Our Cumberland office recently underwent a service upgrade for internet. In the process of this effort, we’ve discovered that the house (that is our office) was formerly the home of Ray Mullin, owner of Ray Mullin Music. His popular store was founded in 1929 and originally headquartered in Pawtucket next to the LeRoy Theater. In fact, there was a tunnel between the theater and the music store, so when big acts performed, they could sneak out through this passage. Sandy Soares got her first guitar (a Les Paul) from Ray Mullins and Debby Smith used to babysit his grandchildren. Today, both the Pawtucket store and the LeRoy Theater are gone; the Company has relocated to Swansea.

This got us thinking. Time works differently in Rhode Island. Instead of living by that clock thing hanging on the wall, nostalgia seems to be the dominant rhythm of life here. While new construction may change the terrain, the Rhode Island conscious is embedded in the past. Just ask a true Rhode Islander for directions. Instead of street names, they will most likely be given by landmark. And usually this landmark will be outdated, like where the old I-195 used to be. With this trait in mind, we’ve created a list of some famous Rhode Island Used-To-Be’s that are important to our culture.

If you live in the Ocean State and are over the age of 20, there’s a really good chance you have some childhood memory of Rocky Point Amusement Park. This Warwick Park, established in 1847, grew quickly in popularity, and from the 1850’s through the 1980’s it was the most popular attraction in New England. Tom Flanagan remembers spending Saturdays there, full of laughter and cotton candy. The park closed in 1995 and was demolished in 2007. The town of Warwick is currently looking to make the land into a public park.

Much like Rocky Point, Crescent Park in East Providence (named for the crescent shape of the Riverside beach) was renowned in its time. Founded in 1886 by George Boyden, the venue was known as the “Coney Island of the East”, with hot air balloons and extravagant carousels providing the Park’s main attractions. Tom Flanagan also remembers the delicious candy apples he enjoyed here (there is a theme here with Tom about amusement venues). The park closed in 1979, and the surrounding area was developed. The only remnant of these sweet roots is the Crescent Park Carousel, which remains open to this day.

Today, The Towers set the backdrop to the Narragansett social scene, but they once provided entrance to the Narragansett Pier Casino, another source of turn-of-the-century entertainment. The Casino was completed in 1886 and provided a refuge for the areas social elite, offering a variety of recreational opportunities, such as boating, tennis, billiards, bowling, cards, and shooting. The venue also had restaurants, stores, reading rooms, a theater, a bandstand, a ballroom, and a beautiful beach. While Residential Properties Ltd. has been around for a long time (this year is our 30th anniversery!), none of us were there to enjoy the pleasures of The Casino, since the building burned down in 1900. However, locals like Anita Langer cherish The Towers for uniting a community with their granite walls.

Our final used to be is much less romantic, but is a part of Rhode Island history none-the-less. In the 1980s, Providence was included in the Guinness Book of World Record for holding the distinction of World’s Widest Bridge. Known as the Crawford Street Bridge at 1,147 feet, the structure grew when several normal sized bridges were covered with decking and turned into a parking lot. Oh yeah, this monstrosity was located across the Providence River. Ed Hardy remembers thinking this bridge was gross in his youth. This monstrosity has since been dismantled; the river has been moved; Waterfire caldrons line the center of where the bridge was; and the whole transformation turned the area into an asthetically pleasing area. While this demolition was integral in developing our Capital Center, we just couldn’t let you erase this Used-To-Be from your memory. So, remember, you can get to the downtown area from the East Side by crossing over the river where the world’s widest bridge was.

Admittedly, we’ve left out numerous landmarks that could be used for directions, so you can expect another Used-To-Be compilation in the near future.

Cox Providence Rhode Races are taking place this Sunday, May 2, with the starting line forming at at Kennedy Plaza. The Cox Sports Marathon and the Shape Up RI Half-Marathon start at 8am and the Harpoon 5k starts at 11:15am. Online and Mail-In Registration sites are now closed, but on-site registration is available at varying times at the Westin Providence Hotel and at the Cox Providence Rhode Races Health and Wellness Expo, going on today and tomorrow. This weekend will be a great opportunity to get out in the city and support family and friends running in the races with weather predicted to be in the mid-70s. That is great for the spectators, but maybe not for the runners.

The full marathon route will follow a path down through Riverside and past the Rhode Island Country Club in Barrington, before returning to Providence. The Shape Up RI Half-Marathon will wind its way through Providence’s East Side and up Blackstone Boulevard into the Oak Hill section of Pawtucket and back to the plaza. The Harpoon 5K participants will run around the “Knowledge” District and back into downtown.

Course maps are available for the Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 5k online and they are marked with “Spectator Viewing Areas” for the best spots to watch the races. For runners, there are “Water Stations” and “Aid Stations” marked on the maps as well. A celebration will be held at the conclusion of the races with awards given for first place winners in a number of categories based on age and gender.

Several of the runners in our offices will be in the races – Libby Isaacson (2601), Leslie Kellogg (2681), and Joe Luca (2872) will be participating in the Shape Up RI Half-Marathon; and Bethany Calitri (5134) is signed up for the Harpoon 5K. So, find a convenient location and cheer the runners as they pass by you.

Sometimes we get to branch out of the local area and see what is happening in the other towns and cities in the state. Pawtucket sounded like a pretty good place to visit and see what is going on. I read recently that Slater Mill was getting a retrofit to the turbine to start producing off grid electricity and heat for the building.

We missed the Press Conference on that, and though it seems that things are getting ready to open up, spring is still just around the corner and we’ll have to wait unitl then for some of the real excitement. As you will see in this video, Slater Park and McCoy Stadium are still there, but waiting for the people and players to arrive.

Have you ever had a “chance meeting” where you learn about an interesting organization? That happened to me last Saturday night. After visiting Waterfire in Providence, my wife and I stopped into one of our favorite restaurants on North Main Street – we hadn’t been there in months. We waved hello to a waiter, whom we have gotten to know over the years.

He stopped by to visit, and in the course of finding out what was new, he mentioned an organization with which he is actively involved, ProVisions United. This group is a “public charity committed to offering universal food care, hope and dignity to all people through collaborative local & world community strategies to create, support and sustain self-reliance.  [Their] mission is to empower local and global nutritional self reliance programs through collaborative fund raising initiatives to nourish and sustain people and improve quality of life.”

But that is only part of it. This coming Friday, the 6th of November, the group is hosting an event at the Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket called “Wonderland – A night of food, fun, and fantasy.” The event is supported by twelve top Restaurants and Caterers from the area. The night does have an admission price of $50 per person, with the proceeds going to local and global food pantries.

As Thanksgiving approaches this month, here’s a good chance to help those in need.