Coffee shops, bars, open mikes, bookstores or live theater allow neighbors to meet. As a result, small subsets of the greater community flower. But these are generally based more on one shared interest, like music or creative writing, than on community building.
With that in mind, Coastsiders Marilyn Handler and Nancy Margulies are spearheading the “Anything Can Happen Cabaret” at the 7th Street Montara café.
  
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The idea is a place, loosely styled on a cabaret, where all generations of Coastsiders can showcase talents other than in conventional theater or literary readings, express self in music to storytelling to improvisation or more, share pertinent thoughts and conversation, forge connections, build community, synergize.
“It’s where people can come and perform, like a cabaret motif,” said Handler. “It’s for the benefit of the community … to be sparked in different ways.”
“It’s (a) way to build a sense of community, people connecting with each other,” said Margulies, who has held discussion forums locally.
The idea borrows from the emerging concept of the “Third Place:” Besides a place to live and a place to work, everyone needs a third place to develop a sense of community.
The term has popped up in marketing for Starbucks, as a “home away from home” to relax (and sip a favorite latte) and feel part of a larger network. Third Places bolster civilized society, civic involvement and sense of place in “The Great Good Place” by Ray Oldenburg.
They’re free, accessible, frequented by “regulars” and offer food or drink.
Many Coastside venues serve as informal “third places” where residents build networks: coffee shops like Café Classique or La Di Da, focal points in out-of-the-way places like Duarte’s Tavern in Pescadero or the San Gregorio Store.
“We are sort of a community center,” said store owner George Cattermole. “We really do need those places.”
Elsewhere on the coast, family spots like the former Original Johnny’s restaurant, Ink Spell Books or the former Moon News with book groups — and more — also fill that need.
One recent afternoon at MCoffee, employee Nicole Heirich stood behind the counter while her boyfriend, Matthew Bearden of San Francisco, read a book nearby. Both agreed “third places” were important.
“Something aside from work or home, you need to keep yourself alive,” said Heirich. “Just going between home and work (only) is terrible. You need a place to socialize.”
An established third place cuts through prickly social obstacles, Bearden said. “People are uncomfortable asking if you want to hang out. If it’s a place where you know people hang out, you don’t put yourself in an awkward position.”
As communication goes more and more online, channels like Facebook help keep people in touch, but only to an extent, said photographer Richard Kirchner.
“People don’t speak face to face as much, so it’s filling a need for doing that online,” he said. But in short-burst channels like Twitter, “You say, ‘I went to the post office, I fed my cat,’ who cares? But people need to say it and people read it,” he said. “I guess there is a need for people to go out and make connections.”
Computers don’t replace conversation and that’s where Third Places come in, said Margulies.
“Certain ways we connect have to be person to person,” she said. “So much in body language, tone of voice, is lost in the digital form.”
The Anything Can Happen Cabaret borrows from the Third Place concept, say Margulies and Handler, as a relaxing, engaging and encouraging place where people express creativity.
They suggest a weekly forum: one week a cabaret for performance, next week a conversation café, storytelling next week and finally, improvisation. The structure is collaborative and collective, the women said. customized for optimal participation, so participants would decide themes in months with five weeks.
Such a venue is badly needed now, they said. “It’s a time when the stress on people is high and the need for community is high,” said Margulies.
“In times like these, people can have something that is exciting, energizing, comfortable and safe and free,” said Handler.
The 7th Street Montara café, already the site of drumming circles, live music and hip hop poetry slams for youth, emerged as a likely spot. “It’s a beautiful space and I want to use it to the fullest extent,” said owner Stephanie Hare.
The brainstorming session is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9 at Seventh Street and Highway 1 in Montara. For information, contact Handler at 728-8035 or Margulies at nm@montara.com.
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