A puddle surrounded by glass and steel?

[Soren]

Thanks for all of the photographs of old Providence.  It's amazing to consider the changes.  What a different city it was!

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People here (*cough* Garris, ArtInRuins) should pitch the Projo on doing a weekly "Then & Now" photo comparison similar to what Robert Campbell did in Boston. Or a book deal ala "Cityscapes of Boston". It would remind the Ms. Unruhs of the world about how far we've come.

"Providence: Art in Ruins and Rebirth" has a nice ring to it

[gregw]

No, that one wasn't there in 1982.  That picture looks to be 1938 or 1954.  The bus station that was were the Westin is today was the one after the one in this picture.  Whew.

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Close, but actually the bus station (everyone used to say the Bonanza station) was where the Convention Center is on a triangular parcel. I think the Westin may have been in the path of the train tracks back then. The bus station was a low slung 1960s type building with plenty of rounded forms. It would probably be today considered a 60s classic like the circular Gulf station that Paolino bulldozed. The interior had about as much appeal as the Port Authority in NY.