The Bucket Photo Tour

[Recchia]

So I've been livin in Pawtucket for a month now, and thought it was finally time to get some pics. It's a crappy day though and my camera sucks, but whatever, we need some Pawtucket pics.

Typical Darlington three-unit:

Future Arts Exchange (according to the sign) home downtown:

Crappy picture of City Hall gettin refurbished:

Of course had to get one of a building on the Slater Mill property:

Main and Roosevelt:

Downtown:

ATTENTION PROVIDENCE: Wow, no parking certain days for street sweeping, what a concept! Now you can allow overnight on-street parking!

[Recchia]

Did you know Pawtucket has a riverfront park? Neither did I, probably because it sucks:

^Anyone know if this is where the Prov-Pawtucket water shuttle stopped at?

Pawtucket's own mini-Kennedy Plaza, the Pawtucket Visitor's Center:

Wow, a big box department store built to the street with street entrances and everything! Too bad its closed and is now the DMV. Although notice Madhouse to the right:

Quality Hill from the other side of 95:

Quality Hill, off Walcott Street:

Can anyone say, light-rail?

So overall, I don't think my pics do the city justice. I want to get more pics of Quality Hill and the west side of the city, theres some great housing architecture over there.

Now to complain about Pawtucket a little, because I just love complaining:

-Whats up with the incomplete sidewalks in Darlington? One block will have them, the next block will have just dirt. What's up with that? I've never seen a place with such gaps before.

-The Super Stop and Shop at Cottage St and George Bennett. Okay, seriously, this is brand new, why did they build it like it's on Route 2 in Warwick? Here would have been the perfect opportunity to build a Stop and Shop up to the street, with rear or side parking, etc. The surrounding neighborhood is walkable and urban, so what gives? How did they allow this? There's a massive sea of parking, with Wendys, Dunkin Donuts, and a gas station in the parking lot. And right adjacent to this is the industrial rail line (from the pic above), a perfect line for the introduction of light rail in the future. What a missed opportunity to finally build an urban supermarket in this state.

-Do young people live in Pawtucket? Do they go out?

[brick]

Did you know Pawtucket has a riverfront park? Neither did I, probably because it sucks:

This area will hopefully get developed along with the Taft's Landing project. Regardless, the more interesting part of the river park is the waterfalls by Slater Mill, which are actually pretty damn cool on a rainy day. I believe that picture is just the public boat launch.

the shuttle stopped across the river and a little south of there, off of School St.

-The Super Stop and Shop at Cottage St and George Bennett. How did they allow this?

the huge mill fire basically greased the wheels for S&S to do anything they wanted there. Up until the fire, there was a pretty long fight about renovating the mill, etc. I've always had the suspicion of foul play way in the back of my mind. I think there is a grassy knoll over there.

-Do young people live in Pawtucket? Do they go out?

I do. but I'm not all that young and usually go out in Providence.

One problem with Pawtucket's night life was touched on here about six months back. The state has a law which says that no liquor licenses can be issued within XX feet of a church (I forget what XX is). Since Pawtucket was taken over by storefront churches in the 90's, you can't really find a spot to put a restaurant or club downtown.

There is a cool sports bar in Darlington whose name escapes me at the moment, though. Right off of Newport Ave on one of the big cross-streets, I just forget which one. They used to have a good foosball table and they have 4 or 5 pool tables. Not a bad place at all.

[brick]

Future Arts Exchange (according to the sign) home downtown:

Behind this building is the Feinstein-Gamm theater, FWiw.

[runawayjim]

I do. but I'm not all that young and usually go out in Providence.

One problem with Pawtucket's night life was touched on here about six months back. The state has a law which says that no liquor licenses can be issued within XX feet of a church (I forget what XX is). Since Pawtucket was taken over by storefront churches in the 90's, you can't really find a spot to put a restaurant or club downtown.

i figured most people from pawt would just go to providence at night since it's not that far and there's a larger, younger crowd.

i never understood those storefront churches...

[Recchia]

There is a cool sports bar in Darlington whose name escapes me at the moment, though. Right off of Newport Ave on one of the big cross-streets, I just forget which one. They used to have a good foosball table and they have 4 or 5 pool tables. Not a bad place at all.

yeah, Carousel Sports Lounge, I went there, it's pretty nice, just a little pricey and a little far to walk.

[PCGrad02]

There is the Benefit St Pub @ the corner of Benefit & Newport. There was a pretty decent breakfast place next door to it. My wife and I lived right around the corner on Calder St for a year after we graduated from PC. My job took us to Connecticut, too bad, we really miss having everything so close by. Darlington was a great place to live, walking distance to the S. Attleboro T. Living in RI really makes a 25 minute ride seem like forever. Pawtucket has so much potential, the downtown just needs to turn the corner, where we live now (Norwich, CT) is trying to get the downcity area to come alive again, has a longgggggggggggg way to go.

[Garris]

Thanks for the photo tour... What are the best restaurants in Pawtucket?

- Garris

Addenum: Ooops! Just saw your restaurant reviews in the other forum... Never mind!

[Recchia]

There is the Benefit St Pub @ the corner of Benefit & Newport. There was a pretty decent breakfast place next door to it. My wife and I lived right around the corner on Calder St for a year after we graduated from PC. My job took us to Connecticut, too bad, we really miss having everything so close by. Darlington was a great place to live, walking distance to the S. Attleboro T. Living in RI really makes a 25 minute ride seem like forever. Pawtucket has so much potential, the downtown just needs to turn the corner, where we live now (Norwich, CT) is trying to get the downcity area to come alive again, has a longgggggggggggg way to go.

