Nearly a decade ago, I was a UTA student looking for the cool thing to do around campus. As a bit of a self-admitted hipster, I was searching for destinations off the beaten path. I knew Arlington had so much more to offer than what my fellow students were taking advantage of, but it wasn’t always easy to find. Aside from Thursday nights at J. Gilligan’s for upperclassmen, there were very few known places for students, or anyone for that matter, to eat, study, and connect.
In fact, now that I’ve built my career around loving and shaping this neighborhood, I’ve gone back and counted just how many options there were. Twelve. There were just twelve places to find a bite to eat, to let some steam off with friends, to spend a few unplanned hours just being together. In a town of nearly half a million people, our little downtown had twelve bar and restaurant establishments. And that included McDonald’s.
Aside from the caloric volume needed to supply a college campus, there are many more reasons to build a thriving restaurant scene. From a community-building standpoint, these businesses serve as places for the community to gather and connect. We call these businesses “third places.” The thought is that you have your two main spaces you exist in—your home, where you live, and your work, where you make your living—but where do you connect with friends? Where do you linger without an agenda? The third space is best exemplified in the TV show Cheers, “where everybody knows your name.” You walk in, you don’t have to make a plan, there’s no effort in finding a seat – it’s already saved for you. The third place is where community happens…