[Thinking about moving to Providence?]

So we came in around the same time frame. A lot of changes, huh? When I was looking, there were some fairly nice houses (though smallish) for sale in the low 60's on side streets below Camp, on the hill.

Come to think of it, somebody did mention to me at one time that the Ministries building had been an A&P. Also that there was a First National up into the sixties where there's now the green space with pine trees next to the King School. And there were a handful of commercial buildings directly across Camp from where the school now is. Apparently some neighborhood nutcase set them on fire just to watch them burn. Of course Camp-across-Doyle to Olney was prime "urban renewal" territory by the sixties, and a huge segment of the old neighborhood was razed.

Interesting -- envisioning these long-gone businesses, you get a picture of Camp Street as a residential neighborhood with commercial clusters serving the neighborhood's needs. Seems like a rather nice picture, especially to someone like me who's recently decided to live without a car.

[Thinking about moving to Providence?]

I live near Camp St. and like the neighborhood as well and I have also been pissed off over the years by the attitude that it's a "ghetto" to be avoided at all costs. On the other hand, it was because of that attitude, I am sure, that my wife and I were able to afford our house, which is a half block away from Camp St., although the northern end of it where it becomes more middle-class with single-family homes.

One thing that amazes me as a longtime Providence person is how integrated Camp Street and blocks to the west of it have gotten. Back in the 70s, you would pretty much only see people who were African-American. Incredibly segregated, influence of housing discrimination, red-lining, etc. Now you see a mix of African-Americans, whites, Latinos, as well as a mix of incomes.

Despite the good, the neighborhood could use more retail. The fact that most of the storefronts are occupied by a police substation and social service agencies/non-profits shows the challenges the neighorhood faces.

There is also a wave of violence between the East Side and the South Side gangs that has left several young people dead from drive-by shootings. No one even knows what started this pointless feud. On the bright side, the Providence Police are on top of it with their Gang Unit and neighborhood policing and that might help to stop it.

People are often surprised to find poverty on the East Side. But the East Side isn't monolithic. It's a bunch of different neighborhoods. Fox Point is also traditionally a working class area with pockets of poverty (Ives Street). The East Side isn't Greenwich, CT. It's more like a mini Manhattan with neighborhoods running from the Upper East Side to Harlem and the Lower East Side.

[Thinking about moving to Providence?]

i have never heard a gunshot since i've moved to providence. i live in elmhurst.

[Thinking about moving to Providence?]

Yay! Another thread where folks are talking about Camp Street! And I'm here to tell you it's paradise!

Well, okay, maybe not paradise, that's just a little hyperbole where hyperbole is due -- to counter what still seems to be a poor impression of the area...

As in the other thread (which it looks like I've totally derailed by mentioning cocktails), I'll say it again: I love Camp Street! I've lived in some fantastic places (Boston lofts in the 80's, a house right on the bay on the Cape, a log cabin up in the woods in Maine, a huge dilapidated apartment in Cambridge...) and there is really, honestly, no place I'd rather live than right here.

Yes, eight years ago it was pretty dismal, mostly because of the long-term effects of absentee landlords putting as little effort as possible into their properties. But this has changed so much, even over the past three years. The police substation just off Cypress has made a huge difference -- thugs don't run the neighborhood anymore. Many houses have changed hands and are occupied by owners for the first time in years. In other cases, as we've lost longtime, elderly homeowners, their houses have transferred to younger people in the family or to buyers new to the neighborhood. In the latter cases, houses that had been in the same family for forty or fifty years are often relatively unchanged from their original state and condition -- needing repairs but ripe for restoration.

In the process of all this, many new owners have improved their houses and attracted tenants who appreciate a good rent at a somewhat lower price than elsewhere on the East Side. Many of the old owners who are still here appreciate having neighbors who are into taking care of their houses, pick up the trash, and don't shoot each other. The folks who were here "first" were in many cases the ones who suffered most -- it's not like they were the ones who were doing all the gang-bangin'. For the most part, that was the tenants in houses that were run by half-assed "management" companies. And most of those have been driven out, if only by attrition.

So what's here now is a great, friendly neighborhood -- time to set the old reputation aside. What I experience every day, anyway, is a great community that just keeps getting better.

Lower Pleasant Street? Nothing like it used to be -- again, new homeowners have really been putting a lot of work into their houses, and taking pride in ownership. From where I'm sitting, I used to hear gunshots regularly -- at least several times a month. Now? Maybe once or twice a year, in a good year. None at all would be better, but where can you be sure of finding that?

As jencoleslaw said, upper Pleasant has been getting better for years. Great folks up there. (I was part of the digging crew when she brought us trees in...'03?)

I'll be happy to answer any questions that might help to dispel the old impressions of Camp Street. It's a very walkable/bikeable friendly neighborhood, so watch ya mouf'!

(Regarding the "railroad flat" thing -- I don't think we have those here. As I understand the term, a railroad flat is one -- such as used to be pretty normal in lower East Side Manhattan -- where there aren't any hallways at all, and you'd have to walk through one room to get to another. Same principle as the New Orleans "shotgun shack" that was mentioned.)