Retired Persons Social Hangout

[Planit]

In our neck of the woods, the elderly retired (mostly men) have met for this kinda coffee club in the mornings. When I first got here yon 25 years ago, they met at a local dive downtown until it closed. Now for the last several years you'll find one group at Hardees (Carl Jrs. to many of you) and another group at Bojangles - both fast food joints.

Every morning you'll see the group start to arrive around 7:30 and be in full swing until at lesat 9:30, drinking free refill coffees and talking politics, AARP claims and body passages.

In fact there was one time when I had to find a certain Councilmember, I could find him there. This is their social hangout, much like ours might be a local pub.

Do you have such a group? Where does your town's retired persons coffe club meet?

[Dan]

ROMEOs! (Retired Old Men Eating Out). In Buffalo, go to any Denny's, Perkins, Greek diner or McDonad's before 11:00 AM, and you'll see them in droves, along with their vinyl roofed Buicks in the parking lot. The crowds are thinner during the winter, when many take off to Florida.

[btrage]

McDonald's is the hang out place for the elderly. At least in my travels throughout Michigan.

[wahday]

Our offices are adjacent to our senior apartment complex, so in my neighborhood, they all hang out right downstairs! (there is a "clubhouse" on the first floor of my building with an exercise rom, computers, meeting space, lounge, etc.) Man do those seniors like to hang out - especially the ladies who meet monthly, each making a cake to celebrate whoever has a birthday that month (even if its no one). So then I have to pass through that space to get to my bike and they all ply me with sweets and chat me up. Sometimes I have to sneak out the other way just to get out of there in a timely fashion. They are sweet folks, though. But they have a lot more time on their hand than I do. Gab gab gab...

[Tom R]

Do you have such a group? Where does your town's retired persons coffe club meet?

I'll be looking for one come February.

[TerraSapient]

I just realized that I have no idea where the old folks hang out here. I will make it my mission to find out and report the results of my investigation here.

[ofos]

I thought this was the place.

[Seabishop]

My grandfather frequents Dunkin Donuts with his buddies every morning.

[WSU MUP Student]

My entire zip code is an old folks hang out!

But when they really want to congregate, there is a Starbucks around the corner that has more seating than most that I've seen and starts filling up with old folks around 6:00 a.m. everyday during the week and they stay until about 4:00 when the teenagers seem to take it over.

I once had to meet with an investigator from the OPM doing a background check on a friend and decided to meet him there. The first thing he said to me when he walked in was, "This is a really nice neighborhood but man are there a lot of old people here!" (and this guy had to be in his mid 50s).

A mile down the street there is a Jewish delicatessen and a restaurant in a small shopping center and both of those are always full of the elderly too. They also really seem to like going to the daytime showings at the art theatre in that center's parking lot.

When I drive to my parents house or anywhere on the east side, there is a Tim Horton's I like to stop at and it's always has about 5 or 6 old Albanian men reading the newspaper and playing cards. It doesn't matter what time of day it is.

[TerraSapient]

Apparently Zippy's is a hot spot, which is like a local-food version of a Denny's.

[Zoning Goddess]

In this little backwater, there is the "Senior Center". Who the heck goes to those places? The minimum age is 55; like I would go there next year? My god. But you have to be 60 to get the free lunch.

Everywhere I've lived in FL, it's the fast food places that attract the old farts. I know I have mentioned this before, but.... maybe 20 yrs ago, I stopped at at McDonalds on the outskirts of Sarasota around 10 a.m. and every head in the place swiveled in my direction. Yep, every patron and every worker was over 75, and they clearly saw me as an alien lifeform or some other intruder. It was spooky.

[Cardinal]

There is one of these places in every small town. It is usually the local cafe, but where there is no local, a fast food place will do. You will also find a place where the farmers hang out when you get into rural towns. I often track these down and eavesdrop on conversations to get background on the city, or I may join in on the conversation if they are a friendly bunch. It is better than most forms of formal public participation.

