Into The Third Place
Third places are spaces where communities gather outside of work and home. Mine happens to be an old bar in Transcona. So what makes a third place and why are they so important to our society?
Listen to this story:
I come here to kick up my feet and let my hair down. It’s home-y, but it’s not home. It can be loud and crowded, but the people here are my people. I leave with less money than I walk in with, and it smells of stale beer, but I — and many like me — choose to be here, where we’re comfortable, in our third place, The George.
On the east side of Winnipeg, in Transcona, The Royal George Hotel (The George, as we Transcona folk call it) has been a long-standing third place for me and my community. Incorporated in 1912, Transcona saw the rise of The George a year later at 123 Regent Ave West, the location it still occupies today. Originally, it was known as Royal George Court.
The way I see it, The George isn’t a part of Transcona; it kind of is Transcona.
Yes, The George is a bar, but it’s more than that. For some, it’s a workplace, a Friday night meeting spot, a place to hear live music, or some building you have to walk through to get to Little Bones, the chicken wing restaurant in the basement. For others it’s a place to celebrate milestones like retirements, weddings, and celebrations of life. For many people from Transcona, it’s a place to run into your neighbours.
The term ‘third place’ refers to a community meeting place that’s not associated with your workplace or home. Third places are known to improve our quality of life by giving us somewhere to rest, reset, and socialize.
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term ‘third place’ in the 1980s. Throughout his studies, he found eight characteristics that make a third place. Here’s how the University of Waterloo describes them:
- Neutral ground — A place where people with different life views and opinions can socialize.
- Leveler — Social distinctions are not important in the third place.
- Conversation — The main activity is conversation.
- Accessibility and accommodation — The place is geographically and socially easy to access.
- Having regulars — Regular visitors help shape the tone of the third place.
- Low profile — The place has a moderate style. It allows visitors comfort and relaxation.
- Playful mood — The conversation in the third place is light.
- A home away from home — The place is an out-of-home environment with the same feeling as home.
While the benefits of third places are well documented, as time goes on there continues to be a decline in the number of these places. The pandemic, which saw many businesses close, has made it even harder to find and claim suitable community gathering spots.
I remember one of the first times I ever walked inside the bar. I wasn’t of legal drinking age; I was only inside to pick up the people I was driving home. I didn’t know where to start looking, so I approached the first staff member I saw and asked him, “Have you seen Saint (my dad’s nickname) in here tonight?”
He turned his head with impressive speed and said, “Oh, you mean Trouble?” I laughed and said, “Yeah, I’m his daughter. I’m picking him up.”
“Oh great, Trouble has a Trouble Junior,” he said as he went to get my dad for me.
That bartender probably thought nothing of it, but when he gave me that nickname, it meant something to me. Enough that I remember it today, roughly nine years later. From that first encounter, I felt like I belonged there and fit in — just like so many other important people in my life.
I’ve always known The George to be where my dad goes with his friends on the occasional Friday or Saturday night. I’ve learned that ‘Dad’s gone out’ means he’s at The George.
A lot of significant events for my dad have taken place at The George too. We had his retirement party there. Sometimes, when I look back on pictures from that party, I can still feel the dried icing on my face after a piece of cake got shoved into it.
I’ve also sat in the crowd crying while I watched my dad on stage, sharing funny stories and paying respects after the passing of one of his best friends.
When I first sat with my dad, Kerry, to ask him about how he would best describe The George, he said, “It’s like Cheers.” He lifted his shoulders and sort of chuckled while shaking his head as the words came out of his mouth, almost as if it were so obvious. He is right, though. The George is a lot like the bar in Cheers where ‘Everyone knows your name.’
Having regulars and Accessibility and accommodation — Regular visitors help shape the tone of the third place. The place is geographically and socially easy to access.
My dad was born and raised in Transcona, and he’s always lived within walking distance of The George, though he says living close by is purely coincidence. Whatever the case, The George has been his third place for many years.
My grandpa also grew up in Transcona and spent a considerable amount of time at The George. He recalls the old owners being two brothers, Terry and Fred Mundy.
Brian, my grandpa, and I sat for a while looking through some books he’s accumulated over the years, and we came across a page about The George that called it “Winnipeg’s first mixed beverage room.”
“That’s right, back then, the purpose was to drink beer and nothing else,” said Grandpa.
Grandpa still goes to the bar now and then, “It’s the only bar I know that I don’t mind walking in alone; people do it all the time,” he said. “You can go in there one at a time because you know everybody”.
