This is great and super helpful, thank you!

That place is a mess. You'd probably have more luck in Seekonk or South Attleboro

FYI she’s not weary, she’s either “wary” or “leery”; weary means tired those other words mean concerned/suspicious

I think some people view the world as filled with threats and some people view the world as filled with people. You seem to fall into the former category. If you need to live outside of Providence for your peace of mind then please, by all means do so. Also, maybe think about how your perspective is kind of extreme and not representative of most of the experiences people have living in PVD.

Hey OP-

Elmhurst crew checking in. If you can find the right pocket, this neighborhood is a gem.

Yeah, bought a house in elmhurst annnnnd

IM NOT FUCKING LEAVING

As far as I know, post pandemic, the one in Prov at the moment has no classes.

East side (different than east providence) is full of students and rich boomers. There's Wickendon/Fox Point at the bottom, which is very hip. Then Thayer st. aka the college kid area, so cool but everyone there is 20. And slightly east of that is Wayland square, which is also hip but more calm. Extending up from there, all the way to the bottom of Pawtucket is Blackstone blvd and Hope st. Blackstone blvd is extremely posh so that area is really expensive/swanky and people there are older. Hope street and that area extending west to the cemetary is really charming, quiet and nice, especially up to Hope Village. Specifically beware University Heights, Ik some people have had nice experiences. When I was there everyone there called it the projects. It felt constantly loud and unsafe.

The west side equivalent is Federal Hill. At the top is Atwells aka little Italy. It's poppin with a large bar scene with valets all along the street. Broadway st. is kind of the center of Federal hill, lots of fixie bikes and coffee shops. That extends down to Westminster and Dexter Park. Fed hill has a reputation of being very block-by-block. Some feel run down and unsafe but one block over feels super gentified and fancy. Overall it's less consistently quiet and nice than the east side but imo feels more lively for people in their 20s and 30s. Past Westminster is the Armory District, which extends towards Broad st. The apts are cheaper and it's more just housing, rather than bars and stuff. Lived by Dexter park for a bit and the area was nice. Though you can definitely find yourself in a bubble of nice housing, encroaching on abject poverty as you go south across Cranston st. I generally feel safe in Providence but people talk about the noise pollution here. Living close to Cranston st. I found there was constant throbbing bass coming from one source or another, which was torturous for me. I think the west side of Dexter park by Messer st. is much more chill, east of it you're by a lot more subwoofers and firecrackers, as well as some pretty heavily policed section 8 housing. I've heard several people echo the sentiment that it's more pleasant if you try to stay north of Westminster.

Past that there's Onlyville, Downtown, Smith Hill, Broad st. Washington Park, Cranson, East Prov, Wanskuck Elmhurst and a couple other burrows. I haven't lived there so Idrk but a lot of that is surrounding suburbs, and most of them are pretty connected to everything.

la fitness has classes that use the pool. You have to check the schedule.

Barrington beach has a group that preps for triathlons as well as GeorgiaVille pond. There is a swim group on face book you can join (https://www.facebook.com/groups/GVPNadadores)

I just moved from directly adjacent to Dexter park, idk what to tell you but you're talking about a fantasy world if you have yet to see a needle there. You can't smell the piss when you're walking around there either, can you? Sometimes folks are trying too hard to be progressive to actually experience the world around them.

I'm sorry my post triggered you all so, so much that you want to talk personal shit on it. But seriously don't listen to these idiots enabling you to bring your girl to PVD, she will deeply hate it. You want to hear their perspective so you think they're good and right but they're baiting you into an awful decision. You want the "hippest" place to live in a dumpster and you're asking dumpster dwellers for advice, I get it. It's not gonna go well tho.

And if any of you think the dude who is saying move near Dexter park of ALL places in response to this post isn't either an idiot or a troll, god save you.

YMCA on Hope, JCC on elmgrove

I think I’ll give them a call. I definitely don’t mind waiting a bit longer if the work is done with care

I was considering German as they’re a few minutes down the road from me. Are they usually busy?

Their reviews on yelp look good. Might be worth the drive from Pawtucket.

Brown u. pool has community member ships and the pool is really nice. The schedule might get harder to work around once classes start again (swimming and diving have certain hours blocked off) but there’s definite lap times.

LA fitness, prov and Pawtucket line on North Main st. The best part you can swim basically all the time. Whereas with others such as the YMCA, you only have specific slots of time to swim. I think it opens at 5am and during week closes at 10pm. It's never really crowded. At most, I may wait 20 minutes to grab a lane, which is rare.

Brown, CCRI in Lincoln and RIC have pools, Brown has the best, but time slots are limited, and Brown is really pricey.

Also, in the late spring people start preparing for the bay swim. You may ask around on it, but there was a group that swam all the time in Jamestown to get ready at potters cove. May be other groups too.

Thanks for the recommendation! I’m in Pawtucket so I’ll look into them.

Good to see we have some good options here. Thanks everyone!

Division Street Auto in Pawtucket never fails — a coworker of mine is related to the owner George, and they always take good care of anyone that goes there. They work on all cars but specialize on VW / German cars — even have some vintage Bugs in there from time to time

I love and miss living in providence- from a purely financial standpoint however, Cranston around the east high school area is more bang for your buck rent wise and is 5 minutes from the city!

Look it up. Better yet ask any EMT or emergency room worker. Driving around a lot - like you do if you live in the suburbs - is far more likely to cause your injury or death than walking around in the city if you know how to not ask for trouble.

Good lord … you need to get a grip. You make it sound like Providence is some kind of war zone. I live near Dexter park, it’s nowhere near as bad as you make it. There are some unhoused people who use the park. In my experience they don’t bother anyone. I have yet to see a needle - not saying people don’t do drugs in the park, but I don’t see the evidence and I’m walking in/around that park daily. As for your other complaints - part and parcel of living in a city. Most people are fine/friendly. Some are loud, selfish, etc … The illegal dirt bike groups aren’t confined to Providence. You will find them in cities all over New England. They’re annoying, but not hard to just avoid.

So move to EP with its abundance of trump signs and Gadsen flags and confederate flags? Ok. Noted. See what you’re going for there.

Best part about dab wooks is they act like smoking their 97% THC extract off a heated metal nail every hour on the dot so they can’t feel feelings doesn’t make them a junkie too