In the permalink of Topless Robot awesome list of 6 Boring New England Destinations Made Awesome by H.P. Lovecraft waits:

Providence, RI
Where do we even begin? Lovecraft was born in Providence, spent his entire life there (minus a two-year stint in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, NY), and painfully died there in 1937. Several of his best-known stories, including "The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Curious Case of Charles Dexter Ward," spotlight Providence locales. It's impossible to accurately surmise how much of an impact Providence had on Lovecraft, but his headstone in the city's Swan Point Cemetery sums up the author's own influence on the city rather modestly: "I AM PROVIDENCE"

But unless you're an art student at Providence's prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, the city may be a bore for you. Criminals seem to like the city, reflected in it high rate of violent crime. Their roads are a mess, the cost of living is way higher than in most parts of the U.S., and for a city with an impressive downtown skyline, there is next to zero nightlife. For nerdy outsiders, we'd rather read about Lovecraft's Providence than actually travel there.

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