Yeah I love Darlington. Everything I need I can walk to, and it's relatively urban in form, with the exception of a few eyesores (i.e. the Stop and Shop....the Tim Horton's at Newport and Central...). Walking to to T is great too, now I don't have to worry about not being able to get to RI on the weekends.

[Cotuit]

Walking to to T is great too, now I don't have to worry about not being able to get to RI on the weekends.

Is there a RIPTA bus one could walk to from the South Attleboro T that goes to Providence?

[Recchia]

Is there a RIPTA bus one could walk to from the South Attleboro T that goes to Providence?

Yeah, the 35 Rumford bus goes from the state line on Newport Ave, down through East Providence and then over to the East Side through the tunnel into downtown.

Or you can walk down to Central Ave, take the 76 inbound which then becomes the 99 to Providence.

[damus]

There is the Benefit St Pub @ the corner of Benefit & Newport. There was a pretty decent breakfast place next door to it. My wife and I lived right around the corner on Calder St for a year after we graduated from PC. My job took us to Connecticut, too bad, we really miss having everything so close by. Darlington was a great place to live, walking distance to the S. Attleboro T. Living in RI really makes a 25 minute ride seem like forever. Pawtucket has so much potential, the downtown just needs to turn the corner, where we live now (Norwich, CT) is trying to get the downcity area to come alive again, has a longgggggggggggg way to go.

quite a coincidence; i grew up in norwich not too far from what is now the Mohegan sun. i'm getting off topic here, but have you read Bill Stanley's books (really picture-books with nostalgic rants) on Norwich? that downtown would've been fantastic right now had they not had the money in the 60s to tear down most of what was there. they really put the state of the town (and what it could've been) in perspective.

[PCGrad02]

Yes, Bill's books are quite a trip into the past of the city. There is even an article about my family in the new Nine Mile Square book. The worst thing that this city has done is to line the riverfront with parking lots/decks/garages and horrible looking buildings. But, the closing of the Norwich State Hospital was probably the final nail in the coffin. Norwich became the social services center for the eastern half of the state, and residents abandoned downtown. Small business has returned, but nothing like what it was in the past.

[Recchia]

I took some pics of the Ten Mile River Greenway today, which in case you don't know, runs through Slater Park and the Ten Mile River State Park in Pawtucket and East Providence. It's a really nice bikeway with amazing views of nature in the summertime, despite being feet from and industrial park and urban neighborhoods.

Starting from Armistice Blvd in the Bucket:

Crossing under the P&W-owned East Junction Railroad:

Central Pond, very nice in the summer:

Nice history lesson:

And now as a bonus, what I believe to be a decent example of how you can have lower density without compromising pedestrian needs and making a street/neighborhood into a suburban nightmare. This is on Armistice in Pawtucket, almost to the Seekonk border (where Pawtucket gets really suburbanesque):

[runawayjim]

I took some pics of the Ten Mile River Greenway today, which in case you don't know, runs through Slater Park and the Ten Mile River State Park in Pawtucket and East Providence. It's a really nice bikeway with amazing views of nature in the summertime, despite being feet from and industrial park and urban neighborhoods.

i didn't even know there was a bikeway in pawtucket. i usually go up to the blackstone river bikeway in lincoln or the east bay bike path.

great pics... good work. it makes pawtucket look liveable.

[Recchia]

great pics... good work. it makes pawtucket look liveable.

Yeah it runs from Armistice just past the Slater Park entrance down to Ferris Ave in East Providence. It's only 2.2 miles though.

[runawayjim]

Yeah it runs from Armistice just past the Slater Park entrance down to Ferris Ave in East Providence. It's only 2.2 miles though.

does it hit any of the other bike paths? i know there's some big plan to connect them all... but i don't see that happening...

[Garris]

Thanks for all of these photos Recchia. I really like Pawtucket. It has real character, tons of potential, lots of interesting nooks and crannies, big time regional entertainment draw (the Paw Sox), and good quality of life (a good hospital in Memorial, easy highway access, etc). Nowhere to go but up!

- Garris

[Recchia]

does it hit any of the other bike paths? i know there's some big plan to connect them all... but i don't see that happening...

When I was an intern at RIDOT, one of my projects was to look at using the East Junction ROW to connect it to the East Bay Bike Path (through the new East Providence waterfront development). The ROW is really wide and trains only run a few days a week, so it would work. It's not high on the radar though, in fact I doubt it ever even left the third floor.

The plan for the Blackstone is to connect in on-road through Central Falls and Pawtucket. Armistice could definitely be striped with bike lanes, but beyond that, who knows. I'm not sure exactly what roads they were looking at.

[brick]

When I was an intern at RIDOT, one of my projects was to look at using the East Junction ROW to connect it to the East Bay Bike Path (through the new East Providence waterfront development). The ROW is really wide and trains only run a few days a week, so it would work. It's not high on the radar though, in fact I doubt it ever even left the third floor.

Although it's not a bike path, you can pretty safely ride from the end of the ten mile river bikeway to the East Bay path by taking a quick jaunt from the end of the bikeway to North Broadway and then slipping off under the Washington bridge and up to Vet Mem. Highway (I forget the street names, sorry).

Broadway is wide which is a blessing and a curse. It is one lane but it's width makes people use it as two when people are taking left hand turns, etc. I do think that they are thinking of painting it for a bikeway until they get the ROW along the railroad to connect.