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CONTENTS
Photogarphy by Mike Braca
East Side Monthly • October 2017
Making breakfast better through science at Rebelle Artisan Bagels (p. 49)
This Month
12 A gripping murder mystery for fans of the 17th century
26 What Do We Want? East Siders offer some modest proposals for the neighborhood’s future
13 Virtual reality enters the Thayer Street dimension
35 The College Hill Creeps
14 Classes to bring out your inner scribe come to Providence
Our skeptical editor goes on a ghost tour and becomes a believer
On the Town 49 Flavor of the Month: Breakfast with a rebellious streak at Rebelle Artisan Bagels 50 On the Menu: The last days of Lippitt Farmers Market and Oktoberfest 52 Restaurant Guide
15 In the Know
Calendar
Every Month 8 Editorial and Letters to the Editor Community 11 The Athenaeum is doing better than ever. What’s the secret to its success?
17 Neighborhood News
61 Events you can’t miss this month
Close to Home
East Sider
42 Education: College Visions has a plan for college-bound students
66 Musician Thomas Lane on the philanthropic work his mother inspired
44 East of Elmgrove: Pedicures are not for the faint of heart
On the Cover:
The First Baptist Church helps us celebrate our redesign. Photography by Mike Braca
East Side Monthly • October 2017 7
EDITORIAL
No Smoke, No Fire, But Plenty of Questions Fire stations play an important role in providing reassurance and safety to nearby residents while also serving as a visual centerpiece to the neighborhood. That’s why Mayor Elorza’s decision to close down two of the three East Side fire stations last year produced considerable concern among many of our homeowners. Once shut down, the next step is to determine what is to become of the mothballed facilities. On September 27, residents in the vicinity of the now closed Rochambeau Avenue facility will have the opportunity to make their voices heard as to what
should be done with the historic building. The meeting starts at 6:30pm, is open to all and will be held at the station itself at 280 Rochambeau Avenue. Staff members from the Providence DPW will be on hand to facilitate the discussion. Details can be found on the Facebook page of the Providence Department of Planning and Development. The discussion, we hope, will center on several issues. At the time of the station closings, Commissioner Pare stated that response times for the entire East Side would comply with the department’s four-minute standard especially in regard to medical
emergencies which is the more pressing issue here. There was general agreement that statistics would be monitored and changed if data supports it. Has this been the case? Given the proximity of the Rochambeau station to the Miriam Hospital, it would seem this information would be particularly relevant. In addition, we trust that the mayor’s office will be most sensitive to the views of the immediate neighbors – the ones most affected – as they consider what happens next to this wonderful facility that has served us all so well over the years.
hearing the word “sister,” I burst into tears as my own sister had died just a few days earlier. She immediately came over and gave me a big hug. She told me she was from Russia, that it took her three tries to get a visa, and that her husband’s first words at the birth of their son were “My son is an American!” I cried again – it was so moving. The kids stayed in the play area and we walked to the arts and crafts booths where I found a woman I knew who spoke German, which surprised my relatives, and before long a man who had been stationed in Germany joined in the German conversation, along with his wife, who also spoke a little German. Conversation continued until Elias ran over to us and said that his sister had flown off the swing. We ran back to Isabella, who was surrounded by a very helpful group of parents, comforting and holding her. She was scared, but other than a few scrapes and a large bump on her head was fine.
Frank was quiet but thoughtful as we walked home, and finally spoke. “I have been in Boston, New York City, Florida, San Francisco, Yosemite Park and Disneyland on this trip, but this place is the spirit of America! The amazing variety of people, of nationalities, of languages spoken in the park, the openness and friendliness of everyone that we met walking through the park was just unbelievable.” Of course, upon hearing this, I burst into tears again. It made me so proud of Providence and especially of our East Side neighborhood. I wished only that this view of America could be held by people of all nations. Carol Finkelman
L ET T E RS To the Editor: It seemed like an ordinary summer Saturday as my husband and I shared the East Side with some relatives from Germany: mother Rebecca, father Frank, 11-year-old Elias and seven-year-old Isabella. First we all walked with our dog to Seven Stars for breakfast outside on their patio. The food was delicious as always, and our company enjoyed the ease with which we all chatted with the other people surrounding our table. Everyone was interested in meeting the family from Germany, all of whom spoke English. Next stop was the farmers’ market at Lippitt Park where we especially enjoyed talking to the many other dog owners. From the green market we ambled over to the swings and play area. I watched a toddler wearing a very artistic, hand-designed backpack and asked his mother where she got it. She replied that her sister sent it to her. Upon
CONNECT WITH US 8
East Side Monthly • October 2017
Ea stSid e M o n t h l y.com
H ey R h od y
Correction: In the August story “Finding Home Again,” Sylvia Brown’s husband was incorrectly named as Fabrice Gaussen. Sylvia Brown is married to Andrew West.
@ H ey R h od y
East Side Monthly Publishers Barry Fain Richard Fleischer John Howell
Media Director Jeanette St. Pierre
Executive Editor Barry Fain
City Editor Steve Triedman
Creative Director Julie Tremaine
Managing Editor Tony Pacitti Editor Sophie Hagen
Art Director Meghan H. Follett Assistant Art Director Nick DelGiudice
Advertising Design Director Layheang Meas Graphic Designers Chad Bauerle Brandon Harmon
Marketing Coordinator Kim Tingle
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PENDING 94 UNIVERSITY AVENUE Recently updated first floor condo of two owner condominium. Separate entrance, front door, parking for 1 car. New white cabinets, tile floor, stone fireplace,two BRs and updated bath. Parking for one car, quaint backyard. $310,000 Aleen Weiss
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Dan Schwartz Stephanie Oster Wilmarth For advertising information email: Marketing@ProvidenceOnline.com Contributing Photographers Mike Braca Mike Cevoli Contributing Illustrator Lia Marcoux Contributing Writers Lisa Allard Erin Belknap Jessica Bryant Alastair Cairns Amanda M. Grosvenor Molly Lederer Lauri Lee
SOLD 250 HARRIS ROAD, SMITHFIELD Beautiful, graciously maintained mid century modern home. Ranch style living Offers 11 ft ceilings, open floor plans, 3 BR 2 Full Bath and 1 half bath. Large windows overlooking lush 2 acre property. Fully gated in-ground pool. $395,000 Aleen Weiss
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12 LINCOLN MEADOWS DRIVE, LINCOLN Custom designed 3,200 sq ft home in sought after Lincoln Meadows. 4 beds, 2.5 baths. Unbelievable master suite with huge walk in closet. Gas fireplace den with cathedral ceililng. $630,000 Aleen Weiss
Dan McGowan Stephanie Obodda Elizabeth Rau
Classified Advertising Sue Howarth Interns Trent Babington Emily Blay Amanda Gastel Marissa O’Rourke Calendar announcements and news releases should be submitted by the 1st of the preceding month. We reserve the right to omit and edit items. Letters to the editor are welcome. We will not print unsigned letters without exceptional circumstances. East Side Monthly is not responsible for typographical errors. Corrections will be run at discretion of editor.
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COMMUNITY East Side Stories | Neighborhood News & Notes
East Side News
Unexpected Success for the Athenaeum
In a time of economic insecurity for libraries and museums, what is this institution doing right? By Erin Belknap
One step inside the
Providence Athenaeum (Providence Athenaeum.org) reveals a place unlike any other. It immediately ignites the senses, with charming architectural details, the distinctive and gratifying smell of aged books, and creaking floorboards that have weathered the footsteps of Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman and H. P. Lovecraft. Matt Burriesci’s two-year tenure as executive director of the Athenaeum has marked a particularly prosperous period for the library. Since 2012, the Athenaeum has expanded its donor base by over 50 percent and, within the last year alone, membership and annual visitors have increased by 16 percent and 11 percent, respectively. In mid-August, it was announced that the Athenaeum would be the recipient of a highly competitive $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. One of the city’s oldest libraries and most treasured cultural institutions, the Athenaeum’s remarkable gains over the past several years are all the more impressive in light of the obstacles faced by cultural centers like it. The arts and humanities disciplines historically have struggled for funding, and the Athenaeum has itself faced (and recovered from) periods of financial instability over the past several decades. An eager and engaging conversationalist whose heartfelt investment in the Athenaeum is
clear, Matt makes a point of commending the dedicated and hardworking board and staff at the Athenaeum and credits its recent success to a lot of “minor things” coming together to produce major changes. But as he talks about the Athenaeum’s evolution over the past two years, it becomes apparent that this success has been the result of very strategic and intentional initiatives, however minor or incidental they may seem. Part of what sets the Athenaeum apart from other historical or cultural institutions is its unique, public-oriented mission. While other organizations may tailor programming to their members,
the Athenaeum takes an inclusive approach, offering free public programming and events for both members and non-members. A vast expansion of their signature programming has welcomed larger and more diverse crowds, with a robust lineup of regular and adhoc events aimed at cultivating visitors’ cultural curiosity. These include their much-loved Salon Series, a weekly discussion forum complete with food, drink and dynamic conversation, as well as reading and poetry groups, pub trivia nights, concerts, social events, children’s workshops, story hours and developmental playtime, and speaking events with
well-known personalities and spirited lecturers from a variety of disciplines. Less exciting but equally instrumental has been their strategic approach to marketing. Within the past five years, the library has undergone a comprehensive rebranding, hiring a dedicated director of marketing and communications, Robin Wetherill, and teaming up with a creative agency to revamp its public outreach initiatives. Critical to the rebranding process, Matt explains, was increasing awareness of the fully up-and-running library and the physical community of thinkers, learners and socializers with eclectic passions and expertise. They’ve since aligned their print messaging, digital communications and marketing efforts to reflect this rich cultural scene that the Athenaeum brings to Providence. Beyond this deliberate community outreach and program expansion, however, perhaps widespread support for the Athenaeum emerged thanks to an uncertain and tumultuous political landscape. Founded on American ideals of community service and intellectual enrichment, the library provides a safe space for civil discourse, unity and cultural awareness. Robin poignantly describes the Athenaeum’s fundamental appeal: “It has an intimacy, a gravitas, and a sense of both the past and the present.” And that seems to be just what the people of Providence are seeking.
Photography by Savannah Barkley for East Side Monthly East Side Monthly • October 2017 11
Community East Side News
Descartes Is Dead
An East Sider’s historical mystery plumbs the philosopher’s death for intrigue By Lauri Lee
“Cogito ergo sum”
– I think, therefore I am. Many of us recognize this famous phrase by the seventeenth-century philosopher, mathematician and scientist René Descartes. But most of us are less familiar with Descartes’ unusual life and mysterious death, the subject of The Irrationalist: The Tragic Murder of René Descartes, a new work of historical fiction that is also a gripping murder mystery. Author, scholar and East Sider Andrew Pessin (AndrewPessin.com) has been researching Descartes for the past ten years and was inspired to write The Irrationalist by Richard Watson’s biography of the renowned philosopher and mathematician. Despite his fame, Descartes was not well liked. In fact, German academic Theodor Ebert proposed in 2010 that Descartes’ death may not have been due to natural causes. In the novel, Descartes’ prickly personality, reclusive nature and brilliant insights unfold against a richly detailed background. The
story begins with his murder. We then meet the man investigating his death: Adrien Baillet, a Jesuit priest and real person who wrote the first biography of Descartes. A bumbling but likeable character, Baillet is ill suited for his assignment but easy to root for. The novel draws on Baillet’s and Watson’s biographies in addition to Ebert’s work and letters written by Descartes. As we travel with Baillet through the years and through France, the Netherlands and Sweden, we learn about the philosopher’s past. The meticulous descriptions of actual locations and historical figures weave a tapestry against which Descartes’ numerous detractors
12
East Side Monthly • October 2017
– personal, intellectual, political and religious – emerge as possible suspects. Like many great murder mysteries, there is a dramatic plot twist at the end. Pessin has taken some liberties, although of course there is no proof that the novel’s denouement is less accurate than any other theory about Descartes’ death. A philosophy professor at Connecticut College, Andrew has written seven books, two of them works of fiction, and starred as the Genius in a 1994 series of skits on the Late Show with David Letterman called “The Strong Guy, the Fat Guy, the Genius.” He lives with his family on the East Side.
Photo (right) by Alisa Kotler-Berkowitz
Author Andrew Pessin
A MUST TRY Choose Your Own Adventure
RI’s first ever virtual reality lounge opens on Thayer Street By Amanda M. Grosvenor
KOREAN FRIED CHICKEN
The future is now
– and it’s right here in Providence. If your only exposure to virtual reality (VR) has been via The Matrix, Black Mirror or Lawnmower Man, you’ll want to zip over to Thayer Street and experience the real thing for yourself at Base Station VR Lounge (BaseStationVR.com), the first dedicated virtual reality lounge in New England. It’s more low key than how science fiction often portrays it, but also much more immersive than you might expect. Before opening in June, owner Nidal Battikha researched other popular entertainment venues like escape rooms and paint nights, but the initial inspiration for Base Station was simple: “I bought a VR headset and fell in love with it,” he says. Thayer Street’s proximity to nearby colleges made it a perfect fit: “I’d been looking at a different business opportunity,” Nidal says, “and I found a space with an extra room and thought, ‘Hey, it would be really cool if I set up a headset and started charging.’” Ultimately, he created five stations throughout two rooms, with floor mats and plenty of space to allow customers to get lost in simulated worlds. As of this writing, Base Station’s library offers more than 60 experiences – games, yes, but also casual walks through art galleries and otherworldly spaces, puzzles, competitive combat, zombie escapes and other horror scenarios for the gutsy.
