Follow TV Tropes

Following

Local Hangout

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/moestavern.png
Welcome to Uncle Moe's!
"As a base of operations, you cannot beat a fucking saloon."
Al Swearengen, Deadwood

A place where the main characters spend much of their time, usually a bar, diner, cafe, coffee house, ice cream parlor or fast food restaurant. Extra credit if the place is named after the owner and he's a recurring character. Can also be a Malt Shop or Greasy Spoon. In any case, it's supposed to serve as a place to kill time, have fun, and/or talk. Sometimes it even serves as a show's primary setting. Parties, town meetings, or other public events will often take place here too.

In general, standards of conduct are far looser in fictional hangouts than they are in real life. At these places, you can expect fights to break out, people to walk inside wearing unusual costumes (even when it's not Halloween), and people shamelessly screaming at the top of their lungs... with none of the waiters or other patrons even noticing or caring. Also, the seats/couches/spot the characters typically occupy are never taken by others, as though they exude a pack-like "get off my turf!" vibe when approached.

Commonly used in sitcoms (especially those with an ensemble cast - where making somebody's home the "local hangout" would likely shift the series too far in his/her favor) because building only one hangout set saves on the budget and retains comedic simplicity. The British version is My Local. The Medieval European Fantasy version is The Need for Mead. Might overlap with Good-Guy Bar, depending on the protagonists and setting.

Compare to The Couch and Hub Level. Sometimes a Burger Fool, but the latter trope is more focused on the employees while this is mainly about customers.

Might include such amenities as a fireplace, a storyteller or a singer, a sauna, Board Games, wagering, dancing, books, internet access or whatever, depending on the local culture and the owner's tastes. Often used as a Framing Device for short stories, or a base for adventurers to gather. Outside of fiction, common hangout spaces like these are often referred to as "third places," referring to the third most common everyday place to find yourself in (with the home being the "first place," and the workplace/school being the "second place.")


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • The Yellow Flag from Black Lagoon. It inevitably gets destroyed and rebuilt almost on the weekly basis, given the nature of the show. Bao, the owner, isn't even disturbed by it anymore.
    Bao: Ever since I set up shop here in '78, this place has been partially destroyed fifteen times and almost completely six times.
  • In City Hunter, the Cat's Eye Cafe serves this purpose once it's open. Miki and Umibozu work there, and Ryo and Kaori congregate inside it from time to time, whether for business contract negotiations or just to hang out. Kasumi joins the workforce later on.
  • In F-Zero: GP Legend, the main characters like to hang out at the "Falcon House," a cafe that caters to fans of F-Zero, run by Bart Lemming (Burt Lemming in the 4Kids dub), who is secretly Captain Falcon.
  • In Gintama, there is Snack Otose and Snack Smile. Snack Otose is a pub located right under the main character's home, owned by the landlady, Otose. Snack Smile is a cabaret club where one of the characters, Otae, works in. The main characters mostly hang out at Snack Otose, but some episodes take place in Snack Smile as well.
  • The gas station in Initial D is the hangout place for Takumi, Itsuki, Iketani, and Kenji, although the first three are mainly seen working there.
  • ABCB, a coffee shop most of the cast of the Kimagure Orange Road hangs around and/or works part-time in. Its owner, known only as Master, also serves as their mentor of sorts.
  • The Midoriya cafe of Lyrical Nanoha when the cast is on Earth. It helps that Nanoha's family owns the place.
  • Naruto:
    • Ichiraku Ramen, although mostly for just Naruto himself. Seen mainly in Filler since the nature of the series' Ninja work has them on the road a lot. However, one of the anime endings of Shippuden reveals that it is actually this amongst not only Naruto, but his friends and loved ones (with scenes of him there with other teams or flashbacks of other individuals such as Jiraiya and Tsunade after drinking or his own parents.)
    • Similarly, Squad Ten has some kind of BBQ restaurant that they go to quite often.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi has the cast occasionally treating the Chao Bao Xi as one of these. Named for the student entrepreneur, partial-chef and owner Chao Lingshen.
  • Similar to its videogame origin of the same name, Persona 5: The Animation has the cafe Leblanc act as the Phantom Thieves' hideout on numerous occasions.
  • Sailor Moon has the arcade Game Center Crown, and later the café above it, Fruits Parlor Crown. The live action version replaces them with Karaoke Crown, a Karaoke Box. In the manga and the live action the arcade and the Karaoke Box have the Senshi' (Un)Elaborate Underground Base there.
  • In Sweet Blue Flowers, the girls love to go to a place called Milk Hall. It's actually an existing location which is not likely to be often visited by 16-year-olds, with its sober interior and old jazz music playing in the background, but it makes for a fetching setting for some of the most dramatic scenes in the series. There's also the fact that the girls in Sweet Blue Flowers are not normal 16-year-olds. Even the straight ones tend to be arts/literature geeks.
    • The same place also makes a few brief appearances in Elfen Lied.
  • Parodied in Yo-kai Watch when Bear, in an attempt to sound like an adult, calls the local convenience store his "regular haunt". His friend Nate doesn't know what a "haunt" is.

