Tag Archives: Rhode Island

FLW’s house in Pawtucket

Frank Lloyd Wright would be 155 years old if he were alive on this June 8 date of his birth. A hundred and fifty years ago he spent the age of five in Pawtucket, where for a year his family … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Presto chango bus hub idea!

Seemingly out of the clear blue sky a completely new bus hub idea has suddenly emerged in Providence. The Innovation District Transit Center, it’s called. The reigning notion of shifting most buses from Kennedy Plaza to a pair of new … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Development, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

OopSox chill at Polar Park

By the time this has posted, the WooSox, as the former PawSox Triple-A Boston Red Sox franchise is called, will have played their home opener at the new Polar Park, in Worcester, Mass. Rhode Island baseball fans are of two … Continue reading

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Providence dodges a bullet

Providence dodged a bullet last Tuesday morning. That’s the good news. For all the horrifying videotape, rioters managed to do little real damage to downtown. Lots of glass was broken, boosting the local glass and plywood industries. There were a … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The fate of the Fane tower

Last Wednesday, the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission approved the design of the proposed Fane tower in the city’s Jewelry District. The press duly noted the project’s latest step forward, but in fact hope is quite dim for the queer-looking 46-story … Continue reading

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Streamline? No. Steamroll

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio will hold a meeting later today – 4 p.m. in Room 313 – on his legislation to “streamline” the development process for projects on state land in every city and town in Rhode Island. This is … Continue reading

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Nightmare on Smith Hill

Last night I had a dream so disturbing that I woke up, got out of bed, and sat at my computer to memorialize it. This was about 5:30 a.m. With minor clarifications and omissions, my memo reads: Dreamed I was … Continue reading

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Rubbers meets the Rhode

Senate President Dominick “Rubbers” Ruggerio has introduced legislation in Rhode Island’s General Assembly to bar cities and towns from bothering the developers who want to screw this state’s localities and their citizens. Ruggerio was dumbfounded by the meanies of the … Continue reading

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The Journal’s ‘R.I. Memories’

Black and white photography bears the stamp of history, a ratification of the long-ago. One might wish that photos from, say, the 1890s were in color. That would convey a different authenticity, a satisfaction that today’s colorization processes generally fail … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Lost Providence | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

A Lost Providence Christmas

Just as the Providence Journal has published its magnificent collection of old Providence and Rhode Island photographs, it is time to go out and get (if you don’t have it) my book Lost Providence. The two books would work well … Continue reading

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