Hippie Palace and the Lost Art of the Third Place
What makes a third place actually work isn't the products or even the atmosphere—it's the people running it.
There's a stretch of East Main Street in Russellville where something unusual happens most weekends when the weather's good. You'll see a guy with circular glasses sitting in a chair outside a storefront, music drifting across the parking lot, people wandering in and out at their own pace. No one's rushing. No one's staring at their phone. They're just... there.
This is Joshua Johnson at Hippie Palace, and what he's created—maybe without even fully realizing it—is something our town desperately needs more of: a genuine third place.
The Vanishing Art of Hanging Out
Sociologists have been sounding the alarm for years now. We're experiencing what some call a "third place crisis" in America. You've got your home (first place), your work (second place), and then... what? Where do people go just to exist in community without an agenda?
According to a 2024 study from the Survey Center on American Life, the number of Americans who say they have no close friends has quadrupled since 1990. We're more isolated than ever, despite—or perhaps because of—our constant digital connectivity.
In Russellville, like most small towns, we've watched this happen in real time. The coffee shops that used to stay open late closed. The downtown gathering spots got replaced by drive-throughs. Even our churches, traditionally a cornerstone of community life, increasingly struggle to create spaces where people can simply be together without a structured program.
Enter an unlikely solution: a shop selling tapestries, incense, and handmade macramé.
Building Something Real, One Conversation at a Time
Joshua and his wife Vanna opened Hippie Palace in October 2019, right around the corner from a rent house they were living in. The timing wasn't exactly strategic—Joshua had just suffered an injury working at a Conway car lot that would sideline him for months. The physician told him plainly: "You might want to talk to them about another job because you're not gonna be doing that for a while."
Vanna had been building a side business making handmade goods—macramé plant holders, wall hangings, custom pieces for friends' weddings. Joshua remembers sitting on the couch watching her work, selling pieces here and there. "It's incredible that you're doing this little thing, almost like a hobby, and turning it into a side gig," he told her.
When that small space came available and Joshua's injury forced a decision, they took a chance. "Your brain goes—are you gonna be able to make a living? Are you gonna be able to feed your children?" Joshua says. "All these things in a man's mind, I believe, in everybody's mind. And we took a chance."
What they built wasn't just a retail store. They created an experience.
The Elements of a Modern Third Place
Walk into Hippie Palace and you're immediately struck by how unhurried everything feels. There's a back room with blacklight-reactive art and 3D glasses hanging on the wall for anyone to use. There's music playing—always music—carefully curated but never overwhelming. Joshua sits outside when weather permits, creating what he calls "eye candy and ear candy" for passersby.
"I've always been a musician off and on, so I'm constantly listening to music," Joshua explains. The outdoor speaker setup drew some complaints early on—not everybody approved—but it also drew people in. "It draws business. Whether it be the food trucks across the road... in bigger towns where you and I have been acquainted with, businesses like ours are not so uncommon. It's nice to have that kind of flair where you can order your food, sit down, listen to some good tunes, and do some shopping in that area too."
This matters more than it might seem. According to research from the Project for Public Spaces, successful community gathering spots share common features: they're accessible, they engage multiple senses, they accommodate people doing different things, and crucially, they feel welcoming to a diverse range of people.
Joshua describes customers you'd never expect to walk through a door marked "Hippie Palace"—the 50-and-60-plus crowd who stumble into the blacklight room and suddenly remember experiences from their youth, young professionals looking for something authentic, people from all walks of life who've heard through the grapevine that this is a place where you can "feel good about it."
The Authenticity Factor
What makes a third place actually work isn't the products or even the atmosphere—it's the people running it.
Joshua is refreshingly himself. He's a Bible-believing Christian who attends Russellville Christian Center. He's also a guy with long hair and circular glasses who plays music outside his shop and sells items to medical marijuana patients (offering them a discount based on their dispensary receipt, making him what he calls a "patient advocate" in a space where few exist locally).
"I've always been a very direct sales kind of person," he says. "I love people. I'm a people person. Vanna is kind of behind the scenes doing things that when people see it, it's breathtaking."
He's learned to navigate the assumptions that come with appearance. Growing up, his father—also a long-haired man who worked 80-hour weeks covered in oil and grease—would get randomly pulled over and questioned "like he's the town doper." His dad told him: "Son, you choose to keep your hair long and look the part, you're gonna be questioned and labeled. But remember—the content of their character is what matters."
That principle guides how Joshua runs his business. "We all bleed red," he says simply. "When you're living your life, you learn to love, you learn to respect through the environments and situations you find yourself in."
What Russellville Can Learn
Here's what strikes me most about Hippie Palace: it shouldn't be remarkable that a small retail shop functions as a community gathering place. Fifty years ago, this was normal. The hardware store, the soda fountain, the corner market—these were places where you'd run into neighbors, have unplanned conversations, feel connected to your town.
We've engineered that out of modern life, mostly without noticing.
A 2023 report from the American Enterprise Institute found that communities with more third places—libraries, parks, locally-owned businesses, community centers—have measurably stronger social fabric. People in these communities report higher levels of trust, greater civic participation, and better mental health outcomes.
Russellville has assets. We have Pope County Library. We have the Co-Create Innovation Hub. We have some locally-owned restaurants and shops. But we could use more. And more importantly, we could use more people like Joshua and Vanna who understand that running a business isn't just about transactions—it's about creating space for human connection.
Joshua puts it in his own terms: "A lot of people are afraid to be their authentic self in this day and age. My wife never hides what she thinks, how she is. She's her authentic self in front of people—that's part of the reason I got with her. And I think our business collides with that."
The Bigger Picture
As I talked with Joshua for this podcast episode, our conversation ranged far beyond business—into faith, family, community, the nature of connection itself. (Seriously, give the full episode a listen—it goes places you won't expect.)
But one thing kept coming back: the value of simply being present with other people. Not curated. Not performing. Just present.
"You'll get all different kinds of people that'll stop in that you would never think would enter a door like that," Joshua said. "But through the grapevine, what they've heard from other people, they know they can go check this out and feel good about it."
That phrase stuck with me. Feel good about it.
In a world where so many interactions feel transactional, algorithmic, or performative, there's something powerful about a physical place where you can just show up and feel good about being there. Where the guy running it will pray with you if you need it, or just talk music, or let you wander into the blacklight room and put on the 3D glasses and remember what wonder feels like.
We need more of that. Not just more businesses—more places. More people willing to create space for their neighbors. More opportunities to slow down, look up from our screens, and remember we're part of something larger than ourselves.
Stop By and See for Yourself
Hippie Palace is located on East Main Street in Russellville (right down from the medical dispensary, which Joshua notes with a laugh—the proximity wasn't planned but turned out to be perfect positioning).
Whether you're looking for handmade goods, tapestries, incense, or just a place to experience something a little different in our town, stop in. Joshua's usually there, probably with music playing. Vanna's often working on something in the back. And you might just find yourself staying longer than you planned, having a conversation you didn't expect.
Because that's what third places do. They create space for the unplanned moments that make a community actually feel like a community.
