Characterized by its unique shops and restaurants, charming architecture and friendly attitude, Wickenden Street is a long-standing point of pride in Providence.
A stroll down the mile-long Fox Point strip is full of murals, colorful banners and mosaic benches. Although the neighborhood is teeming with artwork, one exhibit quite literally towers above the rest: the collection of stuffed animals nailed to a telephone pole between Brook and Traverse streets.
The faded bears, monkeys and other stuffed mammals have clearly lived there for a while, but exactly how long, or how they ended up there, is less obvious.
“It’s from a long time ago, probably when I started working here,” said Polly Poulten, a sales associate at Blick Art Materials – located on the same block as the telephone pole – who’s worked at the store for 22 years.
Poulten, an artist herself, appreciates all the creative feats displayed around the neighborhood and has seen it evolve over the years.
“There actually used to be a bridge right before the Point Street Bridge, an overpass, and under it was painted murals and things, which was really cool, too. There’s a lot of art around here,” she said.
Down the block, at Nostalgia Antiques, owner James Fennessy has never paid much attention to the stuffed animals, but he doesn’t see any harm in guerrilla art displays.
“As long as it’s not hurting anybody and destroying somebody’s business, that’s fine,” he said.
Fennessy hopes that Wickenden Street will continue to be an affordable place for independent businesses, rather than chains to operate.
“The neighborhood’s character is fantastic. Every once in a while, they want to tear down one of these beautiful buildings and put up some monstrosity. It hurts the neighborhood and the vibe – that’s what draws all the students to Brown and RISD,” he said. “That’s why none of the students want to be on Thayer Street anymore. They’ve ruined that area.”
The telephone pole is routinely also plastered with flyers for concerts, gallery openings and other local events. At the top hangs an old vinyl record, advertising What Cheer? – a record shop that used to have a location on Wickenden Street.
“While we’re familiar with those stuffed animals, we don’t know their story, besides knowing that they’ve been there for some time now,” said Chris Daltry, one of the founders of What Cheer? “The record of ours that you saw was from when we still had a retail shop on the East Side, which we closed about eight years ago, after a 20-year run, so the animals are older than that, for sure. It’s just a coincidence that our old record sign is on a telephone pole along with one of them.”
Poulten has met many professional artists through her job, and is always interested to see what they craft out of their supplies.
“A lot of times I help them with what they buy and I love to see how they use their materials,” she said.