    Comic Books 
  • Pop's in Archie Comics is the local burger joint that the characters always hang out at. In Life With Archie: The Married Life, the gang has to stop it from being torn down.
  • Kadie's in Sin City is frequented by most main characters. Even if a main character in a particular story isn't featured, you can be sure at least one scene will take place there.
  • Spider-Man: In the late Silver Age and early Bronze Age, Peter and his college friends used to hang out at The Coffee Bean (sometimes The Coffee Bean Barn) or The Silver Spoon Cafe. In the nineties, Ben Reilly worked at a coffee shop called the Daily Grind, and met most of his regular cast because they were patrons.
  • Copperhead is depicted as a one-horse town with few amenities. Heroes, villains, and bystanders alike drink at the Copper Top bar for lack of other options.
  • Robin (1993): The teens of the Gotham Heights neighborhood, especially the group Tim hung out with, tended to spend time at the local O'Shaughnessy's, an Irish themed fast food joint.

    Fan Works 
  • The Lucky Lockup, a cornerclub catering to travelers, is this for Daria and Jane in Daria in Morrowind even though they're locals.
  • Tapper's Tavern in Empath: The Luckiest Smurf is the place where the Smurfs generally gather to drink and have discussions with its namesake proprietor.
  • Sonic and Donna has the small local diner Archie's Diner as a hangout spot. It's also where Donna works.
  • The looper bars in The Infinite Loops are bars scattered throughout The Multiverse where loopers go to hang out and swap stories.

    Films — Animation 
  • The village tavern in Beauty and the Beast functions as a meeting place for many of the villagers, primarily Gaston and his hanger-ons. The music number Gaston takes place in the tavern, and Maurice knows to go there for help after Belle switches places with him as the Beast's prisoner.
  • Tapper's seems to function as this in Wreck-It Ralph. Ralph goes there to pour out his troubles to Tapper himself, and then manages to steal a mechanized soldier's suit from a drunk in the Tapper bathroom so he can get into Hero's Duty.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Much of Chungking Express takes place in a tiny pit stop where the characters like to come for a snack or a refill. One of them likes the place so much he eventually buys it.
  • Mel's Drive-In in American Graffiti. It's the main place for all the local kids to hang out, where they go after the graduation dance. At the end when Curt is trying to find the gloriously beautiful blonde in the car, he goes there to field a phone call from her. Unlike virtually every example on the page, you can actually visit a Mel's, which is a real, long-standing drive-in and diner chain in California (although the "Drive-In" part is mostly The Artifact). Although the original locations, including the one in the movie, have since closed, the chain was revived in the 80's and split into two factions, The Original Mel's, the "real" lineage of the original chain, and Mel's Drive-In, a more tourist-y version filled with American Graffiti decor.
  • Several feature in the Back to the Future films:
    • In the first movie, the local teens of 1955 Hill Valley hang around in a Malt Shop called Lou's Diner.
    • In the second movie the place which was once Lou's (after apparently being an aerobics gym in The '80s) becomes, by 2015, the Cafe Eighties ("one of those nostalgia places"), where Marty has to stop Marty Jr. from being propositioned by Griff and his gang.
    • The third movie, being the Cowboy Episode of the piece, naturally has the Hill Valley saloon.
  • Louie's Sweet Shop, and later Mike Clancy's Cafe in the Bowery Boys series.
  • Ali: Fear Eats the Soul: The Asphalt Bar, which is a hangout for Arab immigrants in Berlin. Emmi the German woman meets Ali the Moroccoan immigrant when she dives into the bar to escape the rain.
  • Voyage of the Rock Aliens has a diner called Local Teenage Hangout.
  • Swamp Shark: Much of the film takes place in a waterside diner called the Gator Shed, where the protagonists work.

    Literature 
  • Bad News Ballet has the gang of girls visit Hi Lo's Pizza and Chinese Food to Go, run by owner Hi Lo and right across the street from Deerfield Academy of Dance. They greet him with "Hi, Hi!" often.
  • In Daniel Pinkwater's Young Adult Novel, the Wild Dada Ducks meet regularly at the Balkan Falcon Drug Company. It's a cheap but not very good Malt Shop, but at least it's never very crowded.
    • In the Snarkout Boys books by the same author, the Hasty Tasty, a somewhat questionable hot-dog stand, is their go-to hangout place after snarking out. The Deadly Nightshade also becomes this in the second book, frequented by nearly all the characters.
  • Meibeyer's in The Pale King, where most of the main characters spend their Friday afternoons.
  • Kill time or die trying has the WARP club-room, a second home to most of the main characters.
  • The closest The Dresden Files novels get to this is McAnnally's Pub, which caters to the magical and supernatural communities. Harry himself enjoys the microbrew Mac makes. Additionally, it is the only place so far seen explicitly declared Neutral by the Unseelie Accords (think the Faerie version of the U.N.), which makes it useful for doing things like laying down the rules for a magical duel.
  • Two pubs get frequent mention in Discworld: the Mended Drum ("You can get beaten") formerly the Broken Drum ("You can't beat it"), and the Bucket, a quieter pub where all the watchmen drink. The Bucket is the scene of some important conversations and detective work in Men at Arms and Feet of Clay. Discworld being what it is, there's even a local hangout for undead, which main characters have occasionally visited.
  • Dragon Queen: the tavern Trava runs appears to be this for the village she lives in.
  • Twain's in Idlewild served this role in the past, but the characters have mostly moved beyond it at the time of the story.
  • In The Mark and the Void, Claude, Ish, and Paul regularly meet up at the Ark, an organic/health food restaurant. Claude's fondness for the place leads to a blossoming romance with a waitress there, and the impending closing of the restaurant motivates Claude to embezzle money from his bank.
  • The Night Garden: Brookman's, a local general store at the edge of town, acts as this for the local farmers. It's where Sina goes to sell her eggs and milk, and where she and other women go to gossip and listen to the radio.
  • To Shape a Dragon's Breath has Haddir's, a Kindah coffeehouse, in Vastergot. Anequs's brother Niquiat and many of the members of the tinkering co-op spend time there; when Anequs stays with her brother breifly before leaving to Kuiper's, Niquiat expressly tells her to spend the day there while he's working since his flat is no place for her to be alone.

