![]() ![]() It wasn’t long before his father began converting the bowling alley into a ballroom: “There was a demand for weddings,” Ferris said. “We lost half our leagues to Holiday Lanes.” Paquette notes, and state records bear out, that the official, incorporated name of the business is still Swansea Bowlaway Inc.įerris says when his father opened the bowling alley it included the Olympic Room, which served lunch and dinner and became popular for its swordfish, scrod and lobster.īut it wasn’t long before the Holiday Lanes ten-pin bowling alley, now known as AMF Somerset Lanes, opened in Somerset. The origins of the Venus de Milo wedding venue and restaurant date back to 1959 when Fall River native Monsour Ferris, father of Monte and Ronald, opened a duckpin bowling alley at the same Route 6 site called Bowlaway. He says Carlos Melo, who now manages the Jillian’s restaurant and bar, also got started in the food service business working as a busboy at the Venus de Milo. “I owe a lot to Ronnie and Monte,” he added. “I grew up in this place,” said Paquette, who has a master’s degree in business administration. He eventually worked his way up to a managerial position while going to college and continues to help out - in addition to his full-time position as assistant director of the Bristol Community College program called Upward Bound and Educational Talent Search. Paquette, now 37, says he was 15 when he began working as a busboy for Monte Ferris and his older brother, Ronald, who died in 2009. Venus de Milo general manager Scott Paquette says soon after the pandemic alarm bell was rung in March of 2020, a decision was made to run the Venus Foods take-out business out of Jillian’s Sports Pub & Grill, a Wilbur Avenue restaurant and bar owned by Ferris.Īnd even though Ferris shortly thereafter decided to bring the take-out business back to the Venus de Milo, Paquette says customers can still order soup, chowder and lobster bisque while having lunch or dinner in the dining room of Jillian’s Sports Pub & Grill. Future Venus take-out foods ventureįerris, who grew up in Fall River’s Flint neighborhood and now lives in Providence, said after selling the property he would like to find a location, possibly in or near Providence, to open Venus Foods, an in-house subsidiary that only does take-out orders. “We will continue to work with him,” Feiner said of Ferris, during a brief phone interview. Its senior vice president Dan Feiner said he knows that Ferris is intent on finding a buyer. The property previously had been listed for sale by MG Commercial Real Estate of Providence. ![]() He said he’s recently spoken to at least two potential buyers but a deal has not yet been brokered. Unlike a number of other restaurants, however, its Empire Grille did not reopen.Ĭustomers who yearned for its baked stuff lobster, Delmonico potatoes and signature minestrone soup and clam chowder were and are still able, for the time being, to stop by and pick up meal orders.įerris, 70, said he would ideally like to sell the building and real estate by the end of the year. It was also months before restrictions on indoor gatherings were relaxed and lifted.Īnd although its restaurant and banquet rooms remained closed, the Venus de Milo never fully shut down thanks to its take-out business. Napoleon I bought the collection of his brother-in-law Prince Camille Borghese in 1807, then had the gallery expanded to include the nearby rooms which now house the Venus de Milo, among other masterpieces.COVID took its toll on restaurant businessĪfter the emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020, the Venus de Milo’s restaurant, like other eateries throughout the state, was forced to discontinue indoor dining for more than three months. The summer apartments of Anne of Austria were converted to create the Galerie des Antiques. The year 1798 saw the arrival of other antiquities, confiscated during Napoleon’s military campaigns in Italy. The process began in 1692 when Louis XIV displayed some of his sculptures in the Salle des Cariatides. The Louvre’s collection of Greek and Roman antiquities was installed little by little. But a number of questions arose: should she be displayed alone or among other artworks? What kind of base should she stand on and in what kind of setting? Wouldn’t she look better among the paintings in the Grande Galerie? Finally, after almost 200 years, the Venus was returned to the room where she had first been displayed – and now she has pride of place, standing almost alone in the middle of the exhibition space to allow visitors a better view. Unsurprisingly, she was first placed in the Galerie des Antiques, where she can still be admired today. The Venus de Milo entered the Louvre in 1821 but her location within the museum has been changed several times. ![]()
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