
Two women quietly reading books in an SF bar started an introvert revolution - hodgesrm
https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/Silent-Book-Club-women-reading-bar-San-Francisco-14954269.php
======
tempsy
After spending the holidays in Hong Kong and Taipei I realized how annoying it
is in the US to find anything to do at night or on weekends that doesn't
involve going to a bar.

In your typical "big Asian city", you have night markets, restaurants,
shopping areas, etc. that all "come alive", so to speak, at night. Young, old,
families, etc. are all welcome and expected. Yes, there are bars, of course,
but they aren't the sole focus of "nightlife."

In the US the only things open at night seem to be bars that cater to single
adults, and anyone who wants to do anything but social drinking in crowded
bars have few options.

~~~
narrator
Remember when they used to have the big halloween celebration in the SF
Castro? They cancelled it when gangsters from the east bay showed up and
decided to start shooting each other.[1] This is why we can't have nice things
in America. You have to charge an entrance fee or have a doorman checking ID
and bouncing gangsters at any public nighttime event where you have a lot of
gangsters around unfortunately. For example, whenever I go to clubs in bad
parts of town they won't let me in if I am wearing a plain color t-shirt if it
doesn't have some sort of writing on it.

[1][https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/9-people-shot-at-
Cas...](https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/9-people-shot-at-Castro-
Halloween-bash-2467357.php)

~~~
topmonk
Maybe this has to do with the negative side of drug culture of the USA. In
Hong Kong and Taipei there is hardly any drug use, and therefore crime is
reduced a lot as well.

~~~
novok
It's more america's history of intergenerational poverty, trauma and slavery.
The drug laws incarcerating people are not helping either.

It takes 7 generations for that kind of stuff to clear out I've heard.

~~~
topmonk
Asia has had tons of poverty and trauma for a lot longer than the USA even
existed.

And if its slavery, then why are European cities the same way?

~~~
toohotatopic
>It's more america's history of intergenerational poverty, trauma and slavery.
The drug laws incarcerating people are not helping either.

You have overlooked the third and fourth option: intergenerational poverty and
drug laws.

~~~
solveit
Southeast Asian drug laws are far more draconian than American drug laws and
the only reason nobody talks about intergenerational poverty there is because
single-generation poverty doesn't exist. Imperialistic powers took turns
colonising the region for a century or so and then World War 2 happened.
_Everyone_ came from generations of having no wealth and no power.

------
interblag
As someone who travels alone a lot for work, few things would make me happier
than if we could somehow normalize reading alone in a bar/pub. It's such an
accepted practice in a coffee shop, but somehow in a bar you can still feel
really out of place.

As discussed elsewhere in this thread, at night bars are often the only
comfortable place open. Meanwhile hotel rooms can get depressing and, for
people who drink, having a drink alongside a book can be incredibly relaxing.
I also think we underestimate the value for introverted people of being out in
a public setting, even in an asocial way.

Good on this group for using a bit of social engineering to help push this
idea - wishing them all of the success in the world!

------
grogenaut
Lol I lived above a bar for years in St. Louis and did all sorts of things
there. We ran wow raids from there. It was great, can get food and drinks
brought to you. Also great if the place has 9billion TVs so you can watch
other social events like sports, or if you know the people more oddball events
like Aussie Rules finals, Rubgy, eSports Tournaments, etc. Those are
conversation starters!

Fantasy football/baseball drafts, also great. Team meetings. You name it. It's
a social meeting space.

My fav was about 2005 someone gave me shit for using my laptop at the bar
during Sunday NFL day, because that wasn't that normal yet. I was a regular so
others looked at him wierd. About 10 minutes later dude walks back up to me
and asks if he can change his fantasy. "Didn't you just give me shit?". He
apologized and bought me my standard 2 long islands for sunday.

Now a days, kindles or laptops at a bar is a good way to relax. I hate
chilling in hotel rooms.

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nudpiedo
As regular reader I find the whole thing senseless, unless it is a way of
promoting a local business in the Bay Area. Or it is just one more example of
the typical anglosaxon‘s overselling culture.

The whole article could be summarized as “some bars are offering a Time Slot
for readers in the evenings as a selling claim and they advertise it in HN
where supposedly are many people in the same geographical area where such
establishments are located. They also believe to have invented fire because it
is fashionable to be innovator in the SF/SV/HN culture.”

