A commercial street entered under an arch with a bronze pine cone, lined with brick blocks and Italian restaurants.
What Federal Hill looks like
A gateway arch spans Atwells Avenue at the entrance from downtown. A bronze pine cone sculpture, called La Pigna, hangs at its center. Local shorthand calls it a pineapple. Low brick blocks line the avenue beyond it, two and three storeys with restaurants and delis behind striped awnings at street level.
opens off the avenue a few blocks in, a fountain at its center surrounded by outdoor tables. Most of the cross streets between Atwells Avenue and Broadway are one way because they are so narrow, and a few still carry their original cobblestone under a skim of asphalt.
, on Bradford Street, is a two storey clapboard restaurant with a black awning over its entrance and potted plants along the sidewalk. A block over on Atwells Avenue, a tan brick commercial building has arched upper windows and corner pilasters, built for the Heritage Loan and Investment company.
The on Washington Street houses the city's police and fire departments and its municipal courts, with fire station garage bays opening onto the sidewalk. On Broadway, the white tiled rises over a clock tower marquee, built around 1900 as the Uptown Theatre.
Toward the western edge, a red brick church on dates from 1910. It has a tall spire and large stained glass windows, standing beside a two storey pink clapboard house. The Dexter Training Ground, a public green space, sits across the street from it.
Shot in Federal Hill
Judge Frank Caprio presided over traffic cases inside the Public Safety Complex for the syndicated series Caught in Providence. Michael Corrente shot his own spec pilot at the Columbus Theatre on Broadway.
Caught in Providence
The Public Safety Complex courtroom
Judge Frank Caprio presided over traffic and municipal cases in this courtroom for the syndicated series Caught in Providence. The courtroom sits inside the Public Safety Complex's Washington Street building, alongside the city's police and fire departments. Street View
Federal Hill: The Beginning
The Columbus Theatre
Director Michael Corrente shot his spec pilot at the Columbus Theatre on Broadway. The pilot, about former U.S. Marshal John Partington, had not been picked up by a network. Street View
What Federal Hill can double for
The North End in Boston, Massachusetts
Hanover Street runs through the same kind of low brick blocks, with Italian restaurants filling the ground floors and outdoor tables on the sidewalk. The North End's streets run narrower and its buildings taller, three and four storeys instead of two and three, with no equivalent gateway arch to establish the entrance in a wide shot. Try searching brick blocks Italian restaurants now.
Taylor Street in Chicago, Illinois
Taylor Street has the same low brick storefronts and Italian restaurants at street level, with Pompei on the corner of Taylor and Ashland, a landmark restaurant there since 1909. Chicago's brick runs redder, and newer glass infill from the nearby university breaks up some blocks in wider shots. Try searching brick storefronts Italian restaurants now.
Little Italy in Cleveland, Ohio
Mayfield Road runs through a smaller hillside version of the same idea, brick storefronts with apartments above and wrought iron balconies over the sidewalk. The hill grade and a wooded cemetery treeline behind the block are both visible in wider shots, distinctly Cleveland rather than Providence. Try searching brick storefronts wrought iron balconies now.
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