Goin' Down

On Sunday we went down to Corliss Landing. The building on the left is the former Corliss Steam Engine Building and then the New England Butt Company (brass fixtures and recipient of jokes) and is now - suprise! - condos (but some of the first done in the 70's). The exploding snake of stone, steel, concrete and dirt is the ongoing demolition of I-195, which is being moved to the south so that several neighborhoods can be reunited with Downcity in the distance. We Managed to score some nice cut granite stones that were in the discard pile to make stepping stones for our garden. A rather pedestrian use for a former super highway.

Observing the Bright Ladd

Brown University's Ladd Observatory (named for a governor) was built in 1890 on what was one of the highest points in Providence called Tin-top Hill (named for hanging tin cans in a tree for use by surveyors). Besides the telescope, they also followed transits (instruments that allowed measurements of the heavens) and furnished time signals to fire stations (much like the six beeps that signal the exact hour on BBC Radio) only stopping in the 1970's when they observed that no one was receiving them any longer. It is open to the public on Tuesday nights.

NIght at the Theatah

Went to see "A Raisin in the Sun" at the Trinity Rep Theater. Beautiful gleaming exterior of white terra cotta, built in 1917 as the Emery Majestic. In the 70's the interior was torn out and several blackish box spaces put in. Today it supports a thriving repertory company and injects nightlife into Downcity. Before and after the show, we imbibed and irrigated ourselves at Tini, a 20 seat tiny martini and small plates. The Tini Weenie was particularly good and an appropriate homage to both the size and provenance of the space, having been the longtime kennel for a New York Weiner System joint called the New Yorker (a peculiar Providence tradition of a small coney with chili).

House / Boat

Moored at the tip of a pizza-slice block that is bounded by Rhode Island Ave and Nisbet St, this late 19th century house pushes its prow of a porch into the street-sea of asphalt.

Open the Floodgates!

The '38 hurricane and Carol in '54 drowned Downcity Providence in eight feet of water and brought about this massive barrier in Fox Point to hold back the tide. The other structures are the new bridge to the left (the highway is being moved out of downtown) and the power generators to the right, built in 1995.

The 19th Century has no lock on brawny infrastructure!