    Live-Action TV 

  • Our Miss Brooks: Marty's Malt Shop, located across the street from Madison High School, is popular with both students and faculty.
  • Arnold's in Happy Days. If the gang wasn't talking at the Cunningham house, they were probably at Arnold's hanging out. The restaurant itself featured in the plot of several episodes, including the season 7 episode "Hot Stuff", where Arnold's burned down. (it was quickly replaced by a modern - to the show's setting - version.)
  • In Happy Endings, there are two: the gang often has breakfast and brunch at Emma's Diner, and then has drinks or dinner at Rosalita's. The show lampshades the Exaggerated nature of this trope in most TV shows, the gang mentions how they spend half of their lives there, and Max even says its his emergency contact.
  • The Officer's Club and Rosie's Bar in M*A*S*H. While the Officer's Club is only for those at the base (not necessarily officers) and visiting officers, Rosie's is a bar near the base run by a Korean woman called Rosie, it is frequented by both American soldiers and Korean civilians.
  • Power Rangers:
    • Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and the following few seasons (including Turbo, when Lt. Stone takes over for the departed Ernie). The Rangers spend most of their free time there, either relaxing or practicing martial arts or gymnastics.
    • Power Rangers in Space: The Surf Spot. The Rangers spend a lot of time away from Earth, though, so it never gets quite as much exposure as the other hangouts.
    • Ninja Storm: Storm Chargers, the sporting goods store where Dustin works.
    • Dino Thunder: Hayley's Cyberspace, an Internet cafe owned and run by the Rangers' tech support, with Trent working there and Kira playing gigs sometimes.
    • Mystic Force: The Rockporium, Toby's music store, where the Rangers (and Leelee) work.
    • Jungle Fury: Jungle Karma Pizza, which belongs to R.J. and is staffed by the Rangers (and Fran).
    • Megaforce: "Ernie's BrainFreeze", a juice bar (also selling ice cream and frozen yogurt) in a Harwood County mall, which the Rangers tend to hang out in when not in battle or at school.
    • Dino Charge: The cafeteria at the Amber Beach Museum, where the main six Rangers work under Kendall's supervision.
  • Likewise, in Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger, a museum's curry shop is where the Abarangers hang out in. Most of the time it is at their HQ though. This has gone meta in the years since - while it hasn't actually appeared, it's been mentioned in several different team-up movies, making it seem like an Inn Between the Worlds.
  • Sydney to the Max has Reynolds Rides, the bike shop where Max works.
  • The Peach Pit, a retro-styled diner, in Beverly Hills, 90210, where the main characters would frequent, where Brandon Walsh worked. Run by Nat Bussichio, who becomes a Cool Old Guy to the gang. In Season 5, Steve Sanders, at this point a frat boy convert, helps establish a nightclub extension to the diner next door called the Peach Pit After Dark, which hosts real bands and is managed by several other characters throughout the series.
  • Central Perk in Friends. Justified in that four of the main characters live above it, with a fifth one moving in across the street in a later season.
    • As revealed in a season 3 episode, the cast used to hang out there even before it was the Central Perk. At that time it used to be a bar, and upon being told it would be changed into a coffee house, they reacted rather unhappily. However, as we all know, they would still spend most of their free time (and, as indicated by Joey in a later season, even a good share of their work time) in there, leading to the conclusion that it actually is the close distance to their respective homes that kept them coming back.
    • The first episode of season 3 (the only one besides the first one to not start with the conclusion of a Cliffhanger from a previous season) even lampshaded this in its pre-intro gag, with the cast coming in through the front door, all happy and rejoicing, just to see their usual spots being occupied by strangers, leading to a moment of akward sillence, followed by them leaving with gloomy-to-sad faces.
  • The Hub in That '70s Show.
  • Cheers, the primary setting of the show. There was also a rival bar called Gary's Old Town Tavern that was the focus of a few episodes.
  • Phil's in Murphy Brown - the main cast's home away from home (away from the studio). In-Universe, it's a Washington DC institution.
  • The Waterfront Bar in Homicide: Life on the Street, which was also the staff hangout. (Granted, it was owned by three of the detectives.)
  • Smallville: Local coffee shop and movie house the Talon more often than not fulfills this role (until it was blown up in season 10), with Clark's loft in the Kent family barn coming in at a close second.
  • The Bronze in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. According to Willow it's the coolest place in town, possibly due to lack of competition.
