El Dorado Women's Hostel

The El Dorado Women's Hostel, at 211 Wakefield Ave, is the only operating women-only apartment building in Providence. There are no longer any chaperones or "house mothers" - only Judith Woolfe, the live-in super, who is, both of her own accord and all reports, not the "house mother" type. There is, therefore, no one to really enforce the "suggested guidelines" on male visitors - no overnight stays, still even in 2025, first among those.



Still, interviewed residents insist that the tall, thin man in the white shirt, black suit, and black tie is not a guest of any woman who lives there. He has been seen by at least three of the current residents.  One of those told me matter-of-factly that every person living at 211 had seen him, though when I inquired, specifically, if that also applied to Woolfe, she laughed a bit and admitted, no, not Judith.  None of the three current residents that I interviewed would allow me to name them.  Each of them referred me to a number of other women, prior residents, who had also seen him.  Of those twelve, nine agreed to speak with me, though anonymously, and all twelve referred me to additional potential interview subjects.  It seemed unnecessary.

The sightings are remarkably consistent among observers, even year over year (The youngest woman I interviewed on record was 23; the oldest was 67.), though interpretations of his motives vary quite a bit.  The man walks (or "paces" or "stalks") the halls in the late evenings, with sightings usually between about 9pm and 12am (men's suggested visiting hours end at 9pm).  He holds to hold his hands either in front of or behind his own body, in a gesture that might be interpreted as nervous or worried, or suspicious and creepy.  Occasionally he stops at one door or another, leans in, and attempts to look inside through the peephole.  This is, of course, particularly upsetting to those who have caught him attempting to look in from behind those doors.  He does not knock or make other attempts to communicate, either with the women inside the rooms or the women who see him from the hallway.  He will disappear when spotted from the hallway, perhaps after a reassuring nod at the woman down the hall from him, or a threatening smile, or a startled gasp.

His motives remain unclear, though the women I interviewed tended to not appreciate my voicing of that factual statement.  

The El Dorado remains, still, a relatively safe haven for Providence's women: suicide, murder, and disappearance rates among them, though still far higher than for women in other American cities of comparable size, are slightly lower than the city average.