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Community East Side News
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GrubStreet, the Boston-based creative writing school which, according to its website, teaches “writers of all genres and ambitions,” is coming to Providence, and three Rhody-based GrubStreet instructors will, at least through November, have a shorter commute. Partnering with School One, which has granted use of its space to the instructors, the program’s series of 12 evening creative writing classes started on September 11 and continues through November. Ethan Gilsdorf, a GrubStreet board member and one of the three instructors who will be teaching classes at School One this fall, says that the GrubStreet name refers to a nineteenth-century London neighborhood that was a hub for writers, publishers and booksellers. It helpfully evokes a certain writerly scrappiness, but “the downside is that people sometimes confuse us with a cooking school.” Ethan will be joined by fellow East Sider Annie Hartnett, author of the recently published Rabbit Cake, and Cranston-based Mark Fogarty, co-founder of the Rhode Island Film Collaborative. Ethan has taught with GrubStreet for 13 years. As a freelance journalist as well as published author and teacher, Ethan’s classes
include tutorials on the tasks specific to freelancing, including writing pitch emails, marketing, blogging and writing book proposals. The organization, he says, has grown exponentially over the last decade – which he attributes in part to the recession. “A lot of people were out of work” and could “think about what to do with their spare time,” he explains. “There are many aspiring writers out there.” And, he points out, “the cultural legitimacy of storytelling has grown as well. There’s lots of podcasts and lots of storytelling workshops,” along with live storytelling events like The Moth, all based on the “idea that anybody can tell a story.” GrubStreet prides itself on both its accessibility and rigor. Its classes are open to anyone regardless of experience – “We want to make sure that writing doesn’t seem like this rarified art that only a few people or only people from certain backgrounds should have access to,” Ethan says – while still “stressing the literary value of good writing.” “Our goal is not to sit in a circle and sing ‘Kumbaya’ and lay on the praise,” Ethan explains. “We think people can improve and get better, so we want to push people to produce their best work.” Yes, “people have been writing for centuries without taking creative writing classes. But we feel strongly that writing is a craft. There are certain things you can teach, models you can follow, learnable skills.” Ethan himself continues to take classes at GrubStreet even as an instructor. “There’s nothing like the threat of shame or fear to light a fire under your butt and get you to hand in [a writing assignment] on time,” he says. “So I encourage it. Even for teachers.” A list of the GrubStreet classes held at School One this fall can be found at GrubStreet.org.
Community In The Know
Experience. Integrity. Results.
By Barry Fain
Suboxone Clinic: Coming or Going? The good news is the “Suboxone Coming This Spring” sign on the corner of Thayer and Lloyd is down. And while nothing is definitive, a promising post on Cheryl Simmons’ community listserv suggests there may be some changes coming. According to the post, a new group called Residents of College Hill (RCH), which has been leading the fight against the proposed suboxone treatment center, reports that a new architectural rendering of a proposal (eight apartments built on the current parking lot plus three apartments for the original building) will be available for public viewing shortly. RCH deserves special kudos for the over 200 signatures they gathered and presented to the mayor’s office, and for continuing to lobby for a closer study of this controversial proposal. Stay tuned.
Benefit Street for the Benefit of All Another new neighborhood group continues to gather steam. Calling themselves “The Mile of History Association,” the group has drawn up bylaws and is preparing its first organizing brochures. The purpose of the organization is to protect the legacy of Benefit Street, one of the most important historic streets in the country, which they feel is being allowed to deteriorate and needs immediate attention before it gets worse. The group is seeking members to help lobby for enforcement of current city ordinances designed to insure that the street’s historic properties are properly maintained. Expect more specifics within the month.
Photography by James Jones
And the Next City Council President Will Be… With the election of Nirva LaFortune in the East Side’s Ward 3, the obvious question is what effect it will have on the selection of a permanent new city council president. The job is now being held by Acting President Sabina Matos from Ward 15 (Olneyville). Several insider sources have suggested to us an interesting alternative: Why even make the position official until after the next city council election in November 2018? The last
Providence Rotary Street Painting Festival returns October 14
council vote was rammed through a year ago and resulted in the unfortunate selection of Luis Aponte and Kevin Jackson to leadership positions, ignoring their long histories of misfiling or ignoring campaign reports; both are now under criminal indictment. Given that several factions now seem to be vying for leadership posts, perhaps the best solution is to allow the current leadership (Matos and John Igliozzi) to remain in place until the next full city council elections in November 2018. There is some precedent for not electing a permanent president; doing so again might produce more collaborative interactions in the council. Let’s see what happens.
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One of the most popular family-oriented activities returns to the Alex and Ani City Center on October 14 with the arrival of the annual Providence Rotary Street Painting Festival. Hundreds of artists – some just old enough to hold the chalk, others gifted art professionals – will descend on the skating rink to compete for prizes as they convert the rink floor into a kaleidoscope of colors. The event is free, though attendees are encouraged to buy tokens to vote on their favorites: all monies raised will go to support the Providence Rotary Foundation which supports charities that help the children of Providence. There will be food and live music and a panel of art professionals to judge the artwork. It’s one event that is sure to literally draw a crowd.
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gerri@residentialproperties.com East Side Monthly • October 2017 15
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Community Neighborhood News
Neighborhood News is a space that East Side Monthly makes available to community organizations free of charge. The content does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors of this publication.
Photo courtesy of Summit Neighborhood Association
Summit Neighborhood Association Nirva LaFortune Wins Council Seat Nirva LaFortune won the opportunity to represent Ward 3 on the Providence City Council in an August special election characterized by low voter turnout. Democrat LaFortune took 94 percent of the vote, or 1,261 votes. Republican David Lallier Jr. got 55 votes and Independent Chris Reynolds got 22 votes, according to figures in The Providence Journal. LaFortune told Journal reporter Jacqueline Tempera she’s focused on connecting the people in her ward. “Everyone really wants to come together, to get to know each other and to figure out how we can help one another,” she said. “We want to know how we can be stronger advocates and collectively be a strong voice not only for the ward, but also for the city.” In the primary-election campaign, there were two “un-debates” cosponsored by the Summit and Mount Hope Neighborhood Associations. In the first, the candidates only listened to the issues raised by Ward 3 residents. In the second, the political hopefuls offered their approaches to solving those issues. The discussions made clear that there is a wide divide between the two neighborhoods. On election day, LaFortune told The Journal, “This is one of the most diverse wards in the city. I think concerns vary from neighborhood to neighborhood and street to street.” LaFortune, 34, is manager and advisor of the Presidential Scholars Program at Brown University. She oversees and coordinates all elements of the program plus planning programs in the District of Columbia to support students from historically under-represented groups and students with the greatest financial need. She moved to Providence from Haiti when she was 3 years old and now lives in the Mount Hope neighborhood with her children. During her campaign, she focused on immigrant rights, often drawing on her own experience, and her
support of the Providence Community-Police Relations Act. She has not run for public office before. Turnout for the special election was low – with just 1,341 of the ward’s more than 10,000 voters casting a ballot. By midafternoon at the Summit Commons polling place, only about 250 residents had voted. This special election came after Kevin Jackson, a longtime city councilman, was recalled in May after being indicted on embezzlement charges. Residents Invited to Directors Meetings The SNA board of directors meets at 7pm on the third Monday of every month in the cafeteria of Summit Commons, 99 Hillside Ave. The sessions are open and neighborhood residents are encouraged to attend. Summit Neighborhood Association, PO Box 41092, Providence RI 02940. 489-7078, SNA.Providence.RI.us, SNA@ SNA.Providence.RI.us –Kerry Kohring
Blackstone Parks Conservancy Good Fences Make a Park for All Eight years ago a forester at the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) walking the gullied trails in the Blackstone woodland that overlooks the Seekonk River warned that the Park was in danger of being “loved to death.” Heavy use and intensifying storms meant that the Blackstone Park Conservation District could not continue to give pleasure to thousands of visitors without losing increasing amounts of soil and plants – even trees – to erosion. Now, after five years of collaboration between the Blackstone Parks Conservancy (BPC), the Providence Department of Parks and Recreation, the RI Department of Environmental Management and the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), the Park is considerably more resilient. Three large grants and hundreds of hours of volunteer work enabled the BPC to rebuild two major trails and refurbish others to help control erosion, and to install thousands of plants and temporary fences to protect them. Unfortunately, watching a section of young plants be destroyed in 30 minutes by two dogs chasing each other showed that there would have to be some permanent fencing, hopefully
Then-candidate Nirva LaFortune speaks at one of the Summit–Mount Hope joint neighborhood “un-debates”
a kind that would not interfere greatly with visitors’ pleasure. Since the major work done in 2014 and 2015, maintenance and smaller improvements for protection and enhancement have become the order of the day. The latest is above and beside the old wooden steps leading down to York Pond. Funded by a small CRMC grant this year the BPC’s Park Committee led by Carrie Drake tried something new on the steep slope: jute matting anchored by large staples and boulders. Plants will be installed this fall to stabilize the bluff. At the top of the slope the BPC is trying out agricultural fencing found by committee member Pam Lietar that is both sturdier than the snow fencing used before and more transparent. To allay concerns about small mammals being unable to pass through, Don Cordner came up with the idea of installing the fence upside down with the larger openings at ground level. Margaret Brookner and Martha Frankel contributed ideas about what plants to select. The next challenge is to talk with the few park users who object to any fencing to explain why it is needed. Not everyone understands that it’s important to protect the woodland for all inhabitants and users – the wild and the tame. Please send your Eastside Market receipts to
East Side Monthly • October 2017 17
CREATIVE CUSTOM LANDSCAPE
Community Neighborhood News
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East Side Monthly • October 2017
the address below. Check the website below for exciting September and October events. Blackstone Parks Conservancy, PO Box 603141, Providence, RI 02906. 270-3014, BlackstoneParksConservancy.org, JaneAnnPeterson@ gmail.com –Jane Peterson
annual discussion of local issues and events, held in late October (refreshments included!). We’ll discuss ongoing efforts to improve the area at lower Gano Street at the intersection of India Point Park, and share plans for community events like FPNA Meet-Ups and holiday carol-sing.
Fox Point Neighborhood Association
OCTOBER EVENTS FPNA Board Meeting. Please join us at our monthly FPNA Board Meeting, Tuesday, October 10 at 7pm, in the Community Room of the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School, 455 Wickenden Street.
Summer 2017 Neighborhood Wrap-Up This past summer, Fox Point neighbors dealt with extensive road closings and detours as Providence Water maintained and replaced our 140-year-old water pipes. As the work progressed, many households had their water tested for lead and, in some cases, replaced individual lead pipes. Elsewhere in the city, many residents strongly opposed a proposed liquefied natural gas facility on Allens Ave. At the same time, neighbors enjoyed a yellow and green wonderland at Transit and South Main Streets as 10,000 Suns, a public installation of sunflowers, came into bloom. The East End opened on Wickenden Street with great fanfare (and great cocktails!). Neighbors came out for the first annual Fox Point Folk Fest in mid-July, and enjoyed community events and festivals in India Point Park and elsewhere in the city. With the arrival of Fall, please join us for the FPNA Fall Neighborhood meeting, a semi-
Makers & Merchants Sidewalk Sale, Saturday, October 14, 11am–5pm, on Wickenden Street at Brook Street. Meet Up With Us! Please join us for drinks and casual conversation about the neighborhood at the next FPNA Meet-Up, Wednesday, October 18 (the third Wednesday of each month) at 7pm at The Point Tavern. FPNA Fall Neighborhood Meeting. Please join us for a twice-annual discussion of neighborhood issues and events. Details to follow in our e-newsletter. The Fox Point Neighborhood Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in Fox Point and protecting its
Photo courtesy of Amy Mendillo for FPNA
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historic integrity and resources. The FPNA speaks out on neighborhood issues and builds community through local events. Sign up for our twice-monthly e-newsletter at www.fpna.net. Our monthly board meetings are open to the public. Please join us! Fox Point Neighborhood Association, PO Box 2315, Providence, RI 02906, FPNA. net, FoxPointNeighborhood@gmail.com –Amy Mendillo
News from Thayer The TSDMA announces new program “Bear Bargains” in coordination with the Brown University Athletics Department. Attendees of Brown University sporting events can now use their ticket stubs at participating Thayer Street businesses for special discounts on the day of the event. Check ThayerStreetDistrict.com for participating businesses. We can report that UMelt is now officially open for business on Thayer. Known for their gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches in their downtown location, the local small business co-owners of UMelt decided to expand and make Thayer Street their second location. Another local small business owner, Lims from Wayland Square, has also decided to expand and has added a second location in the Thayer Street District and will soon open Heng Tahi and Rotisserie at 165 Angell (former English Cellar Alehouse location). Other businesses coming to Thayer Street this fall include: by Chloe. (223 Thayer), WOW BBQ (183 Angell) family-owned, Tropical Smoothie Cafe (272 Thayer, 2nd fl), Chopsticks (277 Thayer) family-owned. –Donna Personeus
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Wayland Square Neighborhood Association Wayland Square had a busy September Our September Neighborhood Association meeting featured a productive conversation with Michael Borg, the city’s director of public works, and our two city councilmen, Seth Yurdin and Sam Zurier. They joined us for a conversation about the city’s new Capital Improvement Plan and addressed neighborhood questions and concerns.
