Vent: My favorite quiet coffee shop got taken over by a TikTok tour group

I was at this little place on Elm Street in Portland last Tuesday, the one with the creaky floorboards and mismatched chairs. Around 10 AM, a group of like 15 people came in with a guide holding a phone recording everything. They were loud, blocking the whole counter, and someone actually knocked over my cup trying to get a shot of the latte art. The barista looked annoyed but didn't say anything. I ended up leaving my half-drink and walking five blocks to a diner just to finish my morning. Has anyone else had a hidden gem spot get ruined by these paid tour groups?

3 comments

3 Comments

lewis.terry1mo ago

Hidden gem spot" = now a tourist trap reality show.

nancyn691mo ago

and that's exactly why i stopped telling people about my favorite hiking spot near the little falls trail, you know the one with the old wooden bridge that barely held together. i went there for years, maybe like ten or twelve times, and it was always quiet, just the sound of the water and the birds. then last summer i saw it on some "hidden gem" blog and the next time i went there were like twenty people standing on the bridge taking selfies, and someone had even left a trash bag full of beer cans right by the trailhead. it's like once something gets labeled a "secret spot" it's basically doomed, because everyone wants to be the one who found it first. so now i just pretend like i don't know any good places, even when my coworkers ask, because i don't want to be the reason another quiet spot turns into a parking lot circus.

the_elliot1mo ago

Man, isn't that always the way. It's like the internet has a sixth sense for finding the one quiet place everyone loves and then broadcasting it to the whole world. Sooner or later every "secret" just becomes a parking lot with a side of trash.