The Hartford Courant talks about the recent movement of young people into downtown New Haven:
In the past three years, New Haven's downtown has experienced an influx of 20- and 30-somethings that is bringing new life and vibrancy to the city. As more singletons and young marrieds appear, so do the restored apartments, sleek and funky bars, restaurants, coffee shops and boutiques they crave. And it's a go-to place for nightlife.An article in the Financial Times noted the appeal of the downtown to older residents as well. The Washington Post emphasized the revival of the city and its tradition as a center for theater and culture:
Today New Haven is a quaint retreat from busier cities, with 10 times the culture.Later, the Post notes that
Creating theater buzz has been key to the revival, and theaters are tucked in everywhere . . . In other places, at other times, New Haven offers the symphony, summer cabaret, galleries, the grand exhibits of the Yale Center for British Art, and smaller spaces with concerts and solo performers. In June the city hosts a New Festival of Arts and Ideas, luring dance, music and theater talent from around the world.In 2002, the New York Times focused on the reasons for the revival of real estate markets in the city, in a follow-up to a 2000 piece on an earlier stage of New Haven's residential renaissance.
It's now a cultural hub with a thriving nightlife. The residential streets are quiet and peaceful, the town green is well lighted and inviting. But on a recent visit, what I saw above all was a pedestrian-size town with big culinary ambitions.Check out the Globe's "related links" as well.
In 2002-2003, cookbook author and New York Times columnist Mark Bittman reviewed a series of New Haven restaurants for the NYT. Some of those reviews are collected here. One of the restaurants reviewed by Bittman is Ibiza, whose chef, Luis Bollo, was named 2003 "Chef of the Year" in Esquire magazine's list of the best U.S. restaurants. They called Ibiza "the best Spanish restaurant in the country."
Older NYT reviews include those of the standout Malaysian restaurant Bentara (also reviewed in a link from the Globe article above) and of Le Petit Cafe in nearby Branford.
has produced 89 world and American premieres, four of which have received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Theatre has sent ten productions to Broadway, earning nine Tony Awards and a total of 37 Tony Award nominations. Recognized as one of the leading regional theatres in the United States, Yale Rep itself received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre . . .Astoundingly for a city this size, there is also the Long Wharf theater, which also boasts multiple Tony's and Pulitzer's and notes that
More than twenty productions have transferred virtually intact to Broadway or off-Broadway, including Wit (1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Down the Garden Paths, Red, Mystery School, Hughie, Broken Glass, American Buffalo, Requiem for a Heavyweight and Quartermaine.The Yale School of Drama is one of the nation's top theater schools. It puts on first rate productions of its own, including the often original and experimental work of the Yale Cabaret.
The most famous of the summer arts festivals is the International Festival of Arts and Ideas that fills the city's art venues for 17 days in June. The rest of the summer is filled with a Jazz festival, a Blues and Roots festival and other activities.
A partial list of local art museums is as follows:
The New Haven-Stamford MSA is the second richest metropolitan area in the country. In February 2004, Business 2.0 magazine named the metropolitan area one of 20 American "boom towns".
We are $15 by frequent commuter train from New York City and 2 hours from Boston by Amtrak Acela train.
The restored train station, right downtown, get us quickly to every Northeastern corridor school: Harvard, MIT, Brown, Columbia, NYU, Princeton, Rutgers, Penn, Johns Hopkins and so forth.
Rhode Island's ocean beaches are a little more than one hour's drive. Within a few hours drive, you will find the quaint Berkshires, the Green Mountains of Vermont, the wilderness of the Adirondacks, the mansions of Newport and of the Hudson River Valley, and the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Bradley airport, a 50 minute drive, has direct service to nearly every major U.S. hub, but typically requires a connection to the West Coast. The three New York airports are about 75 miles away and obviously offer direct service to the major cities of the world.
The tiny New Haven "Tweed" airport, 10 minutes from campus, suffered greatly after 9/11 but it is [update:] now attracting renewed jet service. Delta is starting regional jet service to its Cincinatti hub on May 27, 2004. There is direct Delta service from that hub to well over 100 cities.
Contrary to popular opinion, Connecticut is not all cities and suburbs.For example, Connecticut's Blue Trail system includes 700 miles of trail. The 2,135 mile Appalacian Trail goes through the Northwest corner of the state, about an hour away. The New Haven Regional Water Authority maintains a large system of trails.A gratifyingly high proportion of the state's woodlands are preserved as state parks and state forests.
In fact, the only New England state with more miles of hiking is New Hampshire.
We have many multi-use biking trails, especially good for local use
is
the Farmington Canal trail which will go from New Haven to the
Massachusets border; almost half of the trail is complete, including a
short section in New Haven that is growing toward a long section just
north of town through Hamden and up into Chesire. See the CT DOT
for slightly out of date trail maps; see here for a
description of the section in/near New Haven (some of the "dotted" part
is in fact already completed) and here
for northern sections of
the trail. updated Feb. 2004
Here is some Biking info, from
posted to ElmCityCylcling@yahoogroups.com, by Elaine
Lewinnek (July 2004):
Within New Haven, ElmCityCycling has recently made our own map of
recommended bikeroutes, which is available online on our city website:
http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/govt/greenways/Resources.htm
For longer rides, the Yale Cycling Team has some good maps online at
http://www.yale.edu/cycling/03ridemaps.html
There is also a free statewide map of bike routes in CT, but it's only
so-so. It gives you the adventure of stopping in country diners and
asking strangers to help you decipher where the map is directing you.
You end up with lots of better maps drawn on napkins. Really, I
recommend this mode of bike travel. You can order that state map online
at http://www.ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?a=1380&Q=259658&dotPNavCtr=|#40030
Or you can pick up that free map at the Devil's Gear bike shop, as long
as he has some in stock. He's also got the ElmCityCycling New Haven map
in a pretty printed version. While you're at the Devil's Gear, ask him
about his Sunday rides. That group ride is one of the best ways to learn
good long routes around here, but you'll only enjoy it if you have a
road-bike and like going fairly fast. It's not too fast -- about 18 mph
lately -- and it's not too long -- some folks turn back to make a
25-mile loop, while others go for about 60 miles or more. It's a great
ride. It has sustained me through graduate school.
Rubel BikeMaps, a private company that makes the best bike maps of
Massachusetts, is working on a version for CT. In fact, they've asked if
they can send ElmCityCycling an early draft for us to proofread and give
advice on. So we'll know exactly when it's finished.
Finally, another way to learn century routes is to participate in
organized century rides. New England's centuries are handily listed
online at http://www.geocities.com/ne_century_rides/