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East Side Monthly • October 2017
Community Neighborhood News
Now we’re getting ready for fall and some tree planting! We’ve partnered with the Providence Neighborhood Planting Program to bring some new trees to Wayland Square homes and businesses. Volunteers from the neighborhood will be planting on Saturday, October 14, and caring for the new trees over their first winter. This is our second time in the program and we hope to continue to add trees each year. Please visit our Facebook page for details on the next planting if you’d like to be included. As we head into the holidays, please check our Facebook page for updates on events, happenings and issues around the Square. You can also check the Wayland Square Yahoo! Group’s public message board through regular emailed announcements, including select notices of neighborhood meetings, civic affairs and cultural events. Or… come to a meeting of the Wayland Square Neighborhood Association. We meet the second Tuesday of each month from 6 to 7:30pm at a restaurant around the square. We like to make it social, so we talk, have a drink or a meal and get to know our neighbors. We post the current month’s location within a week of the meeting. Come, hang out and be involved in creating the community you want to see! Wayland Square Neighborhood Association, Facebook: Wayland Square Neighborhood Association, Groups. Yahoo.com/Group/WaylandSquare –Marti Del Negro
Mount Hope Neighborhood Association Our busy, fun-filled summer days are done. Good times were had at the Annual Billy Taylor Day Celebration on Aug 26 in Billy Taylor Park with good music, family fun, back to school backpack and supplies as well as reading books. Thank you to the Olney Street Baptist Church and The Miriam Hospital for your support. The Empower Dialogues for Community Action (EDCA) programs were a great success. One of Under the Trees Storytelling and Book Give Away focused on compost. This was one of the best attended, with over 60 children in the garden and 20 actively involved. Other programs included
Produce from the Sharing Garden in Billy Taylor Park
completion of another Culinary4Change Seed to Table program for Teens. The youth grew and prepared food from the Sharing Garden in Billy Taylor Park. This was made possible by a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield RI and the Collis Family Foundation. Our chef instructor, Georgina Sarpong, also runs the Harvest Kitchen program for Farm Fresh RI. Other supporting collaborators were The Church of the Redeemer, Partnership for Providence Parks and the Vincent Brown Recreation Center. Look for this program again next year for teens from the community ages 14–17. We also had the long-awaited unveiling of the Cypress Street Mount Hope Community Mural. Please go by and see this Arts Culture and Tourism supported community arts project on the north wall under the walking bridge on Cypress Street. But the fall has lots to offer too. This month we look forward to a second annual October Family Fest in the garden in late October. We expect to have great activities including mask making, pumpkin painting and more. Look for date and time on our Plan4Health-Mt. Hope Facebook page. Mount Hope Neighborhood Association, 199 Camp Street, Providence, RI 02906, 521-8830, Facebook: Mount Hope Neighborhood Association, mhnainc@gmail.com. –Dannie Ritchie
Photo courtesy of EDCA
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The Future of the East Side Local notables make a wish list for everything from schools to local culture - and, of course, parking By Sophie Hagen
W
We’re celebrating our sleek new redesign by taking a moment to reflect on the beauty of the East Side, a center of world-class architecture, education and art.
In an era when technological, climate and demographic changes are altering everything from global politics to our day-to-day lives, what, we wondered, does the East Side need in order to continue adapting to the times? To answer this question, we reached out to the East Side’s movers and shakers, including politicians, community activists, educators and business owners, and asked them: “What does the East Side need right now?” As East Side Monthly grows and evolves here’s how the East Side should evolve, according to some of its most passionate and accomplished citizens.
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East Side Monthly • October 2017
ON INFRASTRUCTURE
The FPNA would like restored funding, thoughtful design and completion of the Gano Gateway – the intersection of lower Gano Street and I-195 at India Point Park – in order to improve safety, access and economic development for the entire East Side. –Amy Mendillo, Executive Secretary, Fox Point Neighborhood Association The East Side needs continued improvements in critical infrastructure: streets, sidewalks and school facilities, particularly at the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School. We have made some progress over the past ten years, including repaired sidewalks on Ives and Wickenden, repaving of a number of the worst streets in the neighborhood, and repurposing of the historic Fox Point Bathhouse which is now integrated into Vartan Gregorian Elementary School. But there is still much work to be done and we need to ensure that new projects are designed in an environmentally and neighborhood-friendly way. –Seth Yurdin, City Councilman, Ward 1
ON POLICING
The East Side needs an increased police presence in the community. There are still too many break-ins and assaults. –Deming Sherman, Of Counsel, Locke Lord We have not taken the lead in working with the anti-gang groups and the Providence Police to seek to work with individuals who have committed crimes. I believe we should also create a first class alert system to let
neighbors know about the most recent crimes and how to assist the police. I would like us to involve a private police service to support the Providence Police in their efforts to resolve every single crime in the shortest amount of time. –Ray Rickman, Executive Director, Stages of Freedom
ON COMMUNITY
My hope is that our community, religious and otherwise, would come together, to meet and know each other, by choice, before we are thrown together by tragedy or circumstance. This happens in all manner of ways: dinners, visiting one another’s places of worship and deliberately going out of our own comfort zones. Reach out, and meet a neighbor! –Rev. Jamie Washam, First Baptist Church The FPNA would like more neighborhood communication with our city councilor, to keep us informed on a regular basis. We’d also like to see broader participation from neighbors in our own neighborhood organization, with better representation from all parts of Fox Point.–Amy Mendillo, Executive Secretary, Fox Point Neighborhood Association
Photography (top right) by Michael Cevoli, (bottom) by Mike Braca
The East Side needs an annual East Side Community Dinner Fundraiser. I envision a block party, maybe on Hope Street, with a long communal table down the center of the street, with East Side residents from every neighborhood coming to eat together. Dinner tickets would be on a sliding scale price so everyone could afford to attend, with those who can afford to paying more so that money can be raised through this community dinner to fund our East Side nonprofits who serve our neediest community members, such as the Camp Street Ministries and the Mount Hope Learning Center. –Karina Wood, community activist, Executive Director of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses education program at CCRI I’d like to see the East Side better demonstrate its commitment to assisting its less resourced Mount Hope community members. I think that it reflects very badly on the East Side as a whole that so much wealth is circulating throughout the community, and yet the local community center (MHNA) is not able to fully fund its staff and has to scrape and scratch for funding to support neighborhood youth. If we are all one East Side family, then we should be making sure that every aspect of the East Side has what it needs to thrive. –Ray Two Hawks Watson, Founder/CEO, Providence Cultural Equity Initiative
Deming Sherman
Ray Rickman
ON THE EAST SIDE’S ROLE IN PROVIDENCE
We need to invest in better schools and we need to build and attract more companies so that there is more opportunity for our residents. All the East Side–specific stuff is important, sure, but it pales in comparison to the larger needs of our city.–Alissa Peterson, Board Member, Fox Point Neighborhood Association I would encourage everyone in the city to enjoy everything that’s already here. Providence’s cultural landscape is so diverse and unique – it’s something we should all be proud of. –Matt Burriesci, Executive Director, Providence Athenaeum I would like to see a community that looks out for each other. Residents in the South Side face very different issues from the East Side, issues that tend to be more life-threatening. It would be nice to see East Siders fighting along South Side folks for No LNG [National Grid’s proposed Liquefied Natural Gas facility in the Port of Providence], against police brutality, for fair housing, etc. –Vanessa Flores-Maldonado, Campaign Coordinator, STEP UP Network The East Side can feel like a privileged bubble sometimes. It is loaded with crazy cool talent and experience which could help transform our entire city. I would open up more connections and engagement with the rest of the city. –Saul Kaplan, Founder, Business Innovation Factory Wheeler students are fully engaged in agencies and organizations that are making changes to improve our shared neighborhood and community. I hope that in future years, Wheeler can build and sustain partnerships that will benefit both the East Side and all of Providence. –Allison Gaines Pell, Head of School, Wheeler
ON SCHOOLS
The arrival of Boston-based SquashBusters at the new 12-court squash facility at Moses Brown will open up new possibilities for partnerships between independent and public schools. I’d also like to see all schools – East Side and elsewhere – unite in taking a stand against the kinds of bigotry shown to some local institutions and schools last year, including the JCC. –Matt Glendinning, Head of School, Moses Brown Karina Wood
Raymond Two Hawks Watson
East Side Monthly • October 2017 27
EAST SI DE W I SH L IST I hope to see Wheeler lead and create collaborative programs reflecting our public purpose through teacher education, public events and ongoing partnership with community organizations. –Allison Gaines Pell
No service is more important than strong neighborhood schools, and you can’t have strong schools when our school buildings are literally falling apart. That’s why I will continue to fight for the school facilities funding necessary to make MLK Elementary, Nathan Bishop and all of our schools the safe, welcoming spaces our kids deserve. – Aaron Regunberg, State Representative, District 4 (Summit, Mt. Hope, Blackstone)
Mayor Elorza and the City Council are supporting a massive investment of over $200 million in our school buildings and classrooms over the next decade. We need our families, stakeholders and Providence taxpayers to participate in the community engagement process, so that the financial decisions the city makes about our schools reflect the needs of the people who teach and learn in them. –Christopher N. Maher, Superintendent, Providence Public School District
Aaron Regunberg
Sam Zurier
ON THE ENVIRONMENT
It would be wonderful for people to discover some of the hidden gems on the East Side. Our new Park Finder and Story Maps (ProvidenceRI. Gov/Parks-Recreation) can help. –Wendy Nilsson, Superintendent, Providence Parks Department The East Side has an array of public parks and open spaces that need more attention. The neighborhood organizations make significant efforts in improving the parks, which are also critical to the quality of life, but the City needs to do more in improving and maintaining these assets. –Deming Sherman We need a full-fledged corrective program for lead in our drinking water system. –Ethan Gyles, President, Summit Neighborhood Association
ON POLITICS
The city council needs to regain the public confidence and trust through open government/transparency initiatives such as: suspending indicted council members from holding officer positions and/or committee assignments; posting online at the city council’s website the campaign finance filings and Ethics Commission annual reports of all elected officials; requiring that all proposed legislation receive a committee hearing and a vote within three months of submission; requiring the Finance Committee to vet publicly the city council’s budget; [and] similar to the State’s current practice, requiring the budget approved by the Finance Committee be publicly disclosed at least a week before voted on by the full city council. –Sam Zurier, City Councilman, Ward 2 I want to see increased engagement at the state level from the East Side. I would like to see more women run for office, and more women serving on state and city committees and boards. I want to see more diversity of race, class and gender on the political landscape. –Nirva LaFortune, City Councilwoman, Ward 3
Nirva LaFortune
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East Side Monthly • October 2017
Wendy Nilsson
The council as a whole needs to make ethics its number one priority. Public officials need to raise the bar and hold themselves accountable. I hope
Photography ( bottom right) by Mike Braca
I would like to see a pipeline built between Providence public schools and the local small business community, connecting school and student needs with resources that our small businesses can provide. Here on the East Side, we could match students from our local public high school, Hope High, who need a summer job or paid internship, with opportunities at East Side small businesses. This small businesses-helping-public schools-pipeline would tap local young talent and foster it, bringing economic opportunity and building relationships across divides in our community. Connecting Hope High School students to East Side small businesses could maybe serve as a pilot program for Mayor Elorza’s proposal to create a year-round internship program through its Office of Economic Opportunity in partnership with employers throughout the city to place Providence public school youth and to expand next year’s successful summer youth employment program. –Karina Wood
EAST SIDE PRIMARY CARE WELCOMES
that moving forward, all council members will take ethics and transparency seriously. –Seth Yurdin
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I would like to see our city council do their job – ethically. All of them.– Jodi Glass, doctor of audiology, civic and social organization consultant
ON LIBRARIES
We need serious improvements for our Providence Community Library Fox Point branch. It is one of the most used libraries in the city. It serves children from the nearby elementary school and the Boys & Girls Club, seniors from the Fox Point Manor and residents from the rest of the neighborhood. The geographic location is perfect, but the facility is inadequate with serious problems of access, lack of proper air conditioning and space limitations. I hope that over the coming months the community can work together to solve this critical neighborhood issue. –Seth Yurdin
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ON PARKING
I’d build a public parking garage in College Hill. There are so many great cultural institutions in this area doing so many great things – it feels like every given night there are so many choices – but parking can definitely be a challenge. –Matt Burriesci I find the proliferation of parking meters, especially the supposedly “easy to use” ones (which are too tall for me to read), work inconsistently, and no, I don’t want to whip out a credit card and stand waiting by myself at night overpaying to park. –Jodi Glass Providence needs to aggressively reduce the amount of parking in the city and replace it with buildings to house people and businesses. Tax parking, as many cities do, and use the revenue stream to lower property taxes on homeowners and renters, and commercial taxes on business. –James Kennedy, blogger, Transport PVD I think that one of the best changes that could’ve happened in the East Side is parking availability. We have great businesses in
Lines of Thought Drawing from Michelangelo to Now From the British Museum OCT 6, 2017–JAN 7, 2018
Albrecht Dürer, Studies for Adam and Eve (detail), 1504. Pen and brown and black ink, SL,5218.181 © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved
Lines of Thought: Drawing from Michelangelo to Now is presented in collaboration with the British Museum. Unless stated, all images and text © The Trustees of the British Museum (2017). All rights reserved. The exhibition is supported by a grant from lead sponsor the Robert Lehman Foundation and an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Additional programming support is provided by the Museum Associates, National Grid, Site Specific, @radical.Media, and MOO. RISD Museum is supported by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and with the generous partnership of the Rhode Island School of Design, its Board of Trustees and Museum Governors.
