John Rector

John Rector is perhaps most well-known as the owner of Leo's, a popular fringe bar and restaurant that ran in downtown Providence from 1974-1994. Leo's was opened to fulfill a need, mostly in the student community, because local bars were not student-friendly. Leo's soon became a hub of social activity. Rector illuminates some of the details of the counter-culture at the time: who the participants were, where they lived, where they hung out, and why many never left Providence, even after graduating from Brown or RISD. The bar and restaurant ran for twenty years and saw not only internal changes, but also external changes of the city around it.

Leo's serviced a diverse community, all closely entwined with the city of Providence. The bar/restaurant closed in 1994 for several reasons, the most prominent being that there had been little change in the clientele over twenty years. This is, perhaps, yet another example of the insular communities Rhode Island seems to foster.