Ask locals about Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and you could hear anything. Old-timers are most likely to complain, either about that one mayor who went to jail or the PawSox. (The owners of Boston’s AAA baseball team have been threatening to skip town for years.) But you’ll also hear praise. Industrious shoppers will tell you about the latest deals they got amid the stationery aisles at Paperworks, or the two stories of material up for grabs at Lorraine Fabrics.

Foodies will recommend the Pawtucket Wintertime Farmers Market, set up each Saturday morning in Hope Artiste Village—a giant mall full of specialty stores . . . sort of. (It’s also a wedding venue, a bowling alley, and lots of other things.)

“I’m here largely because of the building,” says Kent Stetson, a designer of brightly printed handbags and leather goods. Hope Artiste Village has been his showroom and production facility for nearly four years, and it’s representative of the city’s mill studio culture. “If I’m here working at four in the morning, someone else will also be in the building working. There’s a 24-hour entrepreneurial spirit.”

Once home to a thriving textile industry, Pawtucket’s abandoned mills, like those in many other cities across New England, became prime real estate for artists in need of studios. The mills also attracted brewmasters who needed storage space. The Bucket, once a disparaging nickname for Pawtucket, now has a namesake in Bucket Brewery, a popular craft brewery—one of several in the city.

Another Pawtucket perk: low rents and large immigrant populations make it a great destination for culinary adventures on a budget. Within city limits, you can find everything from Venezuelan arepas to Szechuan dan dan noodles. The city’s Cape Verdean population is the country’s second largest, with one in eight residents claiming ancestry from Cape Verde’s ten tropical islands. Try unique culinary gems like cachupa, a slow-cooked, rustic meat stew that’s available for breakfast at Monte Cara. (It’s served with a side of linguica.) On the other side of town, 10 Rocks serves grilled octopus with plantains, plus empanada-like fried pastels (pronounced POSH-tels) with tuna or native cod.

Spend Friday nights in Pawtucket at the Ratskeller in the German American Cultural Society. Located on a side street in the middle of nowhere, the club’s basement beer hall opens to the public once a week for pretzels, schnitzel, and cucumber salad. The food is cheap, the foosball table free, and the beer freely—well, cheaply—flowing. If you’re there on the right night, you may even catch an elderly gentleman playing the accordion.

Illustration by Peter O. Zierlein

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Vermont’s oldest operating covered bridge crosses the Mad River in historic Waitsfield, a perfectly picturesque New England town of charming nineteenth-century clapboard buildings. But beneath that quaint exterior runs a cutting-edge current that has spawned several artistic ventures, creating a quirky clash of old and new.

A haven for skiers who prefer the unadulterated terrain of Sugarbush Resort and member-owned Mad River Glen, the Mad River Valley—with Waitsfield at its core—nurtures locals and transplants who march to the beat of their own drum. That sometimes means places won’t be open when expected or keep inconsistent off-season hours. The bottom line: before you wander to Waitsfield to see something specific, call ahead.

June Anderson equates Waitsfield’s sensibility with the defiant “ski it if you can” motto of Mad River Glen. “In the Mad River, you have to be willing to reach a little farther and work a little harder, but the reward is a little richer and a little sweeter.”

Anderson and her husband, Wendell, own the Bundy Modern, a boxy minimalist structure fronted by floor-to-ceiling windows—distinctly out of place in the sloping terrain—which serves as a contemporary art gallery and their home. It hosts exhibitions mostly in the summer; in the winter, she says, skiers tend to drive up late on Friday, hit the runs all weekend and go home without doing much else.

The Madsonian Museum of Industrial Design contrasts such modernity with a whimsical assembly of old motorcycles, gumball machines, toys, typewriters, telephones (with dials!), and other commercial creations of a former era. In the center of the Waitsfield Village Historic District, it’s open Friday through Sunday and by appointment.

