has anyone tracked the disappearance of bowling alleys, skate rinks, arcades (*not* barcades), shopping malls, and generally low-cost+safe places for teenagers to hang out in american cities/suburbs?
I havenβt looked into it but it definitely seems like an increased pressure to drive revenue has driven a lot of formerly-teen-friendly small businesses to either shift focus to an older clientele or go out of business altogether
I suspect this period of development is so far in the rear view mirror that most of us havenβt thought about it since, and teenagers today donβt know any different β but these places were important!
they were the first taste of independence a lot of us got. is there an equivalent now?
btw when I say tracked I mean do we have data on this?
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guys, Bowling Alone was a phenomenal and important book but it was not about the disappearance of bowling alleys nor was it about teenagers
based on replies it sounds like these have places have survived a bit better in more economically stagnant parts of the country (lending some evidence to the real estate dimension of the change)
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