alt Hacker NewsI could be wrong, but I thought the "third place" thing more specifically refers to a pretty local institution such as a tavern or coffee shop where people meet regardless of club/team affiliation(s).
There may be more coffee shops now, but there are a LOT less neighborhood bars - or at least it sure seems that way in my Chicago neighborhood where one can see evidence of long closed bars on every other block.
The Third Place is dead not just because of the lack of available physical locations that offer this sort of thing, but because folks are less willing to interact with strangers around them.
The last good place for this were bars, being alcohol is a social lubricant and all; but, being I don't drink anymore, I don't frequent them at all. Then there's the whole, "I live in Minnesota," where strangers simply generally do NOT talk to one another here in any depth except to discuss the weather and this is not an overgeneralization; if anything, it's understating the reality as people don't say hello or even recognize your mere existence with a nod or wave.