Less dusty and open all year, the Big Picture Theater and Café merges a vintage movie house and tavern with an innovative, locally inspired menu that’s hardly an afterthought to the cinematic fare. Filmgoers can enjoy dishes such as fried chicken, tofu satay, and homemade desserts—including the famous Very Small Donuts— in the theater while they watch.

Back in the historic village, there’s an unexpected oasis of high fashion. 4orty Bridge Boutique features a well-curated collection of clothing and accessories made mostly by U.S. designers, including jewelry handmade by the shop’s owner. It’s one of those sophisticated surprises that pop up in Waitsfield and make it so incongruously appealing.

Illustration by Dylan Fant

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Exeter, New Hampshire, is only ten miles, yet seemingly worlds away, from Portsmouth—long considered the Seacoast’s creative hub. A picturesque town best known for being home to Phillips Exeter Academy and the state capital during the American Revolution, Exeter is now a destination for artists, musicians, and other creatives priced out of Portsmouth.

“There are people here making a living as artists and musicians, and residents who have never seen or heard their work,” says Scott Ruffner, an Exeter native and local realtor who’s also a musician and an ardent advocate for the town’s artistic culture. The founder of the Arts Industry Alliance and its community initiative TEAM (Town Exeter Arts Music)—nonprofits supporting local independent and emerging artists—Ruffner helps organize the town’s First Friday art and music walks and the Exeter Arts & Music Fest, gathering local talent to perform on Swasey Parkway, a downtown park.

On the west side of town, visitors are discovering Art Up Front Street, an artists’ collective owned by Rose Bryant and her husband, Mal Argondizza. Combining studio and gallery space, it’s the first venture of its kind in the area. “I think creative people in Exeter are starved for someplace to land,” Bryant states.

Not far away, Alan and Joanie Mason are transforming a former turn-of-the-century dance shoe factory into artist studios and industrial workspaces. Painter Bradley Castellanos, who relocated to Exeter from New York City last year, is one of two artists currently renting space.

Established local venues are using art to build community, including Phillips Exeter Academy, whose new center for theater and dance is slated to open in 2018. The school’s Lamont Gallery spotlighted regional artists this summer with the exhibition Neighboring in a temporary space downtown. Audiences are also flocking to live music and spoken-word events at the Word Barn, an intimate performance space inside an antique barn on the outskirts of town.

As the creative community grows, so does downtown Exeter, with its quaint nineteenth-century storefronts and restaurants. Dining options run the gamut, including savory quinoa bowls at Laney & Lu Café; lattes at D2 Java; burgers and pizza at Station 19; and local seafood at Otis, located in a former jewelry store.

To Ruffner, the changes confirm his sense that the town is on the edge of something big. “Exeter is on the cusp of something. We’re ready to shake things up a bit.”

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Top illustration by Rachel Sumpter

The post Take Place: Enter Exeter appeared first on Take Magazine.

This article originally appeared in our October 2015 print issue.

Craft is an ingrained value here, visible in everything from the historical society’s collection of eighteenth-century American furniture (well worth a look) to the Sharon Arts Center, which features dozens of local artists working across media and styles. Since 1907, leading artists have been coming to the exclusive, secluded MacDowell Colony on the outskirts of town. More recently, Michael Chabon and Jeffrey Eugenides wrote parts of their Pulitzer Prize-winning novels there.

Peterborough is an essential destination for literature and music, with plenty of readings and concerts throughout the year.The Toadstool Bookshop provides the kind of immersive browsing experience of books and records that online shopping will never rival. Start a conversation with manager Eric Gagne, who runs the music department; organizes the Thing in the Spring music festival; and tours with his own band, Footings. Gagne has encyclopedic knowledge and says he is “sincerely interested in knowing customers’ tastes and connecting them to artists that they may not know about, but will absolutely love.”

For live music, Harlow’s Pub is a local mainstay with universal appeal. The patio is ideal for seasonal beers during the day, while night brings a steady stream of musicians for weekly bluegrass jams and open mikes. Harlow’s is easily one of the best stages between Boston and Burlington, Vermont, and hosts an impressive array of regional and national acts on weekends, including a recent appearance by members of the band Morphine and an ever-growing roster of innovative groups drawing from genres like psych pop, indie rock, Americana and folk, jam, funk, jazz, and even world music.