------
Simulacra
You know I think they have this kind of a thing already, it’s called a
library. I guess the Innovation here is that you can order drinks.

~~~
et-al
Except many libraries aren't open past 7pm on the weekends. Sometimes you just
want a clean, well-lighted place to read into the night.

~~~
xmprt
None of the bars that I've been to would qualify as clean or well-lit. Are
they common?

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t34543
Bars in places you least expect them can feel like an oasis. I recently
discovered many Nordstrom’s have bars, with rather tasty cocktails. I’m happy
to oblige the occasional shopping trip now.

~~~
g82918
> many Nordstrom's

One no apostrophe(or if Nordstrom's Rack then apostrophe after the s). Two, I
have never in my life been in a Nordstrom that had a bar, where are these?

Edit: Sorry for the grammar stuff, I just passed TOEFL.

~~~
Stratoscope
> _Sorry for the grammar stuff, I just passed TOEFL._ [1]

Congratulations for passing that!

It is difficult to know when to offer a spelling or grammar correction and
when to just let it go. Especially if you are new to the language and excited
about what you have learned. Will you be helping someone who isn't sure of the
right way to spell it, or was it just a simple typoe?

After all, pretty much every native English speaker has trouble with where to
put the apostrophe's.

So my friend, welcome to our wild and funny and inconsistent language that we
call "English" but draws from pretty much every other language in the world
and inherits all of their quirks.

p.s. I also want to know which Nordstrom store has a bar!

[1] "Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL /ˈtoʊfəl/ TOH-fəl) is a
standardized test to measure the English language ability of non-native
speakers wishing to enroll in English-speaking universities."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_of_English_as_a_Foreign_L...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_of_English_as_a_Foreign_Language)

~~~
_wzsf
He's right, though. "Norstroms" is valid. You didn't need to make such a
condescending comment.

~~~
Stratoscope
> _" Norstroms" is valid._

Well, strictly speaking, that may not quite be the case, eh?

> _You didn 't need to make such a condescending comment._

Now you have me at a disadvantage. I honestly did not mean any condescension.
I meant the comment as light-hearted, humorous, and supportive advice. The
mention of "typoe" and "apostrophe's" was in that spirit: even those of us who
grew up speaking English often get it wrong.

The wonderful thing about English is that even when you _do_ get the "rules"
wrong, it may still be cool as long as people understand what you meant.

If I said something that came across as condescending or mean-spirited, could
you help me and share the specifics, so I can do better next time? Thanks!

------
drewcoo
Reading I understand. Going to bars, sure. Combining them? I've been doing
that for decades now. But swarming in large groups on social spaces and
behaving antisocially? I'd honestly never considered that for some reason.

What's next? Attend city council meetings just to play sudoku in large groups?

~~~
glangdale
This is a rather mild version of being "antisocial". Maybe 'asocial'? From an
external perspective, I don't see how these people doing what they feel like
is any different from, say, a bunch of people going to a bar and paying
attention to only the people they came with (which is _very_ typical).

~~~
johnchristopher
Well, these are spaces supposedly optimised for conversations and it's kinda
expected by customers to have that chatty vibe.

What happens when someone hit them up "hey, what are you reading ?"

Anyway, it's only an hour or a chapter long.

Isn't book club an American thing though ? Never heard of one in Europe.

~~~
glangdale
Yes, an hour is hardly going to be the End of Everything. And just from sheer
practicality, it seems likely that these people would go to bars in the off
hours, as it's not like they're going to enjoy reading on a bangin' Saturday
night at 11PM or later... I would imagine.

It wouldn't be my thing, but hey, I used to go to a regular Friday evening bar
'blitz chess' session in Pittsburgh with a bunch of Russians who would get
progressively more blitzed as the night progressed. As you can imagine this
was viewed as a bit peculiar by fellow revelers. Though unlike the reading
club, we were not... exactly... quiet.

~~~
johnchristopher
That sounds really cool :).

------
around_here
The fabulous “introvert” revolution of people loudly superior to the rest with
all your fellow introverts.

~~~
scarejunba
Genuinely find this recent phenomenon of loudly proclaiming ones introversion
bizarre.

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wanderr
I felt a bit awkward about bringing my kindle into a bookstore, but ultimately
nobody cared. I've gone a couple of times (SF location), the drink selection
is limited but not bad and it is a cozy spot to read for a while.

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munmaek
I do this from time to time with a portable chess set. Highly recommend it!