Grandpa explained to me how different The George was when he started going. “Back then, the drinking age was 21, and it was men only,” he said.
He also recalls when women were suddenly allowed in the bar. “This one evening, there were about three or four of us guys in there and in comes a couple of girls. One of my buddies got excited, jumped up, and yelled, ‘Here come the girls!’ And he dumped the whole damn tray of beer everywhere,” said Grandpa.
Grandpa also referred to The George as Cheers in one of our later conversations.
It’s been a third place to him for many years as well.
Until my grandma married my grandpa, she didn’t have a significant feelings toward the bar. Today, she says it’s a place you go for the music.
“I’ve never once felt intimidated at The George. In other bars, I have,” she said.
The George is one of the very few places in Winnipeg that has live music seven nights a week, and Greg Pester, the current owner, is very proud of this. Greg has owned the bar since 2000, and in those years he’s helped build quite the community within The George.
Although running the bar is his work, if you stop by while he’s there you’ll likely find him right in the crowd having a good time with his friends and family.
While you’ll find people there every night, Sunday evenings at The George are special. On Sundays you can listen to the band and then watch others from the crowd get up from their seats and join in the ‘Sunday jam’ as Grandpa calls it.
The music isn’t the only thing that brings people in on a Sunday. There’s a meat draw that attracts a large audience, too.
It may sound like a funny name for a type of draw, but what else would you name a raffle where you win different kinds and cuts of meat?
Greg is the host of the draws, and during the draw, you’ll find him microphone tight in hand, calling out the ticket numbers, cracking jokes and, of course, handing out the winnings of prime rib and other cuts.
During the evening, people stop by to see him and chat. He talks to everyone.
I went to my first Sunday jam and meat draw a while back with Grandpa.
We sat at a table right next to where Greg was sitting, and the number of people who walked in and scanned the room until they saw Greg was heartwarming.
The cool thing about these Sunday jams is that nearly everyone in the room watching the band is an artist too.
We ordered our first beers, and Grandpa explained to me that when the band was done with their set, they let others come to the stage to play or to sing something.
Simply put, there’s a lot of talent filling the seats inside that place on a Sunday.
Each time someone new took the stage, Grandpa would tell me a bit about them. “You see that guy who’s just walking in? He’s got the fastest fingers on a guitar. He’ll probably join later,” said Grandpa. “And that guy and his wife used to do shows together all the time. She’s a great singer.”
My grandpa played in a band, The Buster Keys Band, for a while too.
The nights they were playing at The George were the best. I thought it was so cool that my grandpa was up there playing the keyboard. We would have a bunch of family come out to see them play, and it was as much fun for us as it was for them.
Seeing him with his ideal crowd in The George that Sunday was nice. All the singers and musicians have known each other for years because they, too, had established their own niche community within The George.
When the band was done, Grandpa and I ordered our second round of beer.
Conversation and a home away from home — The main activity is conversation. The place is an out-of-home environment with the same feeling as home.
After a few minutes, Greg turned his chair to face us. He knew I was there to chat with him about the bar. We never got very deep into a topic because so many people would approach him to say hello and catch up briefly.
I didn’t mind at all.
Seeing Greg surrounded by so many people who love and care about him let me see him from a new perspective. Of course, he wants business to go well and to have good staff on board, but it was clear that what meant the most to him was that people just enjoyed themselves. “You know, not every night has to be a big seller. Sometimes, I choose to break even and spend more to have a bigger band for people to see,” he said.
Greg told me about how he and his mom would often play together. She sang and played guitar.
He was going down memory lane, showing me invitations and flyers from The George over the years and some pictures of him playing with different bands.
The coolest thing I saw was an invitation Greg got that reads, “You are cordially invited to a Press Reception as guests of THE GUESS WHO to be held at The Holiday Inn 350 St. Mary Avenue Main Ballroom South Second Floor on May 9th, 1978, at 10:00 p. m.”.
No wonder music is such a big part of this bar. It’s a big part of the owner.
While The George welcomes a good range of music, lately, there’s been more emphasis on Western and Country music. The Manitoba Country Music Association awarded the George “Manitoba’s Country Music Venue of the Year” in 2022 and 2023, and the awards are displayed proudly on a shelf near the stage.
Greg plays a big role in being the glue that keeps The George full of life.
Next to the main bar hangs a sign that reads, “Greg’s Saloon.” It feels like this is his house, and the door is open for friends and family to stop by and leave their stressors behind.
“One more beer,” I say to Grandpa after he gives me a look as the waitress makes her way to us.