RISDMUSEUM.ORG
East Side Monthly • October 2017 29
EAST SI DE W I SH L IST the East Side that are not getting the visibility and business they deserved because people prefer to go to a mall where parking is not going to be such a big problem. –Carmen Diaz-Jusino, Senior Director, Proram & Service Delivery, Center for Women & Enterprise
ON CULTURE
I’d like to see the community embrace its cultural history more abundantly. The East Side is not only home to the first settlement of the Providence colony, but also home to one of the oldest American Indian/”African-American” communities in the country. The East Side collectively has enough wealth and resources to be a leader in acknowledging and celebrating this history, and doing it in a manner that is both genuine and respectful. I’d like to see some actual monuments erected on the East Side acknowledging its cultural heritage. I’d specifically like to start with a statue being erected honoring my late Great Uncle Chief Sunset, who was not only one of the last full-blood Sachems of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, but also lived right in the Lippitt Hill Neighborhood. It would be a great educational tool and a draw for cultural tourism that would visibly demonstrate the East Side’s unique cultural history and narrative, and be an appropriate acknowledgment of the legacy of such an impactful Indigenous leader who called the East Side his home. –Ray Two Hawks Watson Bring back the funk, bring back the noise, throw a little carefree, crazy, young and hopeful, old and stuffy into the business mix – stop trying to grow a formal garden and get back to being a field of wildflowers and weeds. –Bob Burke, Owner, Pot au Feu
ON HOUSING AND PROPERTY
I believe we still have time to float a self-supporting housing bond to assist current low and moderate income East Side residents to buy a house in the community. For the most part this could be accomplished by turning double and three deckers into condos. College Hill has lost 95 percent of its working class population during the
Jodi Glass
Seth Yurdin
last thirty years. This is happening at an alarming rate to Mt. Hope and other sections of the East Side. When you have a retired police officer or RISD student living on your street it can be a richer place to live. –Ray Rickman I would like to see the return of the Cape Verdean community here. The East Side is segregated in such a way that only college students and rich white folks live here; it would be nice to have this community return to its roots. –Vanessa Flores-Maldonado One of the biggest changes needed is the expectation of appropriate property maintenance and management by multifamily property owners. Some owners are very good, but some need to improve a great deal. A prime example of this can be seen on Benefit Street, Providence’s famous “Mile of History,” where there are a baker’s dozen of properties that need to be brought up to snuff. Before the economic downtown over a decade ago, the City and State offered incentives for historic property rehabilitation and reuse. Because of those, most of our mills and downtown buildings have seen new life, as have the neighborhoods in which they’re located. –Brent Runyon, Executive Director, Providence Preservation Society
ON TRANSPORTATION
One change I would like to see on the East Side is the signage on Angell Street. Each year, several cars miscalculate the steepness and sharp turns at Benefit Street, and crash through the fence. It happens so often, our landscaping allows for tow-truck access. Fortunately, none have been fatal, but I would prefer that people come to church through the front doors, rather than arriving aerially through the back garden. –Rev. Jamie Washam The East Side needs updates and improvements to the visual of the RIPTA tunnel entrance/exit onto Thayer Street and to tie the East Side neighborhoods together with safe bike lanes. –Donna Personeus, Executive Director, Thayer Street District Management Authority Brent Runyon
30
East Side Monthly • October 2017
Carmen Diaz-Jusino
ON LOCAL BUSINESS
A good kosher deli would be nice! –Saul Kaplan I would hope for stricter limitations on noise pollution (which can take a variety of forms, from early morning yard blowing to middle-of-the-night utility work), better street paving (under way), and even more boutique eateries like those emerging on Ives (including great ethnic food and a fun pedestrian experience). –Matt Glendinning I would like to see the City provide small business matching grants to improve the exteriors for all businesses on the East Side. Depending on lease agreements, business owners many times are responsible for awning addition/repairs, painting, security cameras, all enhancements and property repairs. Many times these expenses are difficult for business owners to manage and plan for, especially when rents are high like on Thayer Street. – Donna Personeus I would like to see more opportunities for startup businesses to be in the East Side and to grow there. At this moment there are a lot of commercial spaces available but at an extremely expensive rate. If we create more opportunities for different initiatives to grow in the East Side like “Saturday, Buy from a Small Business,” “Buy Local” and others, we can see more traffic and business growth. –Carmen Diaz-Jusino
ON HEALTH CARE
For our September session, my primary focus is final passage of my earned sick time legislation to guarantee that no Rhode Islander has to choose between their job and their or their family’s health. When we return in January, Rep. Ajello/ Sen. Goldin’s Reproductive Healthcare Act needs to be at the very top of all of our priorities. With Roe v. Wade under assault in Washington, it’s never been more important that our state step up to protect the reproductive rights of Rhode Islanders. –Aaron Regunberg
FALL 2017
Festival of South African Dance Featuring the Gumboots and Pantsula Dance Companies
Friday, Oct. 20, 2017 7:30 p.m. • Auditorium in Roberts Hall Direct from South Africa, this ensemble of 20 dancers and musicians present a unique South African story. The Gumboots’ performance is a tale of rural African men who find a way to survive in the goldmines of Johannesburg. The Pantsula dancers showcase South Africa’s vibrant contemporary culture through their revolutionary street dance. Purchase your tickets at www.ric.edu/pas or (401) 456-8144. East Side Monthly • October 2017 31
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East Side Monthly • October 2017
the
Ghosts
of P r o v i d e n c e
A h a u n t e d e v e n i n g w i t h t h e P r o v i d e n c e G h o s t To u r may have made a believer out of a cynic By Tony Pacitti
Photography by Tony Pacitti
i
t was a humid, drizzly night when I joined the Providence Ghost Tour (ProvidenceGhostTour.com) for a haunted jaunt through the East Side. The weather was fitting for an evening of ghost stories, though I’ll concede that I wasn’t a believer when I pulled up to Prospect Terrace for the tour – far from it. I’ve never had any use for the supernatural. Sometimes the mind runs away with itself, filling in the unexplained gaps with notions of hidden forces, destiny, fate and campfire chicanery. So says I, the educated, science-minded modern man who knows that ghosts are nothing but the work of an overactive imagination. Then I saw two ghosts. Courtney Edge-Mattos, who started Providence Ghost Tours in 2006 with Mike Gertrudes, warned me that this kind of thing might happen. “We’ve bumped into some cool characters, human and inhuman,” she says. Courtney, who considers herself to be a somewhat skeptical believer, has had her fair
share of paranormal encounters in the years since mapping the unexplained, unusual and unseemly deaths that have made 02906 the preferred zip code of the damned. “I do think there’s validity to it and there’s something out there,” she says. The tour’s route changes every so often to accommodate the fluctuations of ghostly activity over time (natural phenomena like full moons and the equinox can serve as a signal booster for the undead) but they always faithfully depart from Prospect Terrace. My guide for the night, Erin Newell, has been leading brave souls around College Hill for five years. She was a fan first before joining the ranks of the PGT. “I’m a scaredy cat!” she confesses, but that doesn’t seem to have deterred her from getting involved. If anything, prolonged interaction with the spirit world without a proper amount of respect and fear seems like a recipe for doom. As it neared 8pm, and the light of day faded further down
Ghost Tour host Erin Newell
East Side Monthly • October 2017 35
Spooky as it all was, though, I wasn’t buying it. But I hadn’t expected to. I wasn’t looking for true horror, just a few scary stories to share with out-of-town friends as we stumble around the city after a night out. Halfway up George Street, Erin stopped to tell us about George Kelly, an 8-year-old boy who was thrown from a carriage after it struck a pothole. According to legend, a ghostly carriage appears on the street on the first, crisp fall night of the year. From there we made our way to the Annmary Brown Memorial, a combination private library and mausoleum. Maybe it was the particularly grisly details of George Kelly’s story (his brains, apparently, were spilled on the road) or maybe because I was already familiar with the story of Annmary Brown, I allowed my imagination to linger a bit longer on the little boy and the carriage. Then, as we rounded George Street and made our way down Brown, I saw my first spectre – a small child, holding its knees to
its chest, between a bush and a Goodwill donation box. I blinked and it was gone, and none of the corporeal objects or shadows on that corner seemed at all like the shape of a kid, no matter how much I glared at them. Not to throw the W word around irresponsibly here, but I had a stone-cold case of the willies. Soon we found ourselves at University Hall at Brown University, which served as a military hospital during the Revolutionary War. If things go bump in the night on this tour, this is the place they do it. As Erin recounted the savagery of 18th-century medicine (they cut it off or you died), complete with a description of the stench of death that soaked into the building’s frame, a shadow darted across a window on the second floor. A few minutes later Erin pointed to that very window, informing us that the face of a long-dead revolutionary has been known to peer out from it. At
Photography by Grace Lentini
the cloud-covered horizon, Erin gathered the 12 tourists under the lamppost behind the monument to Roger Williams and asked us to consider “the secret history of where we live.” She told us about the apple tree whose roots consumed Williams’ corpse and savaged his bones, which now rest entombed below the statue. The tale was delivered with the theatricality you’d expect from a supernatural tour guide and served as a preview to the horrors and oddities to come. Then, we were off. We processed down Congdon to the Meeting Street steps for the tale of Amasa Sprague and the Irishman who was wrongfully hanged for his death. From there we headed to the Dexter House to learn about the nocturnal spooks that keep RISD kids up at night. Up on Benefit Street we stopped at the Athenaeum for a story of love and loss Poe-style, complete with a recitation of the macabre “The Conqueror Worm.” At each stop, Erin had our undivided attention.
36
East Side Monthly • October 2017
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this point I was done. Get me home, turn on all the lights, please have my mommy come tuck me in. The rest of the tour is a blur. Chalk it up to the power of good storytelling – Erin was a pro, laying into the theatrics in all the right places, playing things more subtle and somber where necessary – or to the fact that after a long week I was just tired enough to read into strange shadows. Either way, by the time we got back to Prospect Terrace, I was thoroughly rattled. Time has done little to shake the sense of dread that settled into me that night, and I don’t know which is more frightening: that I saw what I think were two ghosts, or that my core belief in the nonexistence of supernatural beasties has been challenged. Do I believe now? That’s a hard question to answer. For now I’ll cop out and say I consider myself an apparition agnostic.
We are pleased to congratulate
David Vanech Senior Director – Investments For being named as one of the top 500 Forbes/R.J. Shook
America’s Top Next Generation Wealth Advisors and Ranked #1 in Rhode Island Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. 1 Financial Plaza, Suite 2110 Providence, RI 02903 Phone: (401) 331-1932 • Fax: (401) 277-0143 david.vanech@opco.com The ranking is based on an algorithm of qualitative and quantitative data for rating thousands of individuals on revenue produced, assets under management, compliance records, and industry experience. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. is not affiliated with Forbes or R.J. Shook Research. A39080317SM1
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©2017 Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Transacts Business on All Principal Exchanges and Member SIPC East Side Monthly • October 2017 37
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East Side Monthly • October 2017
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1 Richmond Square, Suite 109C Providence • 519-5190 East Side Monthly • October 2017 41
Close to Home Education
A New Vision for Higher Education
College Visions supports Providence’s first-generation college students
Nick Figueroa of College Visions
Nick Figueroa, the new executive director of College Visions, grew up in the Bronx and attended high school and college in Rhode Island. He has a strong focus on social justice, and in his previous positions in admissions at City Year Providence and various colleges, he developed an interest in college access. “When you strengthen an individual, you strengthen your community,” he says. “To have an opportunity to lead an organization that can have that type of impact is very exciting to me.” As a nonprofit organization founded in 2004, College Visions was created to “empower low-income and first-generation college-bound students to realize the promise of higher education by providing advising and resources to promote college enrollment, persistence and graduation.” Nationally, first-generation college students are significantly less likely to earn their degree than those whose parents went to college. According to the First Generation Foundation, 89 percent of low-income first-generation college students leave college within six years without a degree, and more than 25 percent leave after their first year. This is more than four times the dropout rate of their higher-income second-generation peers.
