New mural in Providence honors lost Chinatown and historic drag queen – The Boston Globe

“This project felt like it was specifically invented for me,” said Lauren YS, the Los Angeles-based artist who painted the mural. “We’re on the street corner that used to house the Chinese Merchants Association, was Chinatown, and is now a queer neighborhood. That cross-section of identity is what I practice within.”

YS said they have worked on plenty of projects in Chinatowns across the United States, as well as painted murals in LGBTQ+ neighborhoods. “But never has it actually intersected,” they said.

The 85-foot-wide mural is located at 40 Snow St., a building owned by Paolino Properties, and faces the Dark Lady, a storied gay nightclub that regularly hosts drag and dance parties. The Avenue Concept, a nonprofit arts organization responsible for many of Providence’s murals, worked with the city and Paolino Properties to hire YS for the commissioned piece.

Unlike many muralists, YS did not project an image of a rough sketch of the mural onto the building at night. They drew the mural out by hand.

In addition to Renault, the mural features other elements that honor Providence’s LGBTQ+, Chinese American, and Southeast Asian communities — which often intertwined in local lore.

Born Antonio Auriemma, Renault performed in 42 countries and across the US, including frequently at Carnegie Hall in New York. His costume collection was valued at $50,000, according to the Providence Public Library’s archives ― worth about $1.1 million today. A writer at the Dallas Morning News noted it included a replica of Marie Antoinette’s wedding gown and a kimono “covered with roses of gold hand embroidery.”

The mural also includes a figure holding a pair of scissors and a piece of thread, which is meant to honor Perry Watkins, who in 1939 became the first Black costume designer from Providence on Broadway. He attended Hope High School, where he and a friend illustrated a newspaper called The Foolscape, and he was awarded a scholarship to study art at the Rhode Island School of Design. This figure in the mural is also holding a fan adorned with the name “Port Arthur,” a Chinese-American restaurant and dancehall known as a haven for the city’s Asian and LGBTQ+ communities.

The Tow family opened Port Arthur on Weybosset Street in 1921. The restaurant’s third floor was an elaborate banquet hall, and musician Bobby Hackett, who later played with Frank Sinatra, honed his craft playing in a six-piece band at the restaurant while he was a teenager. During World War II, Port Arthur became popular with sailors and soldiers, and Shore Patrol considered it such a problematic spot that it was nicknamed “blood alley,” according to the book “Lost Restaurants of Providence.” Port Arthur closed in 1965.

The two middle figures in the mural blend ancient Chinese opera with modern drag, said YS.

“For centuries in China, only cis men were allowed to perform,” said YS. “All the crazy femme types were played by cis men. So my ancestors have been doing drag for forever.”

One of the opera performers is wearing a name tag that says “Luke’s,” referring to Luke’s Chinese American Restaurant, which was located directly behind Providence City Hall from 1951 to 1990. This same figure is also holding two playing cards — the king of hearts and the queen of spades, which YS said represents “Kings & Queens,” a gay bar in Woonsocket open from 1977 to 2002.

A dangling, gold charm bracelet and purple earning with a cursive letter “B” honor the late Beatrice Temkin. Temkin, who was often called “Bea,” was a pioneering local LGBTQ+ ally, and The Beatrice, a nearby hotel owned by her son, former mayor Joseph R. Paolino Jr., is named after her.

The red curtains painted on either side of the mural represent the local theaters downtown, YS said, and the arches reference the now-closed Chinese restaurants and dancehalls that were central to the theater experience from the 1950s to the 1980s.

“Public art is fundamental to Providence, and this mural will not only beautify downtown, but also tell a powerful story of our community’s rich history and vibrant diversity,” said Mayor Brett Smiley.

The city paid $65,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to commission the mural, which will be part this year’s PVDFest festivities, according to Joe R. Wilson Jr., Providence’s director of Art, Culture, and Tourism. PVDFest, the city’s signature arts and culture festival, will take place Sept. 6 and 7.

In the mural, Renault holds lavender blossoms — (which have become a symbol of empowerment for the LGBTQ+ community) — and YS pointed to the rainbow Pride flags nearby. There are obvious signs of the queer community around downtown today, they said, but hardly anything references what used to be a thriving Chinatown built by working-class families.

“It makes me really sad that there is no Chinatown here,” said YS. “We feel sort of displaced if there’s no hub.”

“This piece nods to the immigrant history that built these neighborhood blocks,” added YS. “Maybe, someday, Providence will rebuild it.”

Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.