[illinoisplanner]

In suburban Chicago, you will find them at pretty much any greasy spoon restaurant. I think the independent places tend to be preferred over the chain places like Denny's, IHOP, etc. Although I haven't paid attention to the phenomenon in great detail, so I could be wrong.

[ofos]

In my part of Dallas, I see retirees gathering in 3 different settings:

1. Casual conversation at McDonalds.
2. Intellectual conversation at the Half Price Books flagship store.
3. Staying fit walking at Target in the a.m.

[kjel]

Around here it's the local diner, McDonald's or Dunkin Donuts.

[DetroitPlanner]

I second Tim Hortons. I can't get into the one by my house. Its parking lot is full up of Mercury Marquis and Buicks.

[WSU MUP Student]

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier but I actually know where the Mecca of retire hangouts is.

In the city where my in-laws live, there is a coffee and donut place built right at the northern end of the St. Clair River just below Lake Huron's southern tip. There is all sorts of nautical memorabilia in there and one entire side is all glass so you can watch the freighters go into and out of the lake. They go so far as to post the times of passages days in advance so the "Boat Nerds" can be sure to be there to see particular boats that they are looking for. It's like bird watching for people with bad eyesight.

I've only been in there a few times but I could just feel my bones getting brittle and hair going grey as soon as I walked in.

[SGB]

I love the ROMEOs acronym!

In my Town there are several such places:

• McDonald's
• Three locally owned breakfast eateries.

While not solely for retirees, our Elks lodge also has a 5 O'clock Coffee Club for members who start their days early,

[Dan]

"In my dad, kids had RESPECT! They'd call their elders sir or ma'm, and they didn't step on your lawn! That's all gone now. It's that damn roll and rocking music they listen to, or that repping, or whatever the hell they call that noise."


A planning-related twist: where did the ROMEOs gather in the day when cities and neighborhoods were still predominantly pedestrian-oriented?

In Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood, most businesses have benches or plastic chairs in front along the sidewalk, and they're often filled with the neighborhood's old-timers. The phenomenon, which I'll call Several Talkative Urban Goombahs On The Sidewalk, also used to be common when the West Side of Buffalo was still a predominantly Italian neighborhood. How can we design out places to better enable these informal regular gatherings of old friends?

In this little backwater, there is the "Senior Center". Who the heck goes to those places? The minimum age is 55; like I would go there next year? My god. But you have to be 60 to get the free lunch.

Last year, I had Census enumeration training at the town senior center. I learned that seniors really like the song You Are My Sunshine. Someone was always playing it on the piano. They sold little teddy bears that played the song. I even heard a small children's chorus sing it.

[Gedunker]

The Liars Club, as it's called here, meets at a certain McDonald's in the morning. After evening meetings, the Repubs go to a local eatery and the Demos go to a local watering hole.

[Fat Cat]

One city where I worked it was at Mickey Ds next to City Hall. Where I am at now they meet at the restaraunt that a lot of out of work folk go to. a bunch us that are out of work, often meet there in the morning, get tips as to who is hiring, practice interviews and then take off to seek employment. The seniors always give us advice whether we want it or not. Some of us that have worked in the public sector have learned by listening to them not to mention that we have ever worked in the public sector. The senior opinion seems to be that we got all of these big pay outs, great pensions and health benefits. because they read about some of this in the Detroit News they think that we all have received the "perks". They are funny to listen to and some times they do have good advice and know where there are some part time temp jobs. It is kind of funny to know that that this is "us" in a few years regardless of what now say or think.

[Zoning Goddess]

Last year, I had Census enumeration training at the town senior center. I learned that seniors really like the song You Are My Sunshine. Someone was always playing it on the piano. They sold little teddy bears that played the song. I even heard a small children's chorus sing it.

I guess that means when RJ and I are old, we'll be subjected so something like "YMCA" all day long at the old folks home. Maybe our parents' generation didn't think it would happen to them either, but I just can't see myself being amused by crafts, bingo, bridge, and chair aerobics. Or only hanging out with other old people, either.