42
East Side Monthly • October 2017
Many colleges and universities recognize this problem, and are moving to address it. In 2016, Brown University announced the opening of the First-Generation and Low-Income Student Center. Dean of the College Maud Mandel explains, “First-generation students can face unique challenges when they arrive on college campuses, and [this] will become a central ingredient in our effort to support them in successfully navigating everything from academics to campus life.” Elizabeth Aries, a professor at Amherst College, wrote a book based on interviews with students from various backgrounds, entitled Race and Class Matters at an Elite College. She found that “lower-income students at times felt like outsiders due to a lack of economic and cultural capital, were excluded from activities because they lacked funds, or had difficulties connecting to students whose experiences, attitudes, values and outlooks were very different than their own.” But with higher education costs rising astronomically, is college still worth it? Figueroa believes it is, and most researchers agree with him. In 2014, the Economic Policy Institute found that college graduates earned 98 percent more per hour than those without a degree. Workers with a
high school diploma have double the unemployment rate of those with a bachelor’s degree. Having a four-year degree can greatly increase one’s chances of success in life. Even though most people agree that higher education is beneficial, high school students whose parents did not attend college are much less likely to enroll themselves. Betty, a 2017 graduate of Bentley University who worked with College Visions, explains, “Both of my parents did not attend college or understand the steps it takes to apply to college, so I knew they wouldn’t be able to help me as I began the application process.” To meet the needs of Rhode Island’s students, College Visions has three main programs. The College Access program assists high school seniors as they navigate the college admission process. The College Success program provides personal advising, financial support and encouragement to college students to help them stay on track and earn their degrees. The CV Lab empowers educators and community organizations to provide effective college advising and increase college access for all students. Figueroa also hopes to create a work-readiness component, developing soft skills for high school seniors and internship opportunities for students and incorporating a civic engagement piece. “This becomes a more holistic approach to how we produce college graduates, so they are ready to enter their chosen fields.” In order to reach our full potential – as a community, as a city, as a state and as a nation – we must ensure that all of our students have access to a college education, as well as the support and skills necessary to earn their degrees. Rhode Island’s Promise Program, which covers two years of tuition at the Community College of Rhode Island, is a step in the right direction. So too is the work of College Visions, which relies on support from corporate, foundation and individual donations. College Visions will be kicking off their annual campaign with an event at Hope Artiste Village on October 17. For more information, contact Moira Hinderer at 490-3996 or Moira@ CollegeVisions.org.
Photography by Savannah Barkley for East Side Monthly
By Lauri Lee
THE WORLD’S BEST ONE-HOUR WORKOUT IS Smart News Celebrate Amazing Teachers and Schools through Social Media The Rhode Island Department of Education recognizes innovative educational practices through their Amazing Schools program and great teachers through their Golden Apple awards. Educators and citizens can share stories of how their schools are reimagining learning on Twitter by tagging @RIDeptEd and using the hashtag #Amazing. Parents and students can express their gratitude to outstanding teachers using the hashtag #ThankRIteachers, as well as by submitting an application for them to receive a Golden Apple Award. To see prior and current years’ submissions, visit RIDE.RI.gov/Amazing and TurnTo10.com/Station/Golden-Apple.
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FIND OUT MORE AT ORANGETHEORYFITNESS.COM Opening Soon: OTF Providence | 563 N. Main St. | Providence, RI 02904 | 401-369-8006 Visit Our Preview Center Now: 909 N. Main St., | Providence, RI | M, T, Th 10-7pm, F 10-4, Sat 9-4 Orangetheory®, OTF® and other Orangetheory® marks are registered trademarks of Ultimate Fitness Group LLC. ©Copyright 2017 Ultimate Fitness Group LLC and/or its affiliates. First-time visitors and local residents only. Certain restrictions apply. *Visit orangetheoryfitness.com/termsofuse for additional information.
Brown University: Archaeology in Action There are two opportunities for East Side residents to experience archaeology on Saturday, October 14. First, the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, located Orange Theory Fitness in Rhode Island Hall at 60 Client George Street, will Job # Job Name August 2017 OTF open its doors to the public from37148 11am to 2pm. 31 Tkt # Ticket Faculty and students will be available to give Name OTF Providence Ads 5.125” wthe x 4.75” h Trim tours and answer questions about arti5.125” w x 4.75” h facts, both from currentLive research Area in the Caribbean, Italy, Turkey and Rhode Island 5.375”and w x 5” from h Bleed the Institute’s collections. At the Notes: same time, None Production the public is invited to watch Brown students digging (and perhaps join in themselves) at an Creative Lead archaeological dig on the campus of Moses Brown School, at the corner of Hope Street and Lloyd Avenue. Acct Lead East Side IndependentProduction Schools Tracker: MGal 090717, Host Open Houses The autumn admissions season has begun, and several local independent schools will be hosting open houses on their campuses over the next six weeks. Please check the individual school websites for schedules and specific details. Both Moses Brown School and Wheeler School will have their Open Houses on Saturday, October 21; Lincoln School will host theirs on Sunday, November 5.
BURN 500+ CALORIES IN 60 MINUTES* KEEP BURNING CALORIES FOR UP TO 36 HOURS* COACH-LED GROUP WORKOUTS FOR ALL FITNESS LEVELS
1 First-time visitors and local residents only. Certain restrictions apply. $28 minimum value. At participating studios only. See studio for details. Orangetheory®, OTF® and other Orangetheory® marks are registered trademarks of Ultimate Fitness Group LLC. © Copyright 2016 Ultimate Fitness Group LLC and/or its affiliates. 2Including the afterburn. Individual results may vary. 3Based on intensity level, participants can burn an expected average of 15-20% more calories above their standard resting calorie burn.
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#GraceTodayGreatTomorrow 1000 Eddy Street, Providence East Side Monthly • October 2017 43
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East Side Monthly • October 2017
To Thine Own Toes Be True
A first timer’s thoughts on getting a pedicure By Elizabeth Rau
I grew up
during a time in our history when girls dressed like boys. That’s so far from today’s look for young people, it’s hard for many to envision, but, trust me, we all looked like ragamuffins. Flannel shirts and jeans. Hiking boots in the winter, Jack Purcells in the summer. In high school we graduated to a tad more feminine style with blousy peasant shirts and burgundy clogs. No one wore makeup. Ever. Fingernails were cut short, never painted. Pedicures were unthinkable. Fast forward to the spring of this year, and I am looking at the toes of my sons’ athletic trainer, who is wearing flipflops. Her specialty is treating students injured on and off the field. On numerous occasions, I’d walk by her office and see a linebacker with his elbow wrapped in ice. He was in heaven, what with all that doting. Those toenails were painted orange. “Orange! Wow!” I said to the trainer. “Everyone is painting their toenails.” Indeed, she said, as she rushed off to find medical supplies. A few weeks later, I was sitting in a comfy leather chair at Angell Nails with my feet in a small tub of warm bubbly water. A kind woman was sitting on a stool in front of me, massaging my feet and skillfully using her pedicure equipment to tidy things up. She asked what color I wanted. I am a decisive person, except when it comes to grooming and clothes. Paralysis often sets in. I asked
her what colors were in style. “Bold colors,” she said. My toes were not a mess. In fact, they were rather attractive—short nails, minimum dirt, no calluses. Why was I here? I recalled a conversation I had heard in my office of mostly female co-workers. “I like your sandals,” said one woman. “Thanks!”
Illustration by Lia Marcoux
When Only The Very Best Will Do
Close to Home East of Elmgrove
replied the recipient of that compliment. “I couldn’t wear them until I got a pedi.” Her toenails were painted fire-engine red. This must be a Rhode Island fetish: women can only wear sandals when their toes are dolled up. The pressure was mounting. Angell’s shelves hosted millions of bottles of polish, from neutrals and light pink to green and black. I panicked in the way a reclusive forest dweller might when forced to choose a tube of toothpaste from a big-box drug store. “Neutral,” I blurted out to play it safe. The technician nodded her head. “Go with something you can see,” she said. She explained that she has been painting toenails professionally for years and knows what would go best with my light skin color. “Purple!” she said. Oh, golly. I never wear purple, but she was persistent, and the woman with her feet in the bubbly water next to me was taking okra, so I agreed. Each brushstroke brought a sense of empowerment. I thought about joining a women’s group. I willed myself to love the new look. Artistry completed, I transferred to another station to paint my fingernails the same color. I paid up and emerged onto Wayland Square feeling well-groomed and complete – for five seconds. I thought of the crooner Deniece Williams: silly of me to think I could ever have you for my color. I had descended into madness, pressured to conform to Rhode Island beauty standards. CVS was around the corner. I raced to the makeup aisle and settled on Beauty 360’s Advanced Gel Nail Polish Remove Pads. Back in my car, crouched in my front seat, I returned my fingers and toes to their natural state. I discarded the purplish pads in a dumpster. My adventure on the catwalk was over. Whew. Be who you are.
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East Side Monthly • October 2017 45
TIME TO LET’S GO!
EXPLORE
YMCA OF GREATER PROVIDENCE Afterschool Programs
There has never been a better time to come to the Y afterschool! YMCA Out of School Time programs promote social responsibility, healthy habits, individuality & building strong relationships. And that’s just the beginning of what our programs offer. Contact your local branch to reserve a spot for your child today! BAYSIDE
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Serving the East Side, Oak Hill & Surrounding Communities KFox@residentialproperties.com ResidentialProperties.com 46
East Side Monthly • October 2017
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East Side Monthly • October 2017
ElevenFortyNineRestaurant.com
ON THE TOWN Restaurant and Food | REstaurant Guide | Calendar of Events
Flavor of the Month
Rebelle’s Brainy Breakfast
A MIT-trained chemical engineer is making the city’s hottest bagels By Sophie Hagen
Milena Pagan is the founder and head baker at Rebelle Artisan Bagels. In August she opened a storefront on the corner of Doyle and Camp, the culmination of a meteoric rise fueled by yeast, flour and mathematical calculations, Including a chemical engineering degree at MIT and the spreading popularity of her homemade bagels through pop-ups, the support of local businesses and word of mouth. We caught up with her after three weeks at the storefront.
Photography by Mike Braca
How’s the bagel biz? I love it. When I was still at MIT, one of my friends was like, “This is the most challenging thing you’re ever gonna do in your life,” and I was like, “Man, what a bummer to peak at 21!” [That’s] no longer the case. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I sleep maybe five hours a night, and literally all my waking hours are spent here or running errands. I’m kind of exhausted. Do you find that any of your chemical engineering skills come into play? Oh yeah. We run the kitchen kind of like an engineering facility. When I was trying to figure out how many bagels we could make per day, for example, I scheduled out each part of the process; everything was timed, we figured out ways to do things faster, how to cut a few minutes off of this [and] that. A lot of people are very confused by the fact that I would do this but when I talk to people from MIT, they get it, weirdly enough. Because we have exactly the kind of personality to be like, I’m going to take something very simple and unassuming and elevate it to its full potential. Walk me through the process of how the bagels get made. We start at 3am and make the dough. We let [it] proof for a little while, then we [use] a dough divider… [that] splits it into equal-sized portions.
Milena Pagan of Rebelle Artisan Bagel
Then you roll it into a log and wrap it around your hand, and then you press on it to seal it. We do that many, many, many hundreds of times. Then we put it in the walk-in cooler to do a cold-proof, [which] slows down the yeast, ramps up bacteria and other kinds of funky microorganisms that are in the dough, and gives it a more developed taste. The yeast are producing alcohols, the bacteria are producing acids and that gives it the unique flavor and… the crust, so when you see a bagel and it has a blistery crust, that’s the sign of a cold-proof. Then the day after, we bring them out and boil them and then bake them. It’s a two-day process. What’s the transition been like between working with your hands and being a business owner? I think of myself as a business person first. I just
taught myself how to bake because someone had to do the baking. My dream isn’t to be in the kitchen. I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands, I like creating, I like the instant gratification of making something really good, selling it right away, seeing people enjoy it.t I really like working in food. It’s very fulfilling, it addresses that nurturing side of me. You can go to sleep with a clean conscience, and that’s all I’ve ever really wanted from a career. Just be happy and feel like I’m making a good contribution. But I’m very ambitious and this isn’t going to be the last thing I do.
Rebelle Artisan Bagels 110 Doyle Avenue RebelleArtisanBagels.com
East Side Monthly • October 2017 49
On the Town On the Menu
Last Call for Veggies
The final month of the season for the Lippitt Park Farmers Market By Erin Belknap
FALL REP The American Dream, Then and Now now – nov. 26
Death of a Salesman by Arthur miller
Skeleton Crew by Dominique morisseAu
tickets start at $25 (401) 351-4242 • trinityrep.com 201 Washington St., providence Sponsored by
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We might not want to admit it, but the last good weather of the season is winding down – and with it, the outdoor farmers market (FarmFresh. org) at Lippitt Park on Hope Street. All season long, community members have gathered together on Saturday mornings: some come for a leisurely stroll and to take in the pleasant scene, while others come with a full week’s grocery list and a mission to stock their pantries with produce, fruit, bread, seafood and other goods
and crafts. Nearby, at the Providence Artisans Market (MikeBryceArt.com), dozens of local farmers, craftsmen and vendors offer a variety of products, ensuring that there really is something for everyone. Stop by to enjoy the market one last time before the end of the season, which falls on Saturday, October 28. The market will reopen in May; until then, we have the Wintertime Farmers Market at Hope Artiste Village, which opens next month, to enjoy.