    • Well, the places we see are:
      • A Demon Bar (Willy's)
      • The Bronze
      • A Normal Bar, well, normal until the owner snaps and tries turning people into cavemen
      • And a normal bar that also hosts Demon Poker in the back. So, not much competition for the teens.
    • There is the Espresso Pump, a coffee shop that serves as the gang's secondary hangout. It's most notable for being the place where Giles' musical talents are first displayed.
  • Cafe Nervosa in Frasier, although the main characters would sit at different tables most episodes.
    • Another is Duke's Bar, Marty's preferred hangout.
  • Ten Forward in Star Trek: The Next Generation; similarly the mess hall in Voyager, and Quark's Bar in Deep Space 9.
  • Bosch: The Smog Cutter first appears in season 3 as a bar that Edward Gunn, a murder suspect Harry Bosch has been illegally surveilling, hangs out at. In the course of investigating Gunn's murder, Detective Santiago Robertson comes to connect with the bartender and eventually starts dating her. By season 4, Robertson hangs out here after work enough that a heated argument he has with his former partner Terry Drake ends with Robertson telling him, "Stay out of my bar!" In the season 5 finale, the Hollywood Division detectives gather at the bar to celebrate Barrel's retirement.
  • Freddy's BBQ in House of Cards (US). Only Frank physically frequents the place, but he also orders from there whenever they need food delivered and the owner is a recurring character. As this becomes known, Frank starts meeting people there. Once that becomes known business explodes for Freddy and he has a line around the block.
  • Sesame Street: Hooper's Store, which remains a series staple even after Mr. Hooper died and the shop changed hands.
  • There was a disgusting one in You Can't Do That on Television, which held this status because it was the only restaurant at all local to the TV studio that was the primary set.
    • That would be Barth's Burgery, run by the surly, slovenly Barth who proudly claimed his burgers were the only ones with "spit in the mixture." His catchphrase was "I heard that!," said whenever someone made a crack about the food.
      • Word of God is that it was based on the Dairy Queen that was across the street from the CJOH studios at the time.
  • Friday Night Lights had an Applebee's. Product Placement at its finest.
  • The Crab Shack in My Name Is Earl is this. May be justified in that Camden is a smallish rural community that's stuck in The '80s or early in The '90s, where a local man winning $100,000 off a scratch ticket is big news.
  • Luigi's Italian restaurant in Ashes to Ashes (2008) replaces The Railway Arms of Life On Mars.
  • MacLaren's in How I Met Your Mother. Justified in that, for the first three seasons, Ted, Lily, and Marshall lived above it.
    • And explained in an episode in season 4 that the reason why they usually are in the same booth is that a slightly wee bit mental Big Guy bartender forces other people out.
    • We've also seen other people take their spot in one episode, and they spend the rest of the episode trying to drive them away.
      • For the first season the gang actually sat at other tables quite often, but they eventually settled into the same booth sometime in season 2.
  • The Warsaw in The Drew Carey Show. A bar frequented by Drew, Kate, Lewis and Oswald. Drew's boss, Mr. Wick, and his sitcom arch nemesis Mimi also show up frequently. During the ninth season, Oswald purchases the bar with money he won in a lawsuit.
  • Kamen Rider frequently has a coffee shop as the hangout point for the the main rider and his friends, although in Gaim it's a fruit smoothie shop, in OOOs it's a cafe, and in Wizard it's a donut shop.
  • The Premiere Galleria in Drake & Josh, although justified in that Josh works there.
    • Oddly enough, in spite of being a movie theater, the characters rarely go to see a movie there. For some reason, the idea of hanging around the concession stand and adjoining booths is much more appealing.
      • This is actually explicitly referenced in one episode, in which Drake—exasperated—exclaims "What the heck am I supposed to do in a movie theater for an hour and a half?"
  • The Groovy Smoothie in iCarly, slightly subverted by the fact that it is frequently mentioned early on but doesn't actually appear until halfway through the second season. (Sam and Freddie frequently spend time in the Shay household, though, to the point where Spencer quips that he "doesn't recognize [them] not sitting on [his] couch." The real purpose of the Groovy Smoothie was to be able to have scenes between Sam and Freddie without either Carly or Spencer present.)
    • The pie shop in the episode "iPie" is implied to be one of these, but only appears in the aforementioned episode and is never seen again afterwards.
    • The iCarly studio is another ideal spot, serving as one for Carly, Sam and Freddie when not doing a webcast.
