Providence | The Creative Capital

Spring in Elmwood is a season you hear coming before you see it. Like a Lincoln cranking salsa music down Elmwood Ave., warm weather rolls into my neighborhood with a multi-layered harmony of street-bike engines, ice cream truck jingles, and greetings hollered from stoop to street, all played over the steady beat of dribbled basketballs.

This is not to say it’s a loud neighborhood — just chatty. The sidewalks host an ongoing conversation in a variety of languages, while in the trees a flickering cadre of mockingbirds pepper the morning with bird songs.

This colorful conversation is echoed in the contrasting visuals and vernaculars of Elmwood Ave. and Broad St., the two busy, commercial roads that bound the neighborhood. Strong Latin American and African influences manifest in colorful, hand-painted signs, and in the proliferation of businesses with “Tropical” in their names. There is also a large Asian and Southeast Asian population and an equally large variety of shops, from the density of the hyper-stocked shelves at the New Battambang Market (366 Elmwood Ave) to the sleek, modern style of Yuen Yuen Tea, Herb and Dried Seafood Company (150 Elmwood Ave).

I’ve lived in many different Providence neighborhoods, and cemented my attachment to the city by buying a house in Elmwood last year. Having thus settled, I found myself enthusiastically evangelizing about the neighborhood to friends who I hoped would move in as well. Beyond all other benefits, I sang the praises of the area’s diversity: of people, shops, and especially foods.

Surely the reward for living in a city is obtaining a giant, spicy and tofu-laden Vietnamese sandwich mere blocks from the market where I buy dried frijoles. It is to be sung an impromptu Latin ballad at the Caribbean Liquor store where I find wine to match takeout picked up from Apsara (716 Public Street), Elmwood’s most lauded Asian restaurant.

Indeed, a pilgrimage to Apsara for nime chow, tom yum soup, or Singapore noodles is often a newbie’s introduction to Elmwood. Apsara’s multi-page, multi-regional menu and eclectic décor within a restaurant on a strangely angled, verdant lot fits with the neighborhood’s penchant for over-stimulation, and the restaurant’s Cambodian dishes are consistently delightful.

Another food stop, the Liberty Elm Diner (777 Elmwood Ave), is drawing folks way down Elmwood Ave., especially on Sunday mornings when its stellar brunch is accompanied by live folk music. The old-school diner, often bordered by a veritable heap of patrons’ bicycles, is filled with oddball art and artifacts (they sell hand-tooled leather belts, for instance) which, combined with their great tofu scramble and fresh carrot-beet juice, makes this one of the hippest destinations in Providence. Don’t miss the decadent grilled peanut butter and fluff sandwich, either.

Whether your mission is wonton-driven, pancake-related, or of an entirely different flavor, Elmwood is easy to find and explore. The northern end of Elmwood, which boasts the best Asian markets, is only a five-minute bike ride over the Point Street bridge from the East Side’s Wickenden Street. Elmwood is also a three-minute walk down the Sprague Street shortcut from the Armory neighborhood with its landmark castle and dog-friendly park, and is bordered on its south side by Roger Williams Park, the 427-acre oasis of green, recreation, and culture (there’s a horticultural center there and a natural history museum, not to mention a sweet carousel) that would rightly be Providence’s Central Park were it only more central.

For all of the bustle and bravado of Broad Street and Elmwood Ave., with their improbably customized cars, bright sneaker stores, and night-time food trucks, Elmwood is characterized at least as much by its calm, architecturally significant residential blocks. Parallel streets like Adelaide, Parkis, and Princeton boast historic homes with remarkable Victorian detail, enviably restored porches, and small but well-tended gardens. The streets of Elmwood also offer copious trees of considerable age and girth that add to its peaceful atmosphere.

Indeed, on a mild, rainy Sunday morning in spring, if the birds are in good form, if there is a breeze through the backyard blackberry bushes, and if the big Cadillacs and little Yamahas on Broad Street are in good repair as they pass through the puddles, the hum of the neighborhood outside my window sounds remarkably like the whoosh of the Atlantic, and I’m always happy to spend an extra hour in bed, soothed by the ebb and flow of the Elmwood tide.