Quay is the Providence Riverwalk’s Newest Dining Spot __________PLUS__________ Toyota • Kia • Nissan • Chrysler • Audi • Infinity • Ford Lexus • Honda • BMW • Chevy • Isuzu • Mercedes • Mini Porsche • Mazda • Saab • General Motors • Volvo Hyundai • Saturn • Subaru • Mitsubishi (ALL foreign and domestic models)
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729 EAST AVENUE, PROVIDENCE 723-1111 • MON-FRI 8AM-5PM Top of the East Side, just past Lippitt Park
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(w/ ID)
50
East Side Monthly • October 2017
Providence diners can now enjoy coastal Mediterranean fare as they take in a waterfront view. The latest addition to the Providence Riverwalk in Waterplace Park, Quay (Quaypvd.com) offers a beautiful alfresco dining area and an interior reminiscent of a cliffside Greek mansion. The menu incorporates flavors from across Europe, with small plates such as the Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio, accompaniments like the Middle Eastern Mezze, and entrees that include scrumptious flatbreads. Dinner is offered Tuesday through Sunday and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. Customers also receive complimentary valet parking (except during WaterFire lightings).
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Get out your lederhosen for the state’s largest annual celebration of Oktoberfest (RIWaterfrontEvents.com). Festival-goers will enjoy a little piece of Bavaria right across the river from the East Side, at Bold Point Park in East Providence, where they can grab a beer and a bratwurst while toasting to the start of the fall season. The Biergarten will feature over three dozen specialty beer selections as well as authentic German foods and live entertainment from German-American band Spitze. For beer-lovers with a competitive spirit, you’ll also find festivities like the Stein Hoisting competition, Survivor Flip Cup and Beer Pong. This not-to-bemissed event will take place on October 7, with a collective “Prost” (German for “cheers”) at 1pm to kick off the day’s festivities.
.
401. 74 9.8 2 83
Need a ride? A social outing? Help around the house? An advocate with your doctor? Help with a new tech gadget?
Providence Village Join a community Become a Member! Become a Volunteer!
of mutual support for Seniors.
RIDES • HOME HELP • HEALTH ADVOCACY • TECH SUPPORT • SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
Learn more and get involved: 401-441-5240 www.ProvidenceVillageRI.org T H E PR O V I D E N C E V I L L AG E O F R I I S A 501( C ) (3) N O N -P R O F I T O R GA NIZ ATIO N East Side Monthly • October 2017 51
RESTAURANT GUIDE Key: B breakfast Br brunch L lunch D dinner $ under 10 $$ 10–20 $$$ 20+
ON THE WEST SIDE
LaMei Hot Pot
Some dining experiences are more interactive than others. At LaMei Hot Pot, half the fun of eating there is cooking your meal yourself, over a pot of hot broth and good conversation with friends. If you’d rather leave the cooking to the experts, LaMei has recently launched a
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East Side Monthly • October 2017
menu of Sichuan foods that you can eat in the restaurant, or order online and have delivered to your house. They have more than just the usual Chinese food fare, offering dishes like Double Cooked Fresh Bacon, Gongbao Chicken and Preserved Duck Egg with Tofu Salad.
256 Broadway, Providence 831-7555, LaMeiHotPot.com
PROVIDENCE AREA 10 Prime Steak & Sushi Fashionable prime steakhouse with award-winning sushi. 55 Pine St, Providence, 453-2333. LD $$$ Blake’s Tavern Premier Irish pub with two event rooms in the heart of downtown Providence. 122 Washington St, Providence. 274-1230. LD $$ Cafe di Panni Italian American dining with an available banquet facility. 187 Pocasset Ave, Providence, 944-0840. LD $-$$
CAV Eclectic cuisine and art in a historic setting. 14 Imperial Pl, Providence, 7519164. BrLD $$-$$$ Centro Restaurant & Lounge Contemporary cuisine and cocktails. 1 West Exchange St, Providence, 228-6802. BLD $$$ Chapel Grille Gourmet food overlooking the Providence skyline. 3000 Chapel View Blvd, Cranston, 944-4900. BrLD $$$ Character’s Cafe & Theatre 82 Hybrid art space with all-day breakfast, coffee and theatre-inspired entrees. 82 Rolfe Sq,
Rustigian Rugs Cranston, 490-9475. BL $ Flatbread Company Artisanal pizza, local ingredients. 161 Cushing St, Providence, 273-2737. LD $-$$ Harry’s Bar & Burger Called the “Best Burger in America” by CNN. Over 50 craft beers. 121 N Main St, Providence, 2287437; 301 Atwells Ave, 228-3336. LD $-$$
FALL STORE 15-50% SALE WIDE OFF
Room Size And Scatter Rugs
Haruki Japanese cuisine and a la carte selections with casual ambience. Locations in Cranston and Providence, HarukiSushi.com. LD $-$$
CONTEMPORARY TRANSITIONAL & TRADITIONAL
Iron Works Tavern A wide variety of signature American dishes in the historic Thomas Jefferson Hill Mill. 697 Jefferson Blvd, Warwick, 739-5111. LD $-$$$
See store for details. Some exceptions apply. No further discounts on goods already on clearance.
One Governor Street, Providence (401) 751-5100 www.rustigianrugs.com Open Mon-Fri 10-5:30, Sat 10-5
Julian’s A must-taste Providence staple celebrating more than 20 years. 318 Broadway, Providence, 861-1770. BBrLD $$
FALL 2017
LaMei Hot Pot Authentic Chinese cuisine in a unique, casual setting. 256 Broadway, Providence, 831-7555. LD $$ Luigi’s Restaurant & Gourmet Express Handmade Italian classics and prepared foods to go. 1457 Hartford Ave, Johnston. 455-0045, LuigisGourmet.com. LD $$ Luxe Burger Bar Build Your Own Burger: You dream it, we build it! 5 Memorial Blvd, Providence, 621-5893. LD $ McBride’s Pub Traditional Irish pub fare in Wayland Square. 161 Wayland Ave, Providence, 751-3000. LD $$ McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood & Steak Mixed grill selections and signature fish dishes sourced locally and seasonally. 11 Dorrance St, Providence, 351-4500. BLD $$-$$$ Meeting Street Cafe BYOB eatery with large menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner
The
ther Mozart
Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 7:30 p.m. • Sapinsley Hall Creator and writer Sylvia Milo stars in this one-woman play that tells the true and untold story of Maria Anna (Nannerl) Mozart, the sister of Amadeus – prodigy, virtuoso and composer, who performed with her brother to equal acclaim. The play is based on facts, stories and lines pulled directly from the Mozart family’s humorous and heartbreaking letters. Purchase your tickets at www.ric.edu/pas or (401) 456-8144. East Side Monthly • October 2017 53
RESTAURANT GUIDE For full restaurant profiles, go to ProvidenceOnline.com
served all day. 220 Meeting St, Providence, 273-1066. BLD $-$$ Mill’s Tavern Historic setting for New American gourmet. 101 N Main St, Providence, 272-3331. D $$$ Ocean State Sandwich Company Craft sandwiches and hearty sides. 1345 Hartford Ave, Johnston; 155 Westminster St, Providence, 282-6772. BL $-$$ Parkside Rotisserie & Bar American bistro specializing in rotisserie meats. 76 South Main St, Providence, 331-0003. LD $-$$ Pat’s Italian Fine Italian favorites, natural
steaks and handcrafted cocktails. 1200 Hartford Ave, Johnston, 273-1444. LD $-$$$ Pizza J A fun, upbeat atmosphere with thin-crust pizza, pub fare and gluten-free options. 967 Westminster St, Providence, 632-0555. LD $-$$ Public Kitchen & Bar American food with changing daily specials. 120 Francis St, Providence, 919-5050. BrLD $-$$ Red Stripe Casual French-American bistro. 465 Angell St, Providence, 437-6950; 455 Main St, East Greenwich, 398-2900. BrLD $$
WO RT H T H E D R I V E
Breachway Grill
The FLATBREAD COMPANY’S Catering and Mobile Oven is the ideal alternative to your desire to order Flatbread for large groups of parties of 50 to 250! All Natural Pizza Baked in a Primitive Wood Fired Earthen Oven
161 Cushing Street, Providence Contact Jordan at 273-2737 Jordanm@flatbreadcompany.com FlatbreadCompany.com 54
East Side Monthly • October 2017
A laid-back, beach-inspired vibe immediately greets you when you walk into the Breachway Grill. Fresh-from-local-waters seafood takes the lead on the amazing menu, which includes fish tacos, a summer raw bar (often featuring oysters from Ninigret Pond), homemade chowder and day boat scallops. Freshly caught fish is featured on the “daily catch” menu, offering a genu-
ine taste of the season. Kitchen specialities also include authentic New York-style thin crust pizza, calzones, steakhouse burgers, pasta entrees and steaks. The handcrafted menu is complemented by a great selection of wines, seasonal cocktails and craft beer. With a chill atmosphere and tastes for everyone, it’s easy to see why locals and tourists alike rave about this spot.
1 Charlestown Beach Road, Charlestown 213-6615, BreachwayGrill.com
Rick’s Roadhouse Honest, authentic BBQ with a large selection of whiskey. 370 Richmond St, Providence, 272-7675. LD $-$$
Learn to swim at the JCC!
Siena Impeccable Italian cuisine. Locations in Providence, East Greenwich and Smithfield, 521-3311. D $$-$$$ T’s Restaurant Plentiful breakfast and lunch. Locations in Cranston, East Greenwich and Narragansett, TsRestaurantRI.com. BL $ Tavolo Wine Bar and Tuscan Grille Classic Italian cuisine with an extensive wine and beer list. 970 Douglas Pike, Smithfield, 349-4979. LD $-$$ The Grange Vegetarian restaurant serving seasonal dishes with a juice bar, vegan bakery and cocktail bar. 166 Broadway, Providence, 831-0600. BrLD $-$$ The Salted Slate An agri-driven American restaurant with global influences. 186 Wayland Ave, Providence, 270-3737. BrLD $$-$$$
Your child can learn to swim with our comprehensive & result driven swim method that stresses water safety... Parents love it and kids do too!
All are welcome!
For more information contact our Aquatics Office at 401.421.4111 ext. 162 or LKSA@jewishallianceri.org or visit jewishallianceri.org/LennyKSwim.
Dwares Rhode Island
In the heart of Providence’s East Side: 401 Elmgrove Avenue, Providence
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The Village Lively bar and grill with comfort fare, bar bites and beer. 373 Richmond St, Providence, 228-7222. BrLD $-$$ Tortilla Flats Fresh Mexican, Cajun and Southwestern fare, cocktails and over 70 tequilas. 355 Hope St, Providence, 7516777. LD $-$$ Trinity Brewhouse American pub fare and craft beer in a downtown setting, with lunch, dinner and late-night menus. 186 Fountain Street, Providence, 4532337. LD $-$$ Twin Oaks Family restaurant serving an extensive selection of Italian and American staples. 100 Sabra St, Cranston, 781-9693. LD $-$$$ The Vig Contemporary sports bar with craft tavern fare. 21 Atwells Ave,
LET US CATER YOUR NEXT EVENT Monday-Saturday 10AM-9PM DINE-IN • TAKE OUT DELIVERY • CATERING 1253 North Main Street, Providence • 272-2590 • www.TheSandwichHut.com East Side Monthly • October 2017 55
R E S TA U R A N T ESTABLISHED 1987
Welcome to Our Island
288 Warren Avenue, East Providence 401-431-1322 • MadeiraRestaurant.com
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Don’t wait until your car goes KAPUT! Call the experts at German Motors. Why get caught off guard with a problem? Schedule regular maintenance and avoid costly surprises. For quick, honest and expert service call, email or stop by today to book your appointment.
Your car will run better. Courtesy drop-off to downtown.
