Getting the flavor of...Rhode Island nightlife

Rhode Island nightlife

There’s a “fiercely independent spirit” about nightlife in Providence that would surely please Roger Williams, its “freethinking founder,” said Paul Kandarian in The Boston Globe. “A great place to get a jump on the night” is the Providence Athenaeum. This nonstuffy old library serves sherry and appetizers during its free Friday night salons, which feature author readings, dance, and more. Providence is “famous for food,” and the varied choices include Cook & Brown Public House, modeled after European gastro-pubs; the “Latino flair” of Cuban Revolution; and Haven Brothers’ tiny rolling diner. For “classic and contemporary ballet in intimate doses,” check out the Up Close on Hope series at Black Box Theater, and stop by Perishable Theatre for “quite possibly the state’s only late-night puppet show.” The restaurant Local 121 is a good spot to wrap up a night. Its basement speakeasy has a real Prohibition air.

Swimming with sea cows

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Manatees may be homely, but I became smitten the instant I began swimming with them, said Marshall Berdan in The Philadelphia Inquirer. My up close encounter came courtesy of the Crystal Lodge Dive Center at Crystal River Preserve State Park in Citrus County, Fla. Any trepidation I had was “quickly dispelled” as our group swam over to the docile mammals, which can weigh 1,300 pounds each and are “perhaps most accurately described as a cross between a seal and a cow.” Floating in a spring-warmed “natural Jacuzzi” in Kings Bay, it’s “just man and manatee, intermingling freely” for 90 minutes. The manatees are harmless, and they seem “completely unfazed by our presence” even when we reach out and stroke them. As we’re leaving, I have “my single best encounter” when I “nearly collide with a particularly full-figured female who promptly rolls over, inviting me to scratch her belly. For several minutes, I gladly oblige.”