  • The Regal Beagle in Three's Company. By the final season, it's been replaced by Jack's Bistro.
  • Laverne & Shirley had the Pizza Bowl (when the show was set in Milwaukee) and Cowboy Bill's (after the setting moved to Los Angeles). Laverne's dad ran both establishments.
  • Kelsey's Bar in All in the Family. Eventually Archie bought and ran it himself, and it became the primary setting of the followup show Archie Bunker's Place.
  • The Brick in Northern Exposure, the only restaurant in town, is where all the various characters hang out.
  • Dead Like Me: The main Psychopomp team regularly meet at Der Waffle Haus to catch up and plan their assignments. Although it's a Greasy Spoon, they all come to care for it and their regular waitress Kiffany.
    Kiffany: You know why I stay here?
    Mason: Because you love waffles?
    Kiffany: It's a clean, well-lighted place, and I feel safe.
  • The Pie Hole in Pushing Daisies. Justified in that the main character owns it.
  • Merlotte's Restaurant in True Blood, run by shape shifter Sam Merlotte. A large chunk of the cast also works there. After Sam becomes the Mayor of Bon Temps, the restaurant is sold to Arlene Bellefleur and renamed appropriately.
  • Cafe Diem in Eureka. Possibly because it seemed to be the only restaurant in town.
  • The Boar's Nest, in The Dukes of Hazzard, Owned by Boss Hogg, with Daisy Duke waitressing.
  • Bada Bing! in The Sopranos, a strip joint that Tony owned and operated.
  • Family Matters had several. The first season had Leroy's (although it was only shown in a couple episodes). The second and third had Rachel's Place (probably the best known). The fourth and fifth seasons had Mighty Weenie. While the remaining seasons (despite referencing Mighty Weenie from time to time) pretty much dispensed with this trope, although we did see the kids at a couple random hangouts here or there (such as the space-themed burger place in "Hot Rods To Heck").
  • The martini bar in Ally McBeal, which features live entertainment.
  • Chubbie's for seasons 2 through 5 in Boy Meets World, later replaced by the Penbroke University student lounge.
    • It's weird that kids in their early teens (season 2 is the main cast's freshman year of high school) hang out at Chubbie's, which seems to be a bar/pub. Also, why are the kids out every day after school? Where are they getting the money to eat there all the time when none of them have jobs? It just happens to be a convenient place to meet, unlike one of their living rooms or bedrooms, which would be more likely for a middle class teen like Cory.
  • Its spinoff Girl Meets World has Svorski's Bakery, given that the Matthews live above it. As of season 2 this location is renamed Topanga's after Matthews bought it, and Maya's mother Katy also works there.
  • The Mystic Grill on The Vampire Diaries. Over the course of the series, Vicki, Matt, and Jeremy work there.
  • Neighbours always has a cafe and a bar in the same spots in the Lassiters complex. Currently these are Harold's and Charlie's respectively.
  • Home and Away has had various Diners (the Bayside Diner, the Beachside Diner, the Pier Diner etc) and Angelo's, the pizza place at the Surf Club, which serves delivers pizza and gets mentioned by the characters.
  • Home Improvement has Harry's Hardware Store for Tim and his friends, and Mike's bar to a lesser extent.
  • Poor Richard's Pub in The Office (US), named for an actual establishment in Real Life Scranton. Given the Work Com nature of the show, it's rarely seen, but all the characters talk about it as if it's the only bar in town.
  • Sonic Boom, the music store that Ally's dad owns and that Ally works at in Austinand Ally, as well as portions of the Mall of Miami which change per season. The only season the mall is not used as the hangout was Season 3, where Shredder's Beach Club takes its place.
  • The first season of Bones featured a chinese restaurant to which Booth often took the other members of the cast (him being the only regular among them). As of season 2, it was replaced by The Royal Diner, a simple and old-fashioned diner, with The Founding Fathers, a kinda classy yet casual restaurant, joining in a later season.
  • Super Robot Red Baron has an auto repair shop that Daigo and Ken use as a cover. However, it does have a secret room that serves as the SSI's command center.
  • The Big Bang Theory:
    • The Cheesecake Factory, because Penny (and for a while during the time she was still going through school, Howard's girlfriend and eventual wife Bernadette) work there and because Sheldon's OCD dictates that he only eat at certain restaurants and establishments. Lampshaded in that Penny knows everyone's order by heart and repeatedly begs the group to try The Olive Garden down the street so she can get away from their antics for the night (it never works).
