3 Atlantic Avenue was formerly denominated 5A Atlantic. [2009, Dunlap]
Rose Haven (Formerly 5A Atlantic Avenue). It was hard to imagine the “Dancing Cop” coming to rest for even a moment, but this home is where Donald J. Thomas (1927-2019) put his feet up at nights from 1969 to 1999, the years that found him morphing from local traffic officer to Cape Cod Celebrity; the one person in Provincetown whom day trippers would surely remember even after they’d forgotten everything else. Thomas worked Lopes Square the way Astaire worked a ballroom — or at least the way Tony Manero worked 2001 Odyssey. His spins, swivels, pivots, thrusts, and parries kept traffic moving and passersby mightily entertained. Some of his moves were recorded for posterity on YouTube. Take a look. Believe me, a still photo does not do Officer Thomas justice.
Donald Thomas came from a family of fishermen. He joined the Provincetown police force in 1947 as an auxiliary patrolman. The traffic stint began in the 1970s and the dance steps soon followed — not from exhibitionism, he insisted, but out of self-preservation. “If you stand still, you’re a target; you know what I mean?” he said to Mary Ann Bragg in 2002. Thomas shared with Bragg that he “favors line dancing, the jitterbug and the twist, and Glen Miller music.”
In 2011 — at the age of 83 — he could not escape the inevitable any longer, despite an outpouring of popular support, including two Facebook pages urging his reinstatement and the distribution of “Dancin’ Cop” T-shirts at the Old Colony Tap and the Kite Shop. After a meeting in with Town Manager Sharon Lynn and Police Chief Jeff Jaran, Thomas sent this message to supporters through his granddaughter, Carmen Marie Thomas: “They had their minds made up: No square!! I guess the will of the people doesn’t count. The mystery to me is why they don’t want me there! Anyway, I will miss all you great folks who depended on me — fishermen, truckers, motorcycles, trolleys and pedestrians. But most of all, I will miss giving badges to the children. Please take care and good luck.”
One of Thomas’s supporters in 2011 was Robert Sanborn, then the town tourism director, who called the Dancing Cop “part of the fabric of Provincetown.” Sanborn, the proprietor of the Prince Albert Guest House at 164 Commercial and 166 Commercial, bought this property from the Thomas family in 2001. It was then numbered 5A Atlantic, but was redesignated No. 3 by the assessor in 2012.
Officer Donald J. Thomas, the “Dancing Cop.” [Salvador R. Vasques III / My Provincetown Memorabilia Collection]
Bob Sanborn wrote on 10 June 2012: I purchased this home in 2001 from Donald Thomas (a/k/a “Dancing Traffic Cop”) and his wife, who lived in it for over 30 years. My understanding is that it was originally a Sears house. When I first moved there, my neighbor at 5 Atlantic, Ruth O’Donnell, told me that she remembered growing up as a little girl in Provincetown around the 1920s and a lady named “Rose” lived there, who was known for having “the prettiest roses in town.” During that time period, back when there was a sidewalk on Atlantic Avenue, the locals referred to the place as “Rose Haven.”
I also understand that prior to the Sears house being built on the site, there was a Victorian cottage that stood in its place, and the address still is reflected in the historic register as a Victorian cottage circa 1860. I have also been told that originally the address was 5 Atlantic and the owners owned the lot next door where the current 5 Atlantic is located. Apparently when the owners built a structure on what is now 5 Atlantic, they moved into that house and kept the same street number. Subsequently, at some point the lots were subdivided and the address of 5A Atlantic was created for my property.
3 Atlantic Avenue on the Town Map, showing property lines.
¶ Last updated 28 December 2012.
[I do not know why the Open Street Map shows a “Hawthorne Memorial Gallery” at this address. — DWD]