flâneur

🏛️ The next evolution of The Commons - The Commons

jointhecommons.substack.com · 1,945 words · saved by 1 readers

It’s been nearly three years since The Commons opened its doors in San Francisco. What began as a brainstorm amongst 50 friends for a community living room in the Hayes-Alamo area quickly evolved into a GoFundMe campaign, securing a space at 540/550 Laguna St, and a collective effort by hundreds of friends who built furniture, painted murals, and seeded their hopes for a new kind of community third space. Together, we co-created a place that harkened back to the feeling of unbounded exploration and curiosity in our formative years: volleying deep questions in a college common room until 2am, mind-melding on beautiful futures that haven’t quite arrived, and communing with diverse, pluralistic, and contradicting perspectives with authentic openness and curiosity. One that could address the growing void in America’s social and "meaning-making" infrastructure left by the decline of churches, clubs, and community spaces. Thousands of community-created book clubs, juntos, discussion circles,

It’s been nearly three years since The Commons opened its doors in San Francisco. What began as a brainstorm amongst 50 friends for a community living room in the Hayes-Alamo area quickly evolved into a GoFundMe campaign, securing a space at 540/550 Laguna St, and a collective effort by hundreds of friends who built furniture, painted murals, and seeded their hopes for a new kind of community third space. Together, we co-created a place that harkened back to the feeling of unbounded exploration and curiosity in our formative years: volleying deep questions in a college common room until…

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