879 North Main Street, Providence • 401-272-4266 Email us at: germanmotorshelp@gmail.com
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design • site plans • consulting installation • planting • hand pruning 401-742-1895 • robertalanmatthews.com
John Totter: 401-419-6509 Book Online: The-Piano-Practice.com
286 Thayer Street, Providence • (401) 484-1895
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RESTAURANT GUIDE Providence, 709-0347. LD $-$$ XO Cafe Acclaimed farm-to-table cuisine with a fantastic Sunday #PajamaBrunch. 125 N Main St, Providence, 273-9090. BrD $$ SOUTHERN RI Breachway Grill Classic New England fare, plus NY-style pizza. 1 Charlestown Beach Rd, Charlestown, 213-6615. LD $$ Chair 5 Locally sourced and seasonally inspired menus with a main restaurant and rooftop lounge. 1208 Ocean Rd, Narragansett, 363-9820. BrLD $-$$$ Champlin’s Seafood Dockside fresh seafood serving easy breezy cocktails. 256 Great Island Rd, Narragansett, 7833152. LD $-$$
56
East Side Monthly • October 2017
Coast Guard House A new American menu with a seafood emphasis and extensive wine list, open seven days a week. 40 Ocean Rd, Narragansett, 789-0700. BrLD $$$ Colvitto’s Pizza & Bakery Pizza Calzones and baked goods made fresh daily. 91 Point Judith Rd, Narragansett, 783-8086. BrLD $ Dante’s Kitchen American food with Southern flair. 315 Main St, East Greenwich, 398-7798. BL $-$$ Eleven Forty Nine City sophistication in the suburbs. 1149 Division St, Warwick, 884-1149. LD $$$ Frankie’s Italian Bistro Fine dining with imported wines from around the world. 1051 Ten Rod Rd, North Kingstown, 295-
2500. D $-$$$ Fresco Italian American comfort food with international inspirations. 301 Main St, East Greenwich, 398-0027; 140 Comstock Pkwy, Cranston, 228-3901. D $-$$ George’s of Galilee Fresh caught seafood in an upscale pub atmosphere. 250 Sand Hill Cove Rd, Narragansett, 783-2306. LD $-$$ Jigger’s Diner Classic ‘50s diner serving breakfast all day. 145 Main St, East Greenwich, 884-6060. BL $-$$ Maharaja Indian Restaurant Indian cuisine and traditional curries in a warm setting. 1 Beach St, Narragansett, 3639988. LD $-$$ Mariner Grille Seafood, steaks and pasta
Unwind By The Water
engagement rings & wedding bands jewelry & gifts • custom jewelry
TH E PE R FECT SOLUTION
Al ’s
american handcrafted 279 Water Street, Warren • 401.289.2150 musehandcrafted.com
Open Weekdays For Dinner at 4pm Saturday & Sunday Open at 12pm
Waterfront
28 Water Street • East Providence 434-0590• AlsWaterfront.com Closed Tuesday
Restaurant & Marina
Supporting Families. Funding Research Since 2013 Providing financial assistance to the parents of children battling brain cancer
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Mexican Katrinas & Dog having fun waiting for el Dia de los Muertos
Honoring the children who suffer from cancer and fight everyday. Our hopes are to make a day in the life of a family suffering from cancer a little bit brighter
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RESTAURANT GUIDE in a fun setting, with live entertainment. 140 Point Judith Rd, Narragansett, 2843282. LD $$ Pasquale’s Pizzeria Napoletana Authentic Neapolitan wood-fired pizza with exclusive ingredients imported from Naples. 60 S County Commons Way, South Kingstown, 783-2900. LD $-$$ Phil’s Main Street Grille Classic comfort food with a great rooftop patio. 323 Main St, Wakefield, 783-4073. BBrLD $ Red Stripe Casual French-American bistro. 465 Angell St, Providence, 4376950; 455 Main St, East Greenwich, 3982900. BrLD $$ Siena Impeccable Italian cuisine. Locations in Providence, East Greenwich and Smithfield, 521-3311. D $$-$$$
T’s Restaurant Plentiful breakfast and lunch. Locations in Cranston, East Greenwich, Narragansett, TsRestaurantRI. com. BL $ Tavern by the Sea Waterfront European/ American bistro. 16 W Main St, Wickford, 294-5771. LD $$
historic waterfront setting. 3 Water St, South Dartmouth, 508-999-6975. LD $$ Bluewater Bar and Grill Casual restaurant with modern seafood dishes, patio seating and live music. 32 Barton Ave, Barrington, 247-0017. LD $$-$$$
Twin Willows Fresh seafood and water views in a family-friendly atmosphere. 865 Boston Neck Rd, Narragansett, 789-8153. LD $-$$
Ichigo Ichie Traditional Japanese cuisine, creative sushi and hibachi. 5 Catamore Blvd, East Providence, 435-5511. LD $-$$$
Tong-D Fine Thai cuisine in a casual setting. 156 County Rd, Barrington, 2892998; 50 South County Common Way, South Kingstown, 783-4445. LD $-$$
The Old Grist Mill Tavern Fine dining located over the Runnins River. 390 Fall River Ave, Seekonk, 508-336-8460. LD $-$$$
EAST BAY / NEWPORT Black
Bass
Grille
Classic
seafood,
The Wharf Tavern Serves fresh seafood and steak with bay views from almost every table. 215 Water St, Warren, 2892524. BrLD $-$$$
East Side Monthly • October 2017 57
Business Spotlight
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Craftsmanship and Quality
Award Winning Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation
401.944.2450 BriarcliffeManor.com 49 Old Pocasset Rd, Johnston
TOP APPLIANCES AT LOW PRICES
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ALSO OFFERING THE IDEAL PROTEIN WEIGHT LOSS METHOD “After a week of treatment, all the pain was gone... I recommend Dr. Tom to everyone I know.” – J.T.
WASHERS & DRYERS BUILT-IN REFRIGERATION COOKTOPS WALL OVENS DISHWASHERS
HUGE SAVINGS OFF OF RETAIL PRICES
Northeast Chiropractic DR. THOMAS MORISON Chiropractic Physician
New Showroom with Over 400 Scratch & Dent Appliances!
299 Walcott Street, Pawtucket 723.0500 • www.KitchenGuys.com
Tomasso Auto Swedish Motors
Premium Gas Helps Auto Longevity We service and repair ALL foreign and domestic models • ASE Certified • RI inspection and repair station #27b
Mon-Fri 8am-5pm
729 East Avenue • 401-723-1111 (Top of the East Side, next door to Rite Aid)
58
East Side Monthly • October 2017
401-861-1300 • 187 Waterman Street www.wickedgoodposture.com
T.F. Morra Tree Care, Inc.
Ornamental and Shade Tree Specialists • fine hand pruning • tree preservation • hazard tree removal • tree evaluation & diagnosis • tree planting consultation 331-8527 • tfmorra.com
W
ell-dressed men (and those that love them) in RI have one thing in common: they are MARC ALLEN FINE CLOTHIERS customers. “Many know us for our custom-made, hand-tailored clothing,” says manager Colin Ward. “In addition to our full tailor shop, we also offer the highest quality ready to wear the world has to offer.” With its flagship location on South Main Street and a location in Newport, Marc Allen has become a New England destination for hard-to-find luxury sportswear. “We travel to Europe throughout the year to find the most exclusive fabrics and sportswear makers. Most of what you can find here has no main point of distribution in the US,” Colin explains. “We go through great lengths to research, select and import the absolute best for our clients.” Dedicated to the fine art of handmade menswear, the shop has recently partnered with specialized makers in Naples. “When we use the word ‘specialized,’ we mean a small production house with decades of experience, often family owned, making only one type of product as well as they possibly can,” Colin says. “Their dedication to the craft is extraordinary.” Handcrafted trousers, sweaters and shirts are offered alongside worldclass brands such as Luciano Barbera, Luigi Borrelli and Loro Piana. “We value hard work and values. We are a true – and rare – specialty shop.”
200 South Main St., Providence Second location in Newport 453-0025; MarcAllenInc.com
Business Spotlight
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
A Worry Free Pre-owned Vehicle? Yes, it Does Exist.
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The Dwares JCC is
Fitness Center, Indoor Pool, Gymnasium, Early Childhood Center, After School Program, Family Programming, Cultural Arts and more!
Stop in or call to learn more!
In the heart of Providence’s East Side...
Dwares Rhode Island
401 Elmgrove Avenue | Providence, RI 02906 401.421.4111 | jewishallianceri.org
Living
The Ar t of
YOUR Community Center. Membership is open to EVERYone regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexuality, ethnic background or family constellation.
Monday - Friday 7:00am to 6:00pm
REGENCY PLAZA
Regency Plaza Apartments (401) 861-0400 • Elegantly renovated apartments • Exceptional views • 24-hr concierge
• Fitness center • Resident lounge • Pool and Jacuzzi • Movie theater
www.regencyplaza.com East Side Monthly • October 2017 59
through demonstration, although there will be some hands-on cooking, and students will sample
in investments and estate planning, country line dance, volleyball, conversational Spanish and
which focuses this year on German creches. A separate exhibit addresses Irish immigration to
RHODE ISLAND 2017 PRIVATE L O O H C S FAIR The Rhode Island Private School (RIPS) Fair is designed to bring guests together with school professionals in a relaxed and pleasant setting. Interested potential students and their families will have the chance to learn more about several schools in one convenient visit.
option is booked, as well as the annual Broadway Apple, this year featuring “Natasha, Pierre and The
in the itinerary for Philadelphia Internatio Show excursion on Ma
WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY, OCT 11 OCTOBER 11th 5:00 - 7:00PM
5:00 - 7:00PM Roger Williams Park Casino RogerProvidence, Williams RI Park Casino Providence, RI
FREE EVENT
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For the line up of schools and more
For the line up of schools information visit ripsfair.com and more information visit
ripsfair.com
ADLER’S
OCTOBER
SALE This is the month to find the year’s lowest prices on wall coverings, window treatments, fabric, decorative hardware, and C2 Paint...to help you design and make your perfect nest.
Adler’s Design Center & Hardware 173 Wickenden Providence 401.421.5157 M–F 7:30–6pm SAT 8–5pm adlersri.com
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East Side Monthly • October 2017
October music | performance | learn | galleries
10 Events You Can’t Miss
MUSIC
arena & club | classical ARENA & CLUB COLUMBUS THEATRE October 6: The Huntress and the Holder of Hands, EDT, Liz Isenberg. October 13: Shovels and Rope. October 17: Blind Pilot, Charlie Cunningham. October 19: Noam Pikelny. 270 Broadway, Providence. 6219660, ColumbusTheatre.com
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Photo by Anne McDonough courtesy of Roger Williams Park Zoo
Explore the pumpkin patch at Roger Williams Park Zoo for their annual Jack-OLantern Spectacular (RWPZoo.org). This year’s theme will take you to prehistoric worlds and ancient civilizations. October 5–November 5 Want to take a haunted tour through East Side history? The Providence Ghost Tour (ProvidenceGhostTour.com) will be spinning spooky yarns every night this month, with tours starting at Prospect Terrace. All Month
Columbus Day on Federal Hill (FederalHillProv.com) is three days of food, music, entertainment and, of course, the big parade down historic Atwells Avenue. October 7–9
The annual Pronk (ProvidenceHonkFest. org) features local, national and international marching bands performing in the streets in support of community activism through the arts. October 9
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Trinity Repertory Company (TrinityRep. com) is kicking off its 2017/2018 season with two great shows: Death of a Salesman and Skeleton Crew, part of the theatre’s The American Dream, Then and Now series. Various dates Dress yourself in pink and head downtown for the Gloria Gemma Run/Walk Series (GloriaGemma.org). This 5k and kids’ run are part of Flames of Hope, the annual celebration supporting those affected by breast cancer. October 1
5
Two alt-rock titans of the ‘90s are taking the stage at The Strand (TheStrandRI.com) this month: Third Eye Blind and 311. Feeling nostalgic yet? October 5 & October 27
Celebrate at Healing Arts Inspire 2017 (Lifespan.org), a fundraiser for the Healing Arts Program at Rhode Island and Hasbro Children’s hospitals, which uses art to comfort patients and families. October 19
Festival Ballet Providence (FestivalBalletProvidence.org) takes its spooky ballet, The Widow’s Broom (based on the story by Chris Van Allsburg), to The Vets Auditorium, just in time for Halloween. October 27–29
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If being chased by zombies doesn’t inspire you to run, we don’t know what will. The Providence Monster Dash 5k (MonsterDashRace.com) dares runners to race through the downtown RIPTA tunnel. October 29
FETE MUSIC HALL October 5: 36 Crazyfists, Last 10 Seconds of Life, Charcoal Tongue, Hope Before the Fall, 6 Foot Silence. October 5: The Push Stars, Alana Sweetwater. October 6: Consider the Source, The Most Dangerous Men Alive. October 7: Troy Ramey & Johnny Gates, Butterchild. October 13: City of Homes, Fear the United, Structure Fails, Swivel, Carissa Johnson, Shore City. October 21: Night of the Dead Halloween Show. October 24: Motograter. 103 Dike Street, Providence. 383-1112, FeteMusic.com THE MET October 4: The Jam. October 6: MadeinTYO. October 8: Wye Oak. October 11: Beach Fossils, Snail Mail, Raener. October 12: Bash & Pop, Tall Teenagers, Gymshorts. October 13: The Feelies. October 14: Joyner Lucas. October 22: Two DJimm Acoustic. October 29: Lil Peep. 1005 Main Street, Pawtucket. 729-1005, TheMetRI.com THE STRAND October 5: Third Eye Blind. October 6: In This Moment, Of Mice and Men, Avatar. October 7: RDX. October 8: Timeflies, Dawin, Loote. October 10: Modest Mouse, Metz. October 18: Phoenix. October 27: 311. October 28: Iration, Fortunate Youths, Through the Roots. October 31: Krewella. 79 Washington Street, Providence. TheStrandRI.com
East Side Monthly • October 2017 61
On the Town Calendar
PERFORMANCE
comedy | dance | theatre COMEDY AS220 October 1: The Empire Revue. 115 Empire Street, Providence. 831-9327, AS220.org COMEDY CONNECTION October 1: Comedy Showcase. October 6–7: Carly Aquilino. October 12–14: Kyle Kinane. October 19: Bobby Collins. October 20–21: Nate Bargatze. October 27–28: Bob Marley. 39 Warren Avenue, East Providence. 438-8383, RIComedyConnection.com THEATRE TRINITY REP October: Death of a Salesman and Skeleton Crew. 201 Washington Street, Providence. 3514242, TrinityRep.com THE GAMM THEATRE October 1, 3–8, 11–15: The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. 172 Exchange Street, Pawtucket. 723-4266, GammTheatre.org WILBURY THEATRE GROUP October 1, 5–7: The Caretaker. 40 Sonoma Court, Providence. 400-7100, TheWilburyGroup.org
2017-2018
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East Side Monthly • October 2017
FESTIVAL BALLET October 1, 7–8: Pippi. October 27–29: The Widow’s Broom. 825 Hope Street, Providence. 353-1129, FestivalBalletProvidence.org
LEARN
discussion | instruction | tour LADD OBSERVATORY Tuesdays: Telescope observing night. 210 Doyle Avenue. 863-2641, Brown.edu LIPPITT HOUSE MUSEUM Through October 27: The Art of Dining: A Taste of Providence’s Golden Age. October 12: Lost Providence author talk with David Brussat. October 21: Saturday Tours. October 22: Preservation Celebration/Rhody Awards for Historic
Preservation. 199 Hope Street, Providence. 453-0688, PreserveRI.org MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY AND PLANETARIUM Saturdays and Sundays: Public Planetarium Shows. October 7–8: Fossil Frenxy Family Fun Weekend. Through October 29: The Red Planet: Going To Mars. October 28–29: Creepy, Crawly Family Fun Weekend. 1000 Elmwood Avenue, Providence. 680-7221, ProvidenceRI.gov/ Museum
GALLERIES RISD MUSEUM Through December 3: Altered States: Etching in Late 19th-Century Paris. October 6 through January 7: Lines of Thought: From Michelangelo to Now from the British Museum. Through February 25: Stranger than Paradise. 20 North Main Street, Providence. 454-6530, RISDMuseum.org ARTPROV GALLERY Through November 40: Land, Sea, Sky. 150 Chestnut Street, Providence. 641-5182, ArtProvidence.com PROVIDENCE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS Through October 6: Personalities and Honor Thy Mother. October 12–November 3: 4th Open Call Exhibition. 118 North Main Street, Providence. ProvidencePhoto.org GALLERY NIGHT PROVIDENCE October 19: Monthly Open Gallery. Various locations. GalleryNight.org
ut o l. ab fall cia k e As our n sp i ev o m
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Breakfast Delivered ALL DAY LONG
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GALLERY Z October 5–29: Glass & Color Field Abstracts. 259 Atwells Avenue, Providence. 454-8844, GalleryZProv.com PROVIDENCE ART CLUB October 1–20: Dondero, Heydt, McKenzie & Philbrick; A Degree of Curiosity. October 22–November 8: The Edge of Light; Photographs by Lenny Rumpler; Right Minds Two. 11 Thomas Street, Providence. 331-1114, ProvidenceArtClub.org
Serving Wholesome Gourmet Food Since 1984
Meeting Street Cafe
Everything Made In Our Kitchen From Scratch World Famous Cookies
220 Meeting Street, Providence 273-1066 • MeetingStreetCafe.com East Side Monthly • October 2017 63
SERVICE PIONEER BASEMENT
CLeaning
Basic cleaning Over 20 yrs. in business
S & E REMODELING
Reasonable rates
Kitchens, bathrooms, decks, siding, finish work, painting. References. Call Eric 2312750. Reg. #39991.