Like the town itself, Peterborough’s secondhand shops fit precisely between the everyday and the pretentious. The Melamine Cup (six miles toward Jaffrey on Route 202) specializes in midcentury modern furniture and home goods, with a particularly good selection of barware—perfect for dressing up vintage cocktails in period vessels.

In town, the group shop Bowerbird & Friends cultivates a modern farmhouse aesthetic with industrial touches. Several pieces of folk art, especially the “tramp art” made by itinerant travelers, collapse the distinction between high art and handmade function. “A younger generation is returning to New England heritage but bringing fresh eyes,” says store owner Katherine Forrest. “When they come in, they respond with inspiration and surprise—there is a sense of discovery, but also recognition and familiarity.

Illustration by Chris Piascik

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Beauty and inspiration are often found in the most unsuspecting places. Though if that unsuspecting location is within the birth town of such artists as Jack Kerouac and Bette Davis, is it really all that surprising? Lowell is, as developer Jim Lichoulas would put it, the city of “untapped potential,” and Mill No. 5 is the culmination of everything it has been and everything it has the potential to be.

At its heart, Mill No. 5 is whatever you want it to be. Within this 1870s-era brick edifice, through the rusted steel gates, and up a clunky elevator to the fourth floor, you’ll find the Farm Market, stocked with Q’s Chocolate Lavender Nuts; a nostalgic box of David Bowie records at Vinyl Destination; an afternoon showing of Singin’ in the Rain at Luna Theater; a dangerously delicious bacon and apple grilled cheese from Coffee and Cotton; or vintage-keyboard lessons at the Tone Loft.

Courtesy Mill No. 5

Beneath the complex of diverse vendors, Mill No. 5 is really a solution to the problem Lowell has had for the last decade, and every proprietor within the building is playing a key part in contributing to a solution.

“Enough of the pieces are here for Lowell to become very desirable, but we are still lacking a unifying force to align interests,” says Lichoulas, the creative mind behind Mill No. 5. “I’m a big believer that a rising tide lifts all boats. There are things that I can do that cost Mill No. 5 very little but can help other organizations greatly, and vice versa. It is that lack of mindfulness of finding ways to help each other that holds us back.”

Jennifer Howell, one of the first proprietors to partner with Lichoulas and Mill No. 5, is implementing that mindfulness in her yoga fusion classes at Sutra Studio. With Howell’s Karma Card program, patrons who can afford to have the opportunity to buy drop-in classes for those who have fallen on hard times, effectively paying it forward.

And that’s what Mill No. 5 is all about. Here you will quickly realize that behind this place, with all of its potential, is a group of passionate people with the desire to prove that, as Lichoulas says, “It does not take big companies and tax incentives to make a place desirable. It takes vision and grass-rooted cooperation to change a city.”

Keep up with what’s happening at Mill No. 5 with twitter, facebook, and instagram.

This article originally ran in our June/July 2016 print edition.

Top photo by Tory Germann

The post Take Place: Long Live Mill City appeared first on Take Magazine.

You lean back in anticipation as the legendary overture for the 1955 movie musical Oklahoma! comes to a crashing end. Up goes the romantic golden Austrian Sheer Curtain to reveal, in enormous red and white, the film’s title card. You never saw the blank screen because, according to the theater’s co-manager and founder Jim Hanley, “that would destroy the illusion of the journey you’re about to take.”

This is only part of the immersive experience of seeing a film at Cinestudio, a four-decades-old theater located on Summit Street at College Terrace in Hartford CT. The large theater with its sedate charm, carpeted walls, cozy seats and massive screen transports moviegoers back to when the function of a movie theater was to foster a sense of occasion and reverence for the medium. Contrasted now by the sad, sordid, faux-butter experience of the mega-mall multi-plex. Fortunately, we have Cinestudio – the independent theater the Cinemarks and Raves of the world strive to emulate but do not have the time, know-how, monetary incentive or heart to mimic in any meaningful way.

