This was a legitimate question. We don't all live in the Bay area and my understanding was that the business model failed.

Yeah it’s still a thing! There’s 5 in SF and one in most cities down to San Jose

So quite reduced from their initial operations though, correct? Why is that notion apparently so threatening? I remember people here proudly loathing the distracting music and making (apt) comparisons to existing co-working spaces, shared offices, coffee shops and public libraries (in order of increasing affordability).

I never used one, but the idea that it's a household name is just tone deaf. Most people probably know it best from the Hulu series about it's demise.