Some coffee shops are just coffee shops. Rise 'N Shine Coffee Bar, tucked into Providence's Smith Hill neighborhood, is something closer to a restoration project you can order a latte in.
Owner Neal Kaplan came to Providence decades ago for graduate work at RISD, ended up renting a studio in a Smith Hill carriage house, and never really left — eventually buying that same building and spending years learning what it used to be. He talks with Alana and Nick about tracing the building's history through old phone books, discovering it was once a shoe repair shop, and building a replica of Providence's original train station shoeshine stand as a nod to that history (and to his own great-grandfather, who was a cobbler).
The conversation covers the building's deeper past too, from its 1858 origins as a horse-and-buggy stable to its stretch as a WWII-era manufacturing site, and how Neal and his staff develop the cafe's menu together. It's a good listen for anyone curious about what's hiding behind an old Providence storefront, and a reason to check out a corner of the city that doesn't always get the attention it deserves.
Listen to the full episode below.
