Entry No. 25 — the Providence file — filed under: speakeasy
Juniper Bar
Brian Oakley (of Julian's and Pizza J) and Morgan Snyder (a Buttonwoods Brewery co-founder) run this 22-seat room behind a call box in the lobby of the Rooms & Works mill, in the space that used to be Far West. The password changes weekly — posted Thursday mornings, usually in a video on Instagram — and reciting it into the intercom is the entire door policy; wrong guesses get corrected at the door with good humor. Inside it's emerald-green light, Star Wars tiki mugs, and Fantastic Planet looping on the projector while bar manager Justin Brody pours a tiki-adjacent list, including a gin-Bonal-génépy number called Forest Moon of Endor finished with rosemary and a nip of Underberg.
→ Three at a time, never the same twice — explore weird Providence
The story
55 Cromwell Street is Rooms & Works, a solar-powered mill conversion in the West End that stacks forty live-work residences over a ground floor of food tenants: Knead Doughnuts, Providence Bagel, Long Live Beerworks, PVD Kitchen Collaborative. The landlord's own amenity list, filed between the bocce court and the community dining room, includes "a speak easy." That is Juniper, occupying the room that was Far West and, before that, High Dive.
It is run by Brian Oakley, who put in three decades at Julian's and ten years at Pizza J, and Morgan Clark Snyder Jr., who co-founded Buttonwoods Brewery with his father in 2017. The original plan was a hole-in-the-wall amaro bar. Snyder told Rhode Island Monthly the shape of it changed the day he worked out that "I have keys to this weird room. Let's do it." The Instagram bio settles the genre argument: "RI's first revival speakeasy."
Inside are twenty-two seats, an emerald glow tracing the chair rail, Star Wars tiki mugs ranked along the back bar, and a projector throwing Fantastic Planet and Mortal Kombat sax loops at the room. Head bartender Justin Brody, a cook by training, pours tiki-adjacent: the Forest Moon of Endor is gin, Bonal, genepy, coconut, lime and orgeat, finished with rosemary and an inverted Underberg; TikTok Almost Famous is Fernet Branca, elderflower, mezcal and lemon, and arrives with a Polaroid camera. Oakley films the bar's Reels alone on prep shifts, which Snyder describes as "Brian's brain on camera" - and that same feed is where the week's password comes from.
What it's like
There is no sign, no host stand and no reservation book. You find the call box in the Rooms & Works lobby, press the button, say the word you memorized off Thursday morning's Instagram video, and the door releases. Get it slightly wrong and you get coached through it rather than turned away - the Edible Rhody writer got in with "It's me! I'm Captain Cowboy!" Twenty-two seats, three nights a week, six to eleven, means the room is either half empty at 6:05 or entirely spoken for by 7:30; there is no waitlist to join, only a lap around the block. The register is drinks, not dinner, so eat first. It is a small loud room where the bartender is also the film projectionist and the social media department, and tipping accordingly is the whole etiquette.
The move: Thursday: watch @juniperbar_ri's morning reel with the sound on, memorize the password, and buzz the Cromwell Street call box right at 6 to claim two of the 22 seats — with a fallback pint at Long Live Beerworks around the corner if the room is full.
📍 Before you go Open Thursday through Saturday, 6-11 p.m. only. The password is posted every Thursday morning on Instagram (@juniperbar_ri) and Facebook — often inside a video — and you say it into the call box at the Rooms & Works building; there's no sign. Only 22 seats, so arrive early. Near Long Live Beerworks and Knead Doughnuts in the mill district.
- 📍 Providence
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 55 Cromwell St, Providence, RI 02907
Hours: Added 2026-08-25 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- The Avery — Providence's original no-signage bar, a mile west in Olneyville - the obvious fallback the night all twenty-two Juniper seats are gone by 7.
- Courtland Club — Ten minutes away off Westminster and the tonal opposite: another unmarked door, but with Portuguese food, bread ovens in the brick and Sunday jazz, so it works as the dinner Juniper doesn't serve.
- Gather Glass Blowing Studio — A four-person hot-shop class at the far end of Atwells fills the afternoon before a 6 p.m. buzz-in, and pairs 2,100-degree glass with a room lit emerald.
More weird in Providence
Good to know
How do I actually get the password?
It changes weekly and goes up Thursday mornings on @juniperbar_ri (and the Facebook page), frequently spoken aloud inside a Reel rather than typed in the caption - so watch with the sound on before you leave the house. There is no phone line or email that will hand it to you.
Where exactly is the door, and where do I park?
55 Cromwell St, in the Rooms & Works mill in the West End, a few minutes off Cranston Street near the Armory. There is no exterior signage for the bar; you want the call box in the building lobby. Street parking on the surrounding blocks - the building's own lot is for residents.
Can I book a table for a group?
No. It is twenty-two seats total, Thursday through Saturday, 6 to 11 p.m. only, first come. Two or three people at 6 p.m. is a realistic plan; six people at 9 p.m. is not.
Is there food?
The list is cocktails - the coverage of the room describes drinks and nothing else. Long Live Beerworks and Knead Doughnuts share the same ground floor if you want to build an evening around it, but eat dinner before you buzz in.
What about accessibility?
Juniper publishes no accessibility information, and entry runs through a converted mill lobby and an intercom rather than a staffed door. Message the Instagram account before you commit to the trip.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: ediblerhody.ediblecommunities.com · rimonthly.com · Instagram
last checked: 2026-08-25