The wonders of growing up in Pawtucket

Growing up in Pawtucket near Blackstone Boulevard and Hope Street was wonderful. 

We would ride our bicycles down “the boulevard,” turn onto Elmgrove Avenue and continue to Wayland Square. We would go into Newport Creamery for ice cream or a snack. We could ride our bikes around the Butler Hospital campus and no one cared. The hospital was not open during this time of my life.  I do not wish to forget the two cemeteries, one at the end of Alfred Stone Road, and Swan Point.  These were great places to ride and no one ever bothered a group of laughing and happy pre-teens.

Entertainment was plentiful. There was the Hope Street Theater, Sullivan’s Bowling Alley, Howard Johnson’s restaurant, the Providence Arena on North Main Street for ice skating and let us not forget Sears, Roebuck.

Young women could entertain themselves for quite a while riding up and down the escalator.

At the Hope Street end of the boulevard was a gift shop called Plum Nelly’s. The woman who owned this shop was patient and gentle. She was eager to help whether you had $10 or $3 to spend. She made a young shopper feel that she was the most important customer to ever enter her store.

My mom had an art show for her students in our backyard each summer. One year when I was in my 30s, I was walking around viewing the paintings and talking to people, when I bumped into a woman. I looked at her face and said, “Plum Nelly.”  We both laughed. At least 20 years had passed, she still had that warm and beautiful face. I never knew her real name.

I have shared with you the things my friends and I did as young teens. I would enjoy hearing how you and your friends entertained yourself wherever you grew up. Don’t forget making calls to strangers asking them “if they had Prince Albert in a can.” Contact me at mayronnyzeidman3@gmail.com.

MAY-RONNY ZEIDMAN is the executive director of the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center.