    • The comic book store functions as this as well, with owner Stuart being good friends with the main characters. At one time just before closing he even invites Raj to have a drink like he was a bartender.
  • Sharkey's in California Dreams, as students gather and socialize there frequently, Tony works there, and the cast members perform there.
  • Molly's, for Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago P.D.. While run by some of the main characters in Fire (and as such, appears more frequently on that show), seeing characters from Med and PD isn't unusual. The bar occasionally appears on the other shows as well.
  • Wishbone: Pepper Pete's, a pizzeria. Notable in the fact that it's also owned by Sam's father, meaning it's technically her family business.
  • in Night and Day The Nautilus pub is the main venue of choice, owned and run by Charlie Doyle and wife Dona. A café, a steam room and the murky Darc Bar are also among the regular sets.
  • The Flash (2014) has "CC Jitters", a coffee shop. The events of the Season 1 finale badly damage it, but it is seen back in business by the third episode of Season 2.
  • Early in Supergirl (2015)'s 2nd season, Maggie introduces Alex and the DEO to a National City bar that aliens frequented. The bar has never been given a name but it's become the de facto hangout for Kara and her friends ever since.
  • Street Justice has Malloy's, co-owned by Adam and his deceased partner's daughter Malloy, and it's also where Grady works as a bartender.
  • Rowlf's Tavern in The Muppets (2015), where the cast and crew of Up Late with Miss Piggy all go after work.
  • The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: The Stage Deli is the Greasy Spoon variant for many in the entertainment business, with Midge and Susie often using the diner as a place to network and make deals with bookers to secure gigs for Midge. When Midge first takes Benjamin to dinner here in season 2, he's convinced for a moment that Midge's family owns the restaurant because everyone knows her by first name.
  • Daredevil (2015): Josie's Bar is where the Nelson & Murdock trio tends to go after work to relax.
  • Luke Cage (2016): Pop's Barbershop is known for being a gathering place in Harlem for everyone from neighborhood kids to celebrities, and is considered a truce zone for warring street gangs. Pop is a renowned pillar of the community, and someone Cottonmouth respects deeply. When Cottonmouth's henchman Tone kills Pop in the crossfire of a botched hit on Chico, Cottonmouth immediately murders Tone upon finding out what happened. There is also a large turnout at Pop's funeral.
  • Sabrina the Teenage Witch had two through its run. There was the Slicery, a pizzeria for the first three seasons. From Season 4 onward, the local coffee house became the hangout when Sabrina got a job there.
  • Schitt's Creek has Cafe Tropical, which is a diner with a comically extensive menu and a Cloud Cuckoolander waitress in Twyla. Since the Rose family doesn't have a kitchen, they are often seen dining there. The cafe is also where David and Patrick have their first date, Johnny subs as a waiter and Patrick's surprise birthday party takes place.
  • Seinfeld has Monk's Cafe, the diner where the main cast is usually hanging out when they're not gathered at Jerry's. In one episode, they're unable to go to Monk's and try to give another diner a try, but they hate everything about it.
  • Parks and Recreation has J.J.'s Diner at Leslie Knope's insistence, though the other characters don't use it as a hangout if she's not with them. For nightlife, the cast frequents the Snakehole Lounge.
  • H₂O: Just Add Water has the Juice Net Cafe, which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, a juice bar slash internet cafe.
  • On Teachers (2016), Fitzpatrick's Tavern is the teachers' bar of choice.
  • Walker, Texas Ranger has CD's Bar and Grill, owned and operated by the titular policeman's ex-partner, CD Parker, following his retirement from the Texas Rangers. CD's has been the regular hangout for Walker, his fellow rangers and his many close friends, up until CD's death in Season 9's "The Avenging Angel".
  • On When Calls the Heart, characters often hang out at Abigail's Cafe. To be fair, it is the only eatery in town.
  • The Smash Club serves this purpose on Full House. Once Jesse receives the ownership of the place, reopens it, and keeps it running, outside the house, the cast members congregate there fairly frequently, especially since D.J. and Kimmy also work there.
  • It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has Paddy's Pub, a dive bar owned by The Gang that they treat more as a hangout and launchpad for their newest scheme of the week than an actual business.
  • The girls and Charlie frequently hang out in Cafe Coda in Babes in the Wood, although it helps that one of them works as a waitress for the cafe.
  • On Haven, the main characters can often be seen hanging out at the Grey Gull. Justified in that it's Duke's bar, and Audrey lives in the apartment above it.