From the outside, the building housing Cinestudio blends into the Trinity College campus. The lobby is equally unassuming, featuring a small student-run box office and a student-events-flyer-speckled corkboard. If you continue into the lobby of the theater, or take a detour to the balcony, you’ll realize why people have been going to this place since 1970.

Photo courtesy Trinity College website

The sizable space, once a seldom-used lab for chemistry students, is a McKim, Mead and White neoclassical auditorium built in 1935, with a proscenium arch and a classically curved balcony. The design is wholly transportive and beautiful, yet offered some acoustic challenges for James Hanley and Peter Morris during the theater’s inception, as James pointed out, “The auditorium is fan-shaped, wider at the back, and the problem with that particular layout is that it makes the acoustics terrible, because the time constant of the sound increases as you move towards the back of the theater….eventually we reduced the sound reverberations to a perfect level.”

James and Peter founded the theater in 1970 and continue to co-manage its day-to-day operations. For James and Peter, everything from the programming of events, to repairing and maintaining the 100% gather curtain is a practice in community engagement and preservation. For example, when the theater made the inevitable switch from film projection to digital, they made the decision to keep their hulking 70mm and 35mm projectors because, “We felt that our function is to be an archive theater and a resource in the community, so we should keep them.”

Photo courtesy James Hanley

Apart from showing classic films like Rififi, Oklahoma!, and Wings of Desire, Cinestudio also shows second run indie films and the occasional blockbuster. According to James, this diversity in screening is essential for the survival of an independent cinema since these types of screenings bring a different set of films to a mostly suburban audience who aren’t quite cinephiles, “Because of all the alternate forms of media, you can’t get people to come twice a week to the movies anymore. We act as a seeding ground for people to possibly get exposed to something unusual. We bring in a general audience when we show something more mainstream like a 2^nd run film, then we get to show a trailer for something lesser known.”

In addition to these screenings, Cinestudio has hosted several annual film festivals over the last two-and-a-half decades. Each festival is different, featuring films by middle schoolers and high schoolers, college students, international filmmakers and film festivals that focus on a specific theme. For example, Out Film CT sponsors an LGBTQA* festival, founded at Cinestudio in 1988, that screens a mix of old and new films by well-established directors and first-timers, “…many of those filmmakers have not had exposure in the market yet and they often come to present the film personally…it’s a real connection between the public and the filmmakers.”

Even with its many successes and long-standing status as a prestigious location so see a film, Cinestudio managers and staff acknowledge that they owe the theater’s continued success to their patrons and the broader region. In fact, when the theater made the essential leap from film projection to digital, it was the network of organizers and donors that helped them secure and purchase their own projection equipment, which, as detailed by James is an essential and exceedingly difficult step for any independent cinema, “The commercial theaters were very quick to pick up digital and had a deal with film studios where, essentially, the studios were paying for the projectors. Small operations like Cinestudio didn’t have that clout, even though we actually didn’t want somebody else to pay for our projection equipment anyway because, obviously, if somebody else pays for your machinery, they control it. Since we wanted to remain independent, we went out to friends of Cinestudio, our patrons, and foundations and raised $200,000 to put the equipment in. What we put in we own, and it’s the highest quality you can get – far higher quality than most theaters….had we not been supported by our patrons and these foundations, we would have gone out of business.”

Cinestudio endures for many reasons. Partly because it’s a beautiful, well-kept, community oriented place that authentically serves all types of moviegoers. But mostly, Cinestudio remains because it’s one of those rare places dedicated to facilitating an ecstatic artistic experience, one that is unmarred by pretension or the pursuit of profit. Go to this place, sit amid the scenery, and feel what it’s like to really go to the movies.

Cinestudio is a movie theater on Summit Street at College Terrace in Hartford, Connecticut. Be sure to check their current schedule for special screenings, events, and festival dates. 

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