My name is
Al Seguin from North
Providence, RI. I have been playing the harmonica since I was 16
years old. I have also played with John Flynn who is a country
and western singer. In this video, I have recorded some of my
favorite tunes. Listen and sing along and enjoy!
Memories
of Rhode Island!
1965
(click on photo for a
larger view)
The original Ann & Hope in
Cumberland with the clever cart escalator that would move your cart up
or down a level.
All of the movie houses in downtown Providence:
E. M. Leow’s State (now PPAC)
RKO Albee (torn down to make a parking lot)
Majestic (now Trinity Repertory)
The one on Washington Street (was that the Strand?) (the last movie I
saw there was “The Cardinal” in 1964)
The Gilbert Stuart Theatre in Riverside
I remember when movies came to first run theaters and stayed a year, and
that was the only movie playing at that theater for the entire year
(they used to announce what week it was “Held Over!! 40th Week!”)
The Cinerama theater (in Edgewood?)
Muffett’s Music Store on Empire Street in Providence.
The converted trolleys that were made into buses on the UTC (forerunner
of RIPTA).
The Red Line bus company that eventually became Bonanza.
Ann & Hope wannabes, like Mammoth Mart and Nyanza.
Garr’s Fabrics on Eddy Street.
Block Artists on Weybosset Street (before the fire).
Weybosset Pure Food Market in downtown Providence (which carried S. S.
Pierce brand foods, among other things).
The huge corner of the Outlet basement devoted to shoe repair, and I was
always the only customer with probably a
choice of 50 chairs to sit in).
Emancipation Day at Crescent Park (I worked at the Park for two
summers).
When Narragansett Electric was on the waterfront in downtown Providence.
When Johnson & Wales was a Junior College with two buildings
(Plantations Hall on Abbott Park Place off Weybosset.
Street and Johnson Hall (out the back of Plantations Hall and
kitty-corner across the intersection) and a leased
hotel (the Crown) for a dormitory (it later burned).
School buildings that were so old the only toilets were in the basement.
Sunnybrook Farms started as a store on Taunton Avenue, just over the
line in Seekonk from East Providence, selling
discounted milk (and only milk) in gallon jugs.
Drug store soda fountains.
When water fountains were called “bubblahs” (bubblers).
When coffee cabinets and ice cream sodas cost 30 cents at the Newberry’s
soda fountain.
When Holiday Inns could operate in 49 states, but not Rhode Island,
because there was a restaurant
in Cumberland with that name, and they owned the name in Rhode Island.
There was a billboard at the intersection of Taunton Avenue and
Pawtucket Avenue in East Providence that announced
that “Shopperstown” shopping plaza was coming soon; the sign was
there for at least 15 years
before a shopping plaza was actually built.
When McDonald’s first opened in East Providence, it was strictly a
take-out place and you could get
hamburgers only one way – with everything on it; you couldn’t
customize your burger, and it cost 15 cents."
Phyllis Hydephydeme@hotmail.com
(born at Pawtucket Memorial,
grew up in Pawtucket and East Providence), moved
to Maine in 1978.
_____________________________________
I remember the Central Lunch
downtown Pawtucket near the bridge on Main St. The owner nick the Greek
would ask "How many" and have them lined up on his arm.
At the time the cost was ten cents each and they went up to fifteen
cents or two for a quarter. One day a drunk came in and ordered one
wiener and Nick told him it was fifteen cents, the drunk said he thought
they where two for a quarter and Nick said "that's right", the
drunk said he wanted the dime one and Nick could keep the other one.
Nick gave it to him.
My name is Jeff Fish. I now live
in Charlotte North Carolina, but I lived in
Rhode Island for 45 years. I was born in RI and my family lives there.
I relish my returns to The Ocean
State and look forward to eating wieners, clam
cakes, chowda, fish n’ chips (with vinegar), real pizza, Dels
Lemonade, and ohhh the
Italian delicacies. You can get some of the stuff down here, but
it’s a far cry from home!
Necessity may have forced me to leave the state, but the state hasn’t
every left me. When people ask me
where I’m from, I answer, “I’m a transplanted Rhode
Islander”. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to think of myself as
North Carolinian.
I wanted to say thanks for this site. It was really refreshing to catch
a taste of home!