    Pinball 

    Roleplay 
  • Shooters, Bryan's Bowl-a-Rama, and Highland Hills Shopping Mall in Survival of the Fittest version three's pregame. Version four had The Promenade (a local mall), the Varsity (a sports bar) and the Sunset Cinema, and Version 5 has the Lone Pine Mall and The Castle (an arcade-type area). As a general rule, there will be at least one of these each pre-game.

    Theatre 
  • Ruined: Mama Nadi's bar/whorehouse. Cold beer, a pool table, and prostitutes, but the hanging out at the Local Hangout has become a lot more problematic. It's in the Congo during The Congo Wars, and waves of bloodthirsty militia going back and forth through the area, endangering Mama and the girls at the bar.
  • Sweat: Most of the action takes place at the unnamed bar where all the main characters meet after work. They all know each other, and after work they come to the bar to have birthday parties and commiserate about the deteriorating situation after the owners of the factory lock out all the workers.

    Video Games 
  • Heidi’s Bar is this in Daughter for Dessert. Kathy is a regular there, and the protagonist goes there twice at the beginning of the story. And when a new bar opens at the same location, it inherits this status.
  • Merlin's place in Traverse Town for Kingdom Hearts.
    • Also, The Usual Spot in Kingdom Hearts II, for the kids in Twilight Town. The game actually calls that section of the town "The Usual Spot". For the main heroes it's Merlin's new place in Hollow Bastion/ Radiant Garden.
    • The Twilight Town Clock Tower, in Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days is the Local Hangout for Xion, Roxas & Axel while off duty. Apparently, the trio likes nothing better than eating ice cream while dangling their legs off a precarious ledge 10 stories off the ground. Even after one of them nearly falls off of it.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
  • For the Super Mario Bros. series:
    • Some areas of Delfino Plaza have this feel in Super Mario Sunshine.
    • Starship Mario becomes this in Super Mario Galaxy 2 as more and more NPCs start hanging out there once they appear in the main story.
  • For the Pokémon series:
  • Pocket D in City of Heroes. Justified in that it's also a miniature Hub, and one of the few places Heroes, Villains, and Praetorians can hang out.
  • The Midoriya cafe from Lyrical Nanoha is a holdover from Triangle Heart 3.
  • The Meiko Salon from Shall We Date?: Ninja Shadow; it was created by the leader of the Nagasaki Vigilantes, Makoto Nakagawa, to deploys his succesful business, plus be the group's headquarters. It has a huge store (where Kagura and the Player Character work part-time) full of all kinds of goodies, a small snack bar, Makoto's artist studio plus some reunion rooms, etc..
  • Most Story of Seasons games have a bar or inn where characters hang out. It's also usually home to at least one bachelor or bachelorette.
  • The Last Round in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines becomes this if you join the Anarchs. Most of the named Anarchs in downtown Los Angeles hang around in the dive bar, either on the ground floor or the second one, providing a lot of exposition to the Player Character and access to a few quests and character advancements. It does not, however, contain a dance floor or access to blood dolls like the night clubs in the game's hubs.
  • Persona 4: The Investigation Team hang around the department store Junes, run by the father of one of the protagonist' friends; Yosuke Hanamura.
  • Persona 5 has the coffee shop Cafe Leblanc; the protagonist rooms right above it, and so the Phantom Thieves of Heart hold a number of meetings there.

    Web Animation 

    Webcomics 
  • Demonseed Redux: "Uncle" Hal owns a bar where Chico and friends spend most of the time at.
  • Salty Crackers Comics in El Goonish Shive, justified in being where Justin and Grace work and in most of the cast being spectacular dorks. Unusually, not all the main characters are part of the comic shop posse — Elliot (who is clueless about comics and pop culture in general) has been there once, and Ellen warned him he wouldn't like it (she only goes there to hang with Nananse), and Tedd and Sarah are dorks, but have only been seen there when competing in Magickal Cards tournaments.
  • In Least I Could Do, the park is this spot with Rayne and Noel. The two constantly go for walks there, have a conversation where Rayne usually makes some incredibly childish or bizarre statement, leaving Noel to do the Deadpan Snarker routine in response.
  • An unnamed neighborhood bar is frequently visited by the cast of Sluggy Freelance, though not as often in recent years. Bartender Crystal has been a very minor supporting character throughout much of the strip's history.
  • Coffee of Doom in Questionable Content. Justified in that almost the entire cast either works there, used to work there or dates (or dated) someone who works there. When they want something stronger, they go to The Horrible Revelation, based on a real bar in Northampton, Massachusetts.
  • The Watering Hole in The Suburban Jungle, owned by Leonard, Tiffany's future love interest (and eventual husband). Every regular character has visited at least once.
  • Hammer's bar, the Spanked Monkey, in Ghastly's Ghastly Comic. The artist stated that a bar is a good place to set a comic strip because you never have to explain why a diverse selection of people would congregate there.
  • Most of the women in Rhapsodies hang out at the Peach Blossom.
  • Darren's bar serves this role in early Wapsi Square strips, but it is visited less and less frequently as the characters start to deal with things that you can't talk about in public without having people think you are crazy.
  • Sunset Grill The entire comic is set in and around the Sunset Grill, or follows the staff and patrons. It’s not a comic about any one hero in particular, the hangout is the story.
  • Nobody Scores! has Coffee Snout. Many incidental appearances with a central role in this tragedy.
  • Girls with Slingshots: Depending on the time of day (or how bad a day someone's having), Jameson's cafe or Angel's bar. Outside of Hazel and Jamie, most of the cast met at one location or the other.
  • The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!: Generictown has Akbar's Malt Shop, which has been around in some form at least since Bob was a teenager (when Akbar himself was only an employee there). While we've seen other restaurants (both fancier and more low-brow), this seems to be the place everyone in town gravitates toward.

    Web Original 
  • In Crossing Kevin's Crossing, the Steaming Mug is a hangout of locals and few college kids. The narrator goes there for the free wifi.

    Web Videos 
  • I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC: Stan's Place in the Random Universe. All the heroes from DC and Marvel (and some other random comic book franchises) hang out there when they aren't ripping off Mac/PC and Old Spice commercials or other movies in general.
  • A lot of machinimas based around Super Mario 64 tend to have characters hanging around Princess Peach's castle. In the case of SMG4, the main cast would hang in there up until after "It's Gotta Be Perfect", they would get a brand new castle.

