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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

#171

Post by jll29 »

glitchc wrote: post #149
dm03514 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experiences of living in suburbs for 30 years, I’ve seen the default is to ignore neighbors. I don’t really get this. Our communities have so much in common and so much overlap, we shop at the same stores, go to the same parks, get stuck in the same traffic, our kids are at the same schools,our neighbors care for us medically, teach our kids, maintain our dwellings, work on our cars, and contribute to our local…

Part of it is politics. Totally correct about everything in common, and yet in the multicultural fabric we call society, politics could be vastly different: Neighbour 1 cares about Trump, neighbour 2 about Ukraine, neighbour 3 is focused on Palestine, neighbour 5 about public transit, while I might not care about any of those. All of them are going to seek like-minded people who are unlikely to be their next door nei…

That's okay. You may still benefit from knowing each other when you run out of milk and shops are closed, or whatever favor neighbors can provide via the valuable indirect social graph connections (need a reference for a job or to enter a good uni, ask a neighbor who is a Harvard alum; or just let a kid interview a Republican neighbor for a school essay, or...), so it's good you sounded each other out.

Not everybody has to be best buddies with their direct neighbors, but in my experience in a one-mile radius from you, whereever most of us are, there are some interesting folks nearby that are worth knowing, and they would say the same about you.

Because of TV, social media, computer games and gadgets, we forgot how to socialize well, but if we (enough of us) care enough, we can re-learn it.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#172

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

happytoexplain wrote: post #4
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…

>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…

Very much so.

For a very different example, I live in a small village of about 250 people in rural New Mexico. Of the 250, there are between 50 and 75 people who are sociable and interested in forming, maintaining and enjoying community. Of the remaining 200 or so, about 1/3 of them are friendly and social, but generally do not want to participate in community activities. The remaining 2/3 live here because it offers them (amongst other things) a chance for privacy.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#173

Post by blitzar »

ctkhn wrote: post #147
ketzo wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think “garage coffeeshop” is a fast track to wealth, boy do I have news!

Am I not going to make it in the next YC class with that pitch? Guess it's time to start from square 1

Coffee, reimagined with Ai crypto. Cryoffii.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#175

Post by kasey_junk »

alistairSH wrote: post #169
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 believe it's both/and. Cities are that too dense (Manhattan) don't have the space to do "stoop coffee" or equivalent. Everybody is in a tall apartment. The cookie-cutter suburb is too spread out and too car-dependent. You could have "stoop coffee" but your neighbors are in their cars, so don't stop to talk. An older bedroom community, or smaller city with single family dwellings (row homes or tightly-packed detache…

I live in Chicago, in a denser part, and we have all the things you mention.

I think this idea that a “city” is like Manhattan just doesn’t hold up in the US. Manhattan is approaching unique here and there are places in Manhattan that could be described by your ideal.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#176

Post by bfors »

stronglikedan wrote: post #37
barbazoo wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My 69-year old neighbour just knocks on my door at random interval and asks if I want a coffee. That is a dream of mine that I have yet to make happen.

Don't let your dreams be dreams! Go knock on their door and ask them if they want a coffee.

In my situation they would probably not respond, and then submit a complaint through the HOA

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#177

Post by jaredklewis »

happytoexplain wrote: post #4
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…

>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…

Yes, but the geographic scale of suburbs just puts limits on this type of thing.

“Everyone with a five minute walking me” is a very different number of people in Brooklyn vs the suburbs. Let’s say 50 vs 500?

I think it’s way easier to end up on an anti-social block than in a city, where the law of large numbers draws blocks toward the average.

Re: Stoop Coffee: A simple idea transformed my neighborhood

#180

Post by phil-lnf »

Phil, editor of the Supernuclear Substack here. I wasn't expecting "hanging out on stoops" to boot AI out of the #1 slot on Hacker News :) Glad this resonated for folks

A great way of kick-starting stoop culture is having a friend or family member live right next door.

We started a company called Live Near Friends (https://livenearfriends.com) to help people do this.

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