Yes, we’ve got 2 indoor cats!

I love ogies

🥹

Where are you moving from? Come visit and wander around. Best to do it before students leave for the summer.

Why not just a little bit into the Burb's?

RI is the land of the 8 minute drive

Same.

I appreciate this response. You've been one of the more genuine restaurant owners in PVD regarding the work and closing of North's various iterations.

That being said, I really really miss the stuffed bagels from the bakery. They were life.

Sure. I like Providence because it's lively and diverse, Wayland Square seems really boring to me. I prefer my neighborhood which can be really loud and always has something going on-but we do not all need to want the same thing!

Does someone pay you to be incorrect on the internet or is it some kind of fetish?

OP, you responded to a comment with a mention of pets? What sort of pet/s? That's crucial info to leave out of your OP

The bakery specifically was a bunch of lessons in numbers, space, and pricing - and also the limits of bootstrapping.

The numbers of the bakery never made sense - we literally never made enough money lol. It would have closed in 9 months but north was supporting it. One of the reasons we never made any money was because we opened it what, ten years ago? Ten years ago that block was completely different - no restaurants, no gym (though planet fitness opened soon after), no breweries, no bars. Just garages and car repair places, and a private ambulance company. It was certainly residential, but the neighborhood has gotten way wealthier the last decade, and can now support higher prices. At the time I was obsessed with a $5 breakfast sandwich with a coffee. We eventually moved away from that ourselves, but not to the prices point you’d find that for now. Ditto for most of the other stuff.

Part of the issue is the inefficiencies of the space - I leased the space because the rent was dirt cheap (obscenely cheap actually), BUT I had to white box and build the space out myself. Floors, ceilings, walls, plumbing, electrical. This was the first space we built ourselves, and while we used contractors, we made a bunch of design errors - especially with HVAC - that really hurt the space both from a comfort perspective but also a functionality perspective.

I think the biggest lesson though was that for me, I learned that having a space that was open all day seven days and then another open all night seven days was just really difficult for me on all accounts. Other people are better about delegating and training people on the management level - frankly I can teach you to cook, but teaching people to manage, especially back then, is definitely a weakness of mine. I still think that place was special but I needed to spend more time there and just couldn’t.

Owner was an idiot

Go to CA, people will cross 5 while on facetime trying to do an audition while they're driving

Bring money.

It very much felt like a neighborhood, it was very walkable. I could get to a butcher, a grocery store, a bakery, and god knows how many restaurants on foot.

I walked to the park for the fireworks in July, I got to see a lot of Portuguese-American life, and I could stroll right past Captain Seaweed's to go somewhere decent for a beer in the evenings.

Not exactly the same but have you tried savory croissants from Butterbang Bakery? (The sweet ones are good too...). INSANE.

Look at the Armory area on the Westside. Great houses and yards. Sttores and cafes within walking distance.

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Lol look at boston suburb real estate.

Before moving here, I had never seen someone in the far left-turn-only lane cross 2+ lanes of traffic to turn right. I have seen it 3 times in 5 years now. Also my first month in Providence, my parked car got totaled by someone that wasn’t even drunk.

Amtrak Train 66 leaves Providence 6:56 and arrives in Boston usually early, 7:40 am. I took that for 4 years, 5-6 days a week. Lots of commuters on that train. My boss liked I was there early and I left at 5 to grab the train home. It was worth it for me over the commuter rail.

I also live on the East Side. It took me about 1:20 door to door.

Leave house 6:40ish (because I hate rushing) Arrive about 6:45, get coffee at Cafe La France Wait a few minutes on platform. Train 6:56-7:45ish Grab coffee at South Station Walk to work 5 minutes (Fort Point) Desk by 8am

I no longer do this because I’m not 29 and childless, but it wasn’t bad while I did it. I now work downtown providence and still live on the east side. The 7 minute commute is so ridiculous.

And they definitely aren’t teaching that if a power outage takes out the lights it turns into a 4-way stop sign situation. People see the light is out and are like “Nice! No light for me!”

what’s up with north — why couldn’t the businesses stay open? bad management?

Same.

Just don't like how the Highway isn't more straight on top of how its under construction.
Also how taking a wrong exit on the highway costs you like 15+ minutes to correct.

I used to do the same rat race but found a solution.

1. Book amtrak from providence weeks in advance. The tickets are cheap, like less than an MBTA ticket. You can cancel right up to last minute. $$ goes back into your account. No stops.
2. Park in the Providence mall. If you are on east side, ride your bike, etc. That's what I did when the weather was nice.
3. I also took the MBTA in and amtrack back, etc. Just getting home fast was great.

The Amtrack trains don't run all the time, but if you can time your work and it right, you can save hours. The downside is the cost of the garage in Prov vs. free in Pawt. But what's your sanity worth?