Refernce on request
MALIN PAINTING
Most ceiling & wall repairs, wallpaper removal, oil-based & latex finishes, staining, varnishing. Fully insured, local references. Safe, secure, fast service. 226-8332. Reg. #19226.
HANDYMAN
Repair & small job specialist. Reg. 40738 clearproppvd@gmail.com.
HOME & BUSINESS SERVICES
DOROTHY’S CLEANING We clean your home as our own! References & free estimates. 401-524-7453 or 401-228-6273. HOUSE CLEANING Experienced. Local references. Free estimates. Call Lilly, 401-419-2933.
785-1230
401-475-3283 954-709-6713
Complete Plumbing & Heating Service
Providence
723-0560 LiCenSed • Bonded • inSured
BEYOND THE PALE
ri Contr 937 MP #1578 MPF 1355
Restore your Deck Carpentry Repairs Decks • Sheds • Porches Fence Corrections
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Vinny’s Landscaping & BoBcat serVes
Call 497-1461
David Onken Painting Interior/Exterior
East Side References
Lead Certified Carpentry Renovations Gutter Cleaning Chimney Pointing Roof Leaks Repaired Reg. #1903
Reg. #3469 • Fully Insured • 30 yrs. in business
Insured
248-5248
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Call 944-0336 T & T Painting
DavidOkenPainting.com
Advertise in the
Serving the East Side for over 20 years!
CHRIS’ LAMP REPAIR
JOBS BY JIM
We Make Housecalls!!!
Historianpr@gmail.com
for as low as
$15! Go to
Cellars & Attics Cleaned Unwanteds Removed
Estate Cleaning
EastSideMonthly.com/ Marketplace to reserve your space OREmail
Interior, Exterior, Residential/Commercial Wallpaper Hanging, Power Washing, Staining 25 Years Experience R.I. Lic 7140 Liab/ Work Comp Insured
Restaining • Oil Latex Semis • Epoxys • Coatings
Service Directory
Levine Painting Co., Inc.
(401) 885-1580 • (401) 323-6100 cell
Sanding & Stripping
Richard Major
Prompt, Reliable Quality Work
R.W. Seasoned Desrosiers Inc. Firewood
Fences • Sheds • Houses Walkways • Etc.
CALL US
401-742-7258
SueH@RhodyBeat.com 64
If you need a house cleaner who is organized, with good prices and excellent references, call
ask for Lee. Please leave a messgae
Quality interior painting, color consulting, lead certified, green products. Lic. #15914. Mike 573-4498
Chair Caning
House Cleaning
Lees’s House
The healthy choice for wet basements, crawl spaces, moisture & air quality control. Foundation repair. Certified. Insured. Reg. #3934. 401-2157985 or 1-800-649-6140.
DIRECTORY
East Side Monthly • October 2017
Reg. #4614
H
Repairing all types of Lamps
H Vintage H H
Lighting Specialist
Chandelier Repairs
Serving the East Side for 21 years H Fully Insured
401-831-8693 www.chrislamprepair.com
We Specialize in painting & carpentry
Experts in Water Problems
From Roofs, Gutters & Basements Over 20 years of experience on historical homes Certified Lead Renovated LRM #0514 RI Reg #7320 • Fully insured GEt it donE! Call today! Call Al Medina (401) 438-8771 or (401) 323-8252
The Finest in New England Craftmanship
Boreal Remodeling General Home Repair, including Kitchens,Baths, Decks & Additions Reg. # 22013
Michael Packard • (401) 441-7303
SERVICE DIRECTORY
SUPERB HOUSEPAINTING
HOME SERVICES
High end workmanship. Small jobs a specialty. Call Ron 7513242. Reg. #18128.
STONE MASON
30 yrs. exp. Stone, brick, veneers, walls, fireplaces, patios, chimneys, pavers. Design work. Reg. #7445. 641-0362. lousstonework.com
AUDIO/VIDEO HELP
If you need help with your TV, home theater or stereo, call Jon Bell, 383-4102. Simply Sight & Sound. Reasonable rates. 30 years experience.
PROPERTY MANAGER
SENIOR CARE
Available. On call 24/7. Rent collection. Rentals, evictions, maintenance. 421-0092.
OVERNIGHT ELDER CARE Very kind, patient, mature woman seeks position with elderly person. Intelligent, cheerful, reliable, with 25 years experience, including several long-term positions. Impeccable references. 781-3392 or 497-3392.
PARKING
WANTED
USED MUSIC WANTED!
Round Again Records needs your used CDs and records. Cash paid. 351-6292.
I BUY BOOKS
Old, used and almost new. Also photography, art, etc. jcminich1@gmail.com 286-9329.
PARKING/STORAGE
Benefit St. (north end), $95/ mo. Call Roger, 339-4068. rogernc@mac.com
Watch artists of all ages create amazing chalk drawings. Vote for your favorites. Saturday, Oct. 14 Noon - 5:00 pm
REAL ESTATE
Leasing J Sales
www.PilotRI.us info@PilotRI.us (401) 527-4690
ALEX AND ANI City Center Kennedy Plaza Admission is FREE! Proceeds benefit the Providence Rotary Charities Foundation www.ProvidenceRotary.org SPONSORS
East Side Monthly • October 2017 65
EAST SIDER By Amanda M. Grosvenor
Thomas Lane on Helping the Homeless, the Power of Storytelling and his Album Hotel Earth sions: carrying on a family legacy of advocacy and creating original music. He also loves and collects quotations, and wishes more inspirational words would be posted in spaces all over the city. A New Haven native, Lane moved to Providence with his wife, Loy, in 2008 following many years in Los Angeles pursuing his musical dreams, and a stint in New Haven to help his aging parents. “To me, Providence was a mystical, misty place – I never even considered it as a landing strip,” says Lane. “[Loy and I] went up to Rhode Island a couple of times and started really digging it. We were standing in a bookstore one day, then looked at each other and thought, ‘We really like it here.’ We didn’t know a soul, but we decided to take the leap and ended up in Wayland Square.” Lane’s mother, activist and celebrated author Helen Hudson, wrote several books during her
66
East Side Monthly • October 2017
lifetime that gave voice to the voiceless: one, for example, chronicles a woman’s experience in a Japanese internment camp. When Hudson’s last book, which described the experiences of those living in a homeless shelter – Dinner at Six: Voices from the Soup Kitchen – could not find a publisher, Lane began sharing his mother’s message far and wide: first out of a pickup truck to charities and homeless shelters, and later by establishing the Helen Hudson Foundation (HelenHudsonFoundation.org) as an official 501(c)3. The book is now in its sixth printing, is taught in college sociology courses, and has already raised thousands of dollars for the needy – but “we’re just getting started,” Lane says. To Lane, storytelling effects social change because “it’s magic. There’s a transfer of identities. Cultural change happens when you walk in another’s shoes and find care, insight and compassion from feeling what it’s like to be them. A common core of humanity kicks in.”
Lane’s musicianship is another way he finds expression; legendary storyteller Bob Dylan “woke me up to the power of art in a way I had never understood before” at a young age. An early start as a folk singer metamorphosed into playing rock, folk rock and other genres. After decades of near breakthroughs in his musical career, Lane put out a poetry-infused concept album in August under the name Trakker (his intriguing alter ego) called Hotel Earth, produced at Triad studio in Warren (TrakkerMusic.com). If you had one wish to enhance life on the East Side, what would it be? I’d like for all of the people asking for money or food, that there would be a condition where they wouldn’t have to expose themselves to that discomfort and embarrassment – that they would be able to afford and have lives that are dignified and productive in their own estimation.
Photography by Michael Cevoli
East Sider Thomas Lane has two core pas-
*
NEWPORT
NARRAGANSETT
PROVIDENCE
BARRINGTON
HISTORIC | WEB ID: 1172142 $699,900 | 401.274.1644
W AT C H H I L L
BLOCK ISLAND
BARRINGTON
WATERFRONT | WEB ID: 1155117 $2,995,000 | 401.274.1644
GLOCESTER – CHEPACHET
JAMESTOWN
HARBOURS ASSOC. | WEB ID: 1137149 $2,150,000 | 401.274.1644
PROVIDENCE – EAST SIDE
WARWICK – WARWICK NECK
UPSCALE CONDO | WEB ID: 1164800 $699,900 | 401.274.1644
4 BEDROOMS | WEB ID: 1172402 $649,900 | 401.274.1644
PROVIDENCE – EAST SIDE 5 BEDROOMS | WEB ID: 1170015 $479,900 | 401.274.1644
EAST GREENWICH – HIGH HAWK ESTATES
EAST GREENWICH – FRENCHTOWN
WARWICK – WARWICK NECK
CUSTOM BUILT | WEB ID: 1159490 $949,000 | 401.274.1644
MODERN DAY PALACE | WEB ID: 1166541 $1,190,000 | 401.274.1644
WATER VIEWS | WEB ID: 1150138 $995,000 | 401.274.1644
SOLD
SOLD
PROVIDENCE – EAST SIDE
PROVIDENCE – DOWNTOWN
PROVIDENCE – MONOHASSET MILL JOHNSTON – POCASSET MILL
COLLEGE HILL | WEB ID: 1172202 $459,000 | 401.274.1644
WATERPLACE CONDO | WEB ID: 1163146 $375,000 | 401.274.1644
LOFT STYLE CONDO | WEB ID: 1144789 SOLD $308,000 | 401.274.1644
PROVIDENCE
369 SOUTH MAIN ST
3 BEDROOMS | WEB ID: 1158934 SOLD $303,000 | 401.274.1644
401.274.1644
* #1 luxury ranking based on highest total dollar volume of the top 10 home sales in the State of RI For 2017. All representations in this presentation are based in whole or in part on data supplied by the Statewide MLS. The MLS does not guarantee and is not in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.
94 Congdon Street East Side of Providence $1,450,000 401.274.6740
652 Angell Street East Side of Providence $699,000 401.274.6740
See the Video at 94Congdon.com
48 Lloyd Avenue East Side of Providence $985,000 401.274.6740
Barrington Cumberland East Greenwich Narragansett Providence Relocation
401.245.9600 401.333.9333 401.885.8400 401.783.2474 401.274.6740 800.886.1775
#1 in RI homes sold in 2015 & 2016 pbn book of lists
(Providence Business News)
361 Elmgrove Avenue East Side of Providence $499,900 401.274.6740
14 Rhode Island Avenue East Side of Providence $659,000 401.274.6740
260 Brown Street East Side of Providence $549,000 401.274.6740
585 Elmgrove Avenue East Side of Providence $825,000 401.274.6740