    Western Animation 
  • Pictured above; Moe's Tavern in The Simpsons, the bar where all the main adults hang out.
    • The kids hang out at the Kwik-E-Mart, a convenience store owned by the always-friendly Apu. "Thank you, come again!"
  • The Candy Bar in Craig of the Creek becomes the local hangout for the Stump Kids and all of the Creek kids to have sweet drinks and candy treats in Season 4 after King Xavier's defeat in the Capture the Flag game.
  • Family Guy: The Drunken Clam, a local bar where Peter and his friends typically hang out.
    • The spin-off series The Cleveland Show has The Broken Stool, local bar in Stoolbend where Cleveland and his friends hang out.
  • Big City Greens had Big Coffee, the café located right next door to the Greens' house, which is also Cricket's workspace. Until it got shut down by Chip Whistler in Season 2. It was reopened and rebranded as the Gloria + Green Café in Season 3.
  • Brickleberry: Epstein's Bar is a drinking bar for the main cast.
  • Arthur had two:
    • The Sugar Bowl, a local dessert parlor and soda shop where Arthur and his friends frequently meet.
    • Brain's Ice Cream Shop, an Ice Cream parlor that's owned by Brain and his family.
  • In addition to being the team's base, the Watchtower in Justice League Unlimited qualifies.
  • Bueno Nacho in Kim Possible. If Kim and Ron weren't in school or on a mission, they were there. The resturant itself featured in several episode plots, including the (original) series finale Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama.
  • Nasty Burger in Danny Phantom. So much so that main villain Vlad bought it at one point and restricted any teenage admittance... just to mess with Danny.
  • 6teen had The Big Squeeze lemonade stand, Caitlin's main place of work at the Galleria Mall where the main characters frequently hang out.
  • Louie's Place in TaleSpin probably counts, despite the fact that it isn't local at all. It's on a small island in the middle of the ocean, which serves as a rest stop and fueling station for pilots.
  • The Weekenders: Most episodes have a scene where the main characters are hanging out at a local pizza restaurant. As a Running Gag, while the location and staff of the restaurant are fixed, the name and theme changes every episode, usually to some sort of terrible pun; Word of God would reveal that the joke arose from him actually being unable to settle on how he wanted the location to be.
  • Sugarfoot's in King of the Hill.
    • And the alley behind Hank's house where he and his friends stand, drink beer, and talk.
  • Dot's Diner in ReBoot. But then it got destroyed in the season 2 finale. Fortunately, it got better when the User restored Mainframe.
  • Kelso's, a local corner store in Recess, beginning in season three.
  • Mesmers in My Life as a Teenage Robot (Which didn't serve robots until after the events of "Return of Raggedy Android", in which the owner foreswore his old policy).
  • Black's Cafe in Captain Star. Of course, it's the only cafe on the nameless planet.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants: Anyone who isn't Plankton tend to go to the Krusty Krab.
  • Winx Club hang out in the Frutti Music Bar.
  • Regular Show has the Coffee Shop where Margaret and Eileen work.
  • After Diana tastes ice cream for the first time in DC Super Hero Girls and becomes enamored with it, she declares the ice cream parlor "Sweet Justice" her team's go-to place after each victory.
  • In Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty, Felicity and her friends tend to hang out at Mythic Malts, a restaurant owned by Moona that sells delicious malts.
  • The Sugarcube Corner is this in My Little Pony: Pony Life, which is where the Mane 6 head to as their "home away from home". One of the main characters, Pinkie Pie, also runs the store.
  • Gravity Falls: The cast usually gathers at the Mystery Shack gift shop.
    • Greasy’s Diner is a fairly frequent gathering place for the cast.
  • The Secret World of Benjamin Bear has Toot Sweet's Garden Cafe, where teddy bears can go for a honey shake.
  • Doug had two:
    • The Honker Burger from the original run on Nickelodeon was a fast food hamburger restaurant that all of the main cast hung out at regularly when not at school.
    • In the Disney retool, the Honker Burger was bought out and turned into a fancy French restaurant. Fortunately Mr. Swirly, the local ice cream manufacturer, had just opened up his restaurant functionally identical to the Honker Burger to serve as a new hang out.
  • O'Grady: Eets-a-Pizza, the pizza place where Harold works, is also where the gang goes to talk and hang out.

    Real Life 
  • The kitchen. Everyone always hangs out in the kitchen. Especially for student residences with shared kitchens. The social group formed by your friends in the kitchen are much more likely to meet there at dinnertime than with everyone else in the common room. For similar reasons, this can extend to the dining room and the living room.
  • Starbucks was conceived as sort of a universally known local hangout.
    • Likewise, Tim Hortons.
    • Or convenience stores like Mini Stop and 7 Eleven.
    • Panera Bread is likewise a coffee shop hangout which serves meals.
  • Bathhouses in several cultures, famously with Romans.
  • Latrines in army camps in past times. Campfires as well.
  • For the Jannissaries the soup couldron figured as this and doubled as regimental totem.
  • The pub. Short for 'public house' and indeed, it serves as a public place of rest and socialization.
  • For office friends, there is the breakroom/water cooler/coffee machine. Everyone needs a break or a drink at some point, and it's a great way to spend a few minutes away from computers and paperwork and lightly socialize.

Top