The Revival of Downtown East Providence, One Cafe at a Time–Architecture Critic Morgan

The Revival of Downtown East Providence, One Cafe at a Time–Architecture Critic Morgan

Let’s talk about the inevitability of East Providence. Young entrepreneurs with a bookstore and a restaurant on Ives Street, refer to their home across the Seekonk River as Brooklyn. While not quite the hipster vibe of such sentiment, East Providence has a lot of assets that, when sensitively developed, will contribute to a promising future.

 

East Providence has some strong advantages, beginning with its topography. Running for several miles along the shore of Narragansett Bay, some of which is being envisioned as a working harbor, there is also development along the Seekonk. Completion of the new Red Bridge will make passage between the two Providences easier. From Rumford to Riverside, there are a series of viable neighborhoods composed of single-family houses, many with water and skyline views.

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It has taken decades for this town to overcome the displacement wreaked by the insertion of I-195, which cut East Providence in two. At the same time, uninspired planning and mediocre new design has done little to enhance its big sister’s Renaissance City brand. Providence’s most desirable area, the East Side, is threatened by Brown’s voracious growth, while the formerly quirky small shopkeeper ambiance of Thayer Street is gone, reduced to a characterless and barely recognizable strip. The very success of the East Side is making it unaffordable for all but the wealthy.

    

 

Thus, the logical place for the next East Side is on the “other side of tracks “in East Providence. Central Falls, Pawtucket, or Providence’s West End simply do not have the Townies’ salubrious setting.

 

One agent of change is Levi Medina, an East Providence native who opened Café Zara at  130 Taunton Avenue three years ago. A foodie who studied marketing at Johnson and Wales, Medina operated a food truck–Portu-galo–in Providence until he decided to act on his belief in his hometown. Alas,  politicians too often believe that the only way to revive a city is through large-scale development, such as a soccer stadium or a skyscraper. Yet the small is beautiful mantra is more sensible, less costly, and more likely to effect authentic economic change. Try to imagine Wickenden Street without the Coffee Exchange, or Hope Street without Seven Stars. The East Providence branch of Seven Stars helped spark the successful development of the Rumford Baking Powder mill.

 

 

 

 

Medina says he expects to see real changes in his neighborhood area of downtown East Providence in the next five years. But a lot is happening right now. Café Zara occupies a third of the ground floor of a handsome Art Deco block (with apartments on the second floor) that faces City Hall and Sacred Heart School across Taunton Avenue. There is a small park in front of City Hall featuring a statue of a Civil War soldier, the work of the noted sculptor Alice Kitson. The scale of the new city hall is not overbearing, although this blocky brick brute replaced a magnificent example of Queen Anne style.

 

 

 

 

Café Zara is situated in the civic heart of East Providence. Besides the town hall, the school, and the Union warrior, there is a marker noting that this part of Taunton Avenue commemorates East Providence’s sister city in the Azores, Ribeira Grande. Just beyond city hall is the handsome Federal style post office, home to an outstanding W.P.A. mural showing the 1938 Hurricane, by Providence-born Eugene Kingman. Another block away is the very popular public library. Farther up Taunton Avenue, construction has started on a low-rise, sidewalk combination retail with apartments above.

 

The through traffic on Taunton Avenue is a constant irritant. Yet a traffic calming scheme, along with some judicious landscaping and tidying up, could transform this civic center into something as appealing as Wayland Square on the East Side.  A business that offers a congenial place to meet and dine is a Trojan horse, sneaking in solid principles of urbanism.

 

This quiet renewal effort could be supported by giving this square a catchy name – Plaza Rebeira Grande is a mouthful. Maybe it is also time to consider giving East Providence a new name–or reverting to one of its historical names, such as Rumford or Watchemoket. Aside from the struggle of keeping the East Side and East Providence distinct from one another, the current moniker implies a second-city status. Sitting outside Café Zara, with a croissant and an espresso, there’s an air that East Providence is going to flourish–sooner rather than later.