would just call "the city".

Nobody I know would call that street the city. In my mind, "the city" is, minimally, houses that are a few feet apart, small yard in back/front, pretty much nothing on the side. Frequently, it's 2-3 story buildings, with whole floors rented out as an apartment. That's my "least dense" vision of a city. Anything less than that (ie, full yards) falls into my vision of suburb.

That street is basically identical to most of the city of Chicago. The only difference is fewer 2-flats.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9301849,-87.7195955,3a,75y,3...

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#109

Post by brian-armstrong »

archagon wrote: post #85
jcdavis wrote: post #27

I saw this and did a double-take - I live in the neighborhood and am fortunate enough to be a part of this community. Patty, Tyler, and Luke have done a tremendous job of creating a communal bond that makes everyone feel valued & welcome. I now know 50+ people who live within ~2 blocks from me, who've gone from "random strangers" to "friendly neighbors" that I run into semi-randomly.

Just curious, what neighborhood is this?

From the pictures it looks like it could be NoPa

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#110

Post by RHSeeger »

mcculley wrote: post #79
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 can also be hostile to pedestrians. In many designs, neighbors only see each other when one or both is inside of a car.

Where I am in the suburbs, all the dogs know each other, because most of them are on invisible fence lots and they all visit every other dog when on a walk. And it's common for the owner to come out and say hi, too. That being said, I know some of my neighbors by their dog's name ("That's Taj's dad").
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