Where do the 20-somethings go to hang out that cost little or nothing?

When I was in my late teens/early 20's, my group of friends and others would go to coffee shops to hang out. It would cost us about a cup of coffee/energy drink per hour. Real cheap entertainment. someone would bring a deck of playing cards, a chess board and pieces, or some other portable form of fun.

What I have noticed is that coffee houses are closing down/becoming obsolete, like the 50's diners with the soda jerk, or the drive-in diners of the 70's.

Where do todays young American's go to be themselves, to hang out and be with friends that is reltively safe and cost efficient?

It was the grunge/coffee house's of the mid/late 90's and the early 2000's that were popular; then corportate coffee joints (think Starbucks and the like) that put the simple and carefree mom n' pop's out of business.

So, I ask again, where can one go to hang out? I'm in my very early 30's and find no place that is equivalent to the coffee house.

Has the world changed that much in the past 5 or 6 years?

I wish there were still some of those little coffee houses around because I like that kind of hang-out, chilled out vibe. Nothing much like that in a Starbucks. Life is so past-paced now-- People are all into clubbing and partying nowadays. (which I'm not) Personally, my friends and I hang out by having dinner together at inexpensive restaurants, or we rent a movie and watch it at someones house and talk, joke around. Sometimes we'll go to the park to play sports, or the beach. There aren't many places, like coffee shops, left where we can go in and hang out for a while, besides restaurants.