Something Old, Something New Thayer Street’s deciding what it needs to do
Photography: James Jones
By Steve Triedman and Barry Fain A visitor from the Midwest who’s never been to Thayer Street would be overwhelmed by all of the activity: between the street vendors, the eyebrow threading salons, the hookah bars, the international array of restaurants and quirky but unique retail stores. The place is always crowded. Dining tables spill out to the sidewalks. Music blares. And as the spring returns, so too do the motorcycles for their late night fix of coffee and eye candy. But longtime residents recall a different kind of Thayer Street that once used to function as a core shopping mecca for the neighborhood. There was parking back then, less density that attracted more of the carriage trade. There were real markets on
the street like Thayer Market and A.S. Bunn Fancy Fruit & Groceries, which evolved into a liquor store. There was Arthur Palmer sporting goods (and khakis), M’s, Alba Runci Barber Shop with the horse in the window, Ashby Dean, Tom’s Tracks, the Hungry Sheik, Jone Pasha’s, Clarke’s Flowers, Ronnie’s Rascal House, Alfredo’s, Lloyd’s, College Hill Bookstore. Thayer Street has been constantly evolving, sometimes on the cutting edge of hipness and, more recently, of national chain commercialism. The street morphs like an amoeba to the likes and dislikes of each generation. The Gap, Baskin Robbins, Dunkin’ Donuts, IHOP and even McDonald’s have come and gone, victims of the changing cultures and the lack of parking.
For every generation, this relatively small commercial district inspires intense, yet often short-lived, loyalty and patronage. The first bar, Spats, opened in 1978; now the street is virtually overwhelmed with liquor licenses. Brown, RISD and even Moses Brown and Wheeler alumni often cannot get over how much change occurs when they come back for reunion visits, even after a few short years. But the uniqueness of Thayer Street always seems to remain. Each generation has their stories about favorite haunts that no longer exist – like the original Lloyd’s, which is still fondly remembered by some of us as Providence’s best deli ever. New buildings have dramatically
changed the original look and feel of Thayer Street and, for the most part, have been larger in scale than the buildings they replaced. The Brown Sciences Library, some 16 stories high, was the first. Then came Brown’s bookstore and the Pembroke Dorms. Store 24 was a new, unimpressive structure across from the bookstore, suggesting that design was no longer an important criteria for the street. The corner of Meeting and Thayer Streets has seen the most change. A two-story brick multi-store retail strip paved the way, followed by the Gap (now City Sports), which replaced a former gas station, which became IHOP and then a funky bar. More recently, Johnny Rockets replaced a smaller building that was May 2012 East Side Monthly
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