Where Did You Hang Out As a Kid?
Inspired by this amazing “Yes Loitering” design project in the South Bronx, we asked you what your favorite hang-out spot was growing up. Let’s dive into the results.
“What were your top 3 places to hang out?” was our first question. 65 percent of our 40 respondents chose, “A specific residence (house or apartment building),” which makes sense — home is where the video games and snacks are. Tied for second were, “Park,” “Mall,” and “Neighborhood,” at ~35 percent.
We also let respondents type in their own answer if it wasn’t already on list. Growing up you would have probably found those people at the hookah lounge, the skating rink or at an abandoned farm.
But just knowing where someone hung-out doesn’t give us the whole picture. The entire point of hanging out is actually doing it. The next question filled in some of the gaps, “Tell us about a place that helped you become who you are.”
These stories rule because they’re like home movies — taking you right to another place and time. Here are some of our favorites.
- “Ragle Park. Even as 18 year olds, we played the most fun, intense games of hot lava monster on the play equipment.”
- “Pier A is a park in Hoboken with a view of Downtown Manhattan, and its got a decent police presence but you can get away with a concealed joint”
- “Seeing shows at 930 club as an adolescent/teenager meant exposure to top-of-the-line everything: great curation of bands, the sound of music (seemingly gold-plated soundsystem), atmosphere, the electric energy of DC audiences………. Also, Jumped the fence at Old Georgetown Pool once and MoCo cops got involved. Surprisingly, they were not there to go swimming.”
- “The Johnny Rockets at the mall (RIP) where we were regulars. It’s where my friends and I all became really close as teenagers and they are still the most important people in my life today. They are my family. I wouldn’t be me without them.”
“What’s the weirdest place you and your friends would hang out” is a testament to the enduring appeal of parking lots. Whether it be at outside a Wendy’s, Sonic, 24-Hour Walmart Supercenter, or gas station, parking lots dominated hang-out spots.
Honorable mention to:
- “‘The Kingdom’ — a cleared space way back in the wooded part of the city park.”
- “At a big rock on the corner of the street, before we would take our separate ways home.”
- “Fields.”
We leave you with this story and the ingenious pizza delivery method within:
“My friends and I would sit at our neighborhood bus stop for HOURS after the bus dropped us off. It was just a random corner in our neighborhood — at the edge of someone’s larger lawn (even though they didn’t have kids who took the bus) and next to one of those green electric boxes. We would sit there until parents started coming home from work and driving by our little circle. One time we ordered a pizza to the house across the street, and then intercepted the pizza delivery person to say that we were actually ordering it for the group of us sitting on the corner, but didn’t know how to input that address into the online form. Kids from other bus stops would sometimes gravitate towards us at our bus stop, or kids from earlier buses would sit and wait until the later buses would come so we could all sit together.”
