Today’s prompt from Long and Short Reviews is “places we wish were still around”. I know a lot of my Millennial people will say “Blockbuster!”. And I get it: Blockbuster was a Friday night ritual for me, too: the diet cokes and Klondike bars (they cancel each other out, true story) at the checkout desk were always tempting. The main attraction was discovery, though, seeing something off the radar. These days I can type in something random into my stream platform of the month (I rotate) and pick something if the trailer looks interesting. When I think of places I wish were still around, it’s places like “My grandparent’s house at Christmas”, or “My godsister’s house when she didn’t live two hours away“. But mostly I think of the Harmony Club, which was a BYOB bar & hangout spot where for many years I spent weekends, non-family holidays, random Saturday mornings, etc. as a third place. We’d sit outside and people-watch if the weather was clement, or hold up inside if it wasn’t. The building was sold, its owner passed, and his former business partner moved off to Atlanta. The Harmony Club is unique because it was the Harmony Club: the other scenarios I mentioned I miss because of the people, but the Harmony Club’s bar housed all kinds of art, antiques, and artifacts — and, because it was only a half-block away from our downtown’s primary tourist attraction, we’d get random visitors. That led to interesting conversations, arguments, and stuff I cannot categorize. Like this!
When I began writing a series of character dramas set in a small river town, a fictionalized version of ‘THC’ became one of its primary settings — so part of me, at least, still visits. Now, for WWW Wednesday!
WWW Wednesday
WHAT have you finished reading recently? Warren Harding, John Dean. And as of 10:41 pm last night, The Promise and the Dream.
WHAT are you reading now? Working on finishing The Hidden Coalition and RFK: Raging Spirit. The first one is 80% done, the latter more like 60%. but a fast read. I’m also halfway through The Frozen Hours, a NOVEL (LOOK, LOOK, SOMETHING NEW!) by Jeff Shaara on The Korean War. And Angle of Repose.
*sigh* I may have a problem.
WHAT are you reading next? Possibly JFK: Elusive Hero. Of course, my options abound. I’ve got my RFK vs Jimmy Hoffa title, plus a few other things….
Reading Freely 
Ahhh Blockbuster. I loved going in there any chance we got. 😊😊 Also, I think about my grandparents and my parents house at Christmas too, or even just on an average Tuesday. 😭. Time is flying by. How am I grown up? 🫠
To me it happened when my baby niece bought a house!
We SO need more 3rd spaces!
‘Building The Great Society’ is on my Wish List. I also have a copy of ‘Camelot’s Court’ in one of my stacks of US History books. I’ll get to reading at least *some* of them later in the year.
I’m sure we will have …different reactions. XD
Surprised to hear about a third deficit in the UK….I thought there was a healthy pub culture? Of course, Kingsnorth’s REAL ENGLAND did have that section on corporate pubs driving out the real deal.
I think there used to be more 3rd spaces (if not a lot more) in the past – although that might just be nostalgia at this point! There’s certainly plenty of GOOD pubs. The corporate ‘plastic’ pubs tend to be in city centers whilst the *real* pubs tend to be on the edges or out of town. I’ve been in some great local pubs that had a fantastic friendly atmosphere with families and people of all ages there. They improved 1000% (to me anyway) when they banned smoking in them. It was just about the only thing I ever hated about the places.
Love it when writers use real places as inspiration.
I forgot about Friday nights at Blockbuster. My husband and I visited regularly when we were dating. Streaming has been good, but not the same experience.
Family homes bring such fond memories. Thanks for sharing that with us.
I’m Gen X, but I do miss Blockbuster. Or even Netflix when they still sent DVDs in the mail.
The Harmony Club sounds like it was wonderful though. And I do miss my grandparents’ house in the summertime. That is, after my grandmother forced my grandfather to install central AC in the house (they lived in Phoenix, AZ). Hah!
Here is my post.
The Harmony Club sounds amazing.
And, yeah, we definitely need more third spaces, especially ones that are free or low cost.