Low profile — The place has a moderate style. It allows visitors comfort and relaxation.
My favourite times at The George are when others aren’t around. I love the noise and chaos that busy weekends will give me, but I can appreciate the different perspective of the space a little more when it’s empty. It’s rare when there are no noises from the band, the loud buzz of people talking, glasses clinking or VLTs mimicking coins falling.
On all the walls inside The George there are pictures of performers, friends, whoever, and whatever.
The whole place feels like some 3D blast from the past collage wrapped around you. I couldn’t tell you what colour the walls are because the memorabilia of performers and Transcona covers them entirely. Even when that place is empty, it feels loud.
Looking at all the faces in the pictures, lots of which are still living, but as the years go by, I know lots are gone too. The George meant something to each of those faces at least once in their lives. Perhaps it was a third place for them, too.
Because all the performers get a picture up on the wall, my grandpa and The Buster Keys Band have their spot as well. (You can find it by looking from the stage to the left at the top of the wall.)
Leveler — Social distinctions are not important in the third place
I think it’s special that I, a young mid-twenties woman, enjoy the same place as so many people who are over twice my age. The George doesn’t care about age or status (as long as customers are legal).
As I write this, I’m thinking of how I would best describe my feelings about The George to someone who has never been there. A song by the late Toby Keith “I love this bar” comes to mind as he sings
“I love this bar. It’s my kind of place.
Just walking in through the front door puts a big smile on my face.
It ain’t too far, come as you are.”
A big reason why I am so comfortable at The George and am happy to call it my third place is that I really do feel like I can show up as I am and never think twice. I’m not concerned about if my shoes match my outfit, or if my hair and makeup look a little worn at the end of my day already. The pressure I feel about how I look most of the time when going out, the same pressure I’m sure a lot of people my age feel, takes away from having simple and genuine fun. A place where I can disconnect from the societal norms of someone my age and just listen to some of the older tunes (‘dad rock’ as most Gen Z and some millennials call it) that I love and visit with the mixed crowd that The George attracts.
I find it very refreshing.
Neutral ground — A place where people with different life views and opinions can socialize.
Of course, like most bars, there are TVs mounted. If there’s a game that day/night, it’ll be on because, ultimately, there is something for everyone there. If live music isn’t what you are interested in, there are dart boards or pool tables that always attract large groups.
Unlike most bars with pool tables, people don’t keep to their own small groups. Anybody can and will play with anybody, similarly to how you pick which seat you take when you need one.
It’s not at all uncommon that someone may approach you and ask if someone is sitting in the empty seat beside you. At a lot of other places, you would expect them to take the chair elsewhere when you say it’s not being used. Well, at a place like The George, they aren’t moving it away; they’re just going to join you and whoever you’re sitting with at your table. Everyone is friends there, and if you’re not yet, you will be soon enough.
Playful mood — The conversation in the third place is light.
Some nights are busier than others. Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest of any given week, but there is one weekend every year when The George is so busy you have no choice but to be shoulder-to-shoulder with the people around you.
‘Hi Neighbour’ weekend is what we call it. You may have heard of this, but living it is a different beast. Essentially, it’s party madness in Transcona the first weekend of June every year.
I found a little bit about Transcona from a book called On the East of the River, where Hi Neighbour is mentioned: “Transcona developed a strong sense of community spirit, which remains to this day and is now perhaps best shown in the annual ‘Hi Neighbour’ festival when the whole town gets together to reaffirm their common bonds.” That is the kindest way of saying a lot of people in that community go out and drink for an entire weekend together.
For the kids, there are games and carnival rides taking up a few streets. For the adults, the bars are packed, and The George is one of the hottest spots.
Within a one-minute walking distance from The George, there are three other bars that are open and busy that weekend, too. However, The George is a favourite for many, and as a result, gets very packed inside.
Everyone you see inside is someone you either went to school with, or your parents did, or it’s your grandparents and their friends, etc.
That weekend is likely more impactful to the surrounding bars than it is to The George.
The George doesn’t need a weekend like Hi Neighbour to come around for people to see familiar faces and have a busy, fun night out together.
So, what makes The George so special to its surrounding community? Why have we unofficially made it our third place?
Is it the bands playing every night or the meat draws that happen during the Sunday jams? Is it perhaps because Little Bones has over 75 chicken wing flavours, and they’re located conveniently in the basement of The George?
I suppose it could be due to all those things, but ultimately, I believe it comes down to good people, good times, and good time spent with good people.
This is our third place. What’s yours?
