Third place

Ray Oldenburg coined "third place" in his 1989 book *The Great Good Place* to describe informal gathering spots — cafés, pubs, barbershops — that anchor public life. The Brooklyn coffee shop sits squarely in this category for many neighborhoods: a place to bump into people, work for a few hours, take a meeting, or just sit and read. The Friend lane on this guide surfaces shops that lean hardest into the third-place role.