On Friday, March 7th, 2025, the Max Funland on 86th Street officially opened, replacing the abandoned 24 hour fitness gym which sat idle for years prior.
The location marks Max Funland’s second location, acting as a sister location to their arcade & trampoline park situated on 8th Avenue.
At the 86th Street arcade, people can come in, play some games, earn tickets and exchange them for prizes, play crane games, earn plush toys and trinkets, and most importantly: have fun.
The proximity of the location to John Dewey, being only a block away from the 20th Avenue D train stop means that students can meet with friends after school, pool some money together, and spend the day at the arcade after finishing up with classes.
However, this begs the question: why does it seem like fewer and fewer places such as this have shown much presence in recent years? For the past two decades, we’ve been seeing less and less places for teens to hang around between school and home, with arcades, malls, skate parks, roller rinks, and other such places closing left and right, or being priced too high for most teens to feasibly afford.
A third place is a location that is separate from the two usual social environments people spend their time in, home (first place) and work/school (second place). At third places, people are allowed to gather, socialize, have fun, and take a break from the monotony of daily life.
“There are significantly less third places than there used to be.” freshman John Tammaro, says. “While there are still some out there, they may be difficult to find.”
Over the last 20 years, many third spaces allowing for teens and children to socialize, without the expectation of spending large sums of money, have been disappearing at an alarming rate.
“I haven’t really paid attention to the disappearance of third places. However, I did notice how there’s less places to hangout after school.” As senior Mertcan T. Kartal says “Things get so repetitive and the lack of other choices makes me weary of going to the same places.”
The trend aligns with both the rise of the internet, as well as the rise of prices and cost of living, teenagers in lower income households have found themselves with less disposable income than previous generations around the same age, and have significantly less buying power than they used to.
As a result, teens and even children today lean more towards social media and the internet for leisure and entertainment, spending more time online than ever.
This rise in dependence on the internet has connections to higher depression rates in teens of today, as well as feelings of isolation, loneliness, helplessness, and paranoia. Heightened prices in venues, stores, and restaurants can push away most teens from lower income homes, with no places they can afford. This leads to them choosing to stay home and go on social media sites such as Instagram and Tik Tok, rather than going out shopping or having fun with friends.
“Future teenagers and children may not be able to socialize with their friends and see them outside of school if no third places are present.” Tammaro says.
Third places serve an important role as places where teens can socialize, building crucial social, emotional, and intellectual skills that they take into adulthood. These spaces help teens build a sense of belonging and community, as well as exploring their own identity and hobbies.
The rapid disappearance of third places, especially following Covid-19 restrictions stifling many businesses, has left a void in what was once an important cornerstone in future generations adolescence, one which is being filled by algorithmic scrolling and fear mongering by corporations that profit from it.
While third spaces have been declining, they are not gone yet. Max Funland and their two locations are an example that spaces aimed at leisure for teenagers and adolescents can still be profitable and worthwhile in today’s digital-focused world.
Third spaces are still around, and some of the best ones may even be in places you would least expect them, just waiting to be found.
