Discovering the Elm City: things to see and do away from campus

New Haven may not be "the city that never sleeps," but it sure doesn't sleep much. The Elm City is a cultural center packed with a wide variety of entertainment options. If you look in the right places, you will find all sorts of new and interesting entertainment fare to inject a complementary zing into your campus experience. Here's a sampler:

Live Entertainment and Film

JULIA TIERNAN?YH Absolut Shubert

Called "the birthplace of the nation's greatest hits," the Shubert Theater (247 College St.) was once the place where shows opened before heading to Broadway. Famous musicals like Brigadoon, South Pacific, The King and I, My Fair Lady, and A Streetcar Named Desire all made their debuts at the Shubert.

After peaking during the '50s and '60s, however, the Shubert fell on hard times and even closed for a short period. Although it is not the powerhouse that it once was, it is still the centerpiece of a thriving theater scene in New Haven. And it remains the breeding ground for much Broadway-bound theater: Neil Simon's latest, Proposals, opened here last fall before going to New York. Other recent productions have included Crazy for You, Angels in America, Guys and Dolls, Les Misérables, Madame Butterfly, Grease, and Fiddler on the Roof. This past year, the Shubert presented musicals such as Chicago and other exciting fare like Savion Glover's tap dance extravaganza Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk. Other dance productions appeared this past year, including the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. In addition, the theater staged operas like Die Fledermaus and plays like Master Class, which also ran on Broadway.

Those of you who come from our Union's more rural states will be delighted to learn that monster truck competitions are also something of a city phenomenon. The New Haven Coliseum (275 Orange St.) hosts them fairly regularly. Just listen to local radio stations to find out when. One piece of advice: if you go, be sure to bring earplugs. Car crushing can be noisy business.

The Coliseum also hosts numerous concerts--Aerosmith, Puff Daddy, Smashing Pumpkins, Guns 'n' Roses, Phish, the Black Crowes, Bush, Kiss, Jewel, and the Goo Goo Dolls have all played there in recent years. Other events include antique shows, the Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circus, world-famous figure skating exhibitions, and the Harlem Globetrotters. This past year also featured a World Wrestling Federation event.

Just across the street from the Shubert, the Palace (246 College St.) hosts a stream of musical festivals. Since it is much smaller than the Coliseum, the Palace provides a more intimate concert setting for both the concert-goer and the performer. In the past few years, Ani DiFra-nco, Sonic Youth, the Indigo Girls, Lou Reed, Dave Matthews Band, Spin Doctors, Robert Cray, Tori Amos, Bob Dylan, Wynton Marsalis, Lyle Lovett, Natalie Merchant, and Blues Traveler have all made appearances. In addition to musicians, comedians and other entertainers also frequent the Palace during the year.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Check out the swank Toad's awning.

Two years ago, Performance magazine rated Toad's Place (300 York St.) the best nightclub in the country. Over the years, Toad's has hosted a number of famous performers. The Rolling Stones kicked off their Steel Wheels tour at Toad's while one of Mick Jagger's daughters was a student at Yale.

Since Toad's does have a bar, it is often necessary to convince the large burly men at the door that you're over 21 before you can get in, which can be quite difficult. However, even if you do not have ID, the club hosts a number of shows that are open to all ages. In the last few years, all-ages performers have included They Might Be Giants, Sugar, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Boston, The Samples, Seal, Public Enemy, Soul Asylum, Counting Crows, The Village People, The Lemonheads, and Better Than Ezra. Even Elvis has made an appearance. Toad's also brings in blues (B.B. King, Buddy Guy), jazz (The Rippingtons), and reggae (Jimmy Cliff) artists.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH The Rep looks like Gingerbread

The Yale Repertory Theatre (corner of Chapel and York), known also as the Yale Rep, is a professional theater that employs actors from around the nation and also trains students in the Yale School of Drama. It stages six different performances every year, each running three weeks.

Plays range from the traditional to the bizarre, but each is superbly produced and acted. Last year's shows included Geography, Candida, Splash Hatch on the E Going Down, The Cure at Troy, Petersburg, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Tickets range from $10 to $28, or you can buy a $51 season pass that is good for six shows. The Rep also sells passes for Dramat performances and experimental theater shows are available at a slightly higher cost as well.

If you like blockbuster first-run features, York Square Cinema (61 Broadway) is not the place to go. Instead, York Square generally shows artsier films, such as the latest Merchant-Ivory flick, foreign films, revivals, and cult classics like John Waters' Pink Flamingoes, a film about the adventures of a 300-pound transvestite. York Square occasionally shows mainstream movies like L.A. Confidential, which allow you to procrastinate in peace--you can feel justified in skipping your reading to view the important cultural works of our time. Since York Square's movies rotate fairly frequently (some last only a week), be sure to go as soon as a title interests you.

Museums and Exhibitions

The Yale University Art Gallery (1111 Chapel St.) is the oldest university gallery in the country and admission is free for undergraduates. The Gallery is located right around the corner from Old Campus, and houses such works as Picasso's First Steps and Van Gogh's Night Café. It also contains pieces by well-known artists such as Kandinsky, Gauguin, Monet, and Rothko. The basement features an acclaimed Ancient Art exhibit. The new wing was designed by the American architect Louis I. Kahn.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH The YUAG has a new director.

Kahn also designed the Yale Center for British Art (1080 Chapel St.), located across the street from the Art Gallery. Housing the most comprehensive collection of English art outside Great Britain, the Center displays works from the Elizabethan period onward and contains exhibits by such artists as J.M.W. Turner and Vanessa Bell--and it's all free. The Center houses traveling exhibits, hosts guest lecturers, and offers musical concerts in its skylit portrait gallery. Unfortunately, the B.A.C. will be closed for the remainder of 1998 because of structural renovations to the multi-paned glass roof, but it is scheduled to re-open in January 1999.

One of the oldest museums in the nation, the Peabody Museum (170 Whitney Ave.) is free for anyone with a Yale ID. Housing over 10 million specimens, the natural history museum has one of the largest research collections of any institution. Perhaps the most popular exhibit is the Great Hall of Dinosaurs, which boasts one of the greatest dinosaur collections in the world. A 60-foot long Brontosaurus skeleton--one of the best-preserved and most complete of its kind--greets all visitors. The collection also contains a cast of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a 100-million-year-old skeleton of Archelonischyros (the largest turtle that ever roamed the earth), and skeletons that served as models for the velociraptors in Jurassic Park.

Other features of the Peabody include the Hall of Human Cultures, with relics from around the world. In addition, the Peabody contains an extensive bird collection, boasting at least one specimen of every known bird, living or extinct. Besides its animal exhibits, the museum houses a beautiful collection of crystals and rocks, and even includes a rock from the moon.

Interested in the history of New Haven? The New Haven Colony Historical Society (114 Whitney Ave.), just past the corner of Temple and Trumbull Streets, stands a few blocks from the New Haven Green. The Society has an extensive collection of artifacts and documents from New Haven's over 350 years of existence.

Professional Sports

In April 1996, a new professional sports team opened in New Haven, giving Yale students one more off-campus destination. The New Haven Ravens, a minor league baseball club, now share Yale Field with the Bulldogs. Competing in the Eastern League with teams from New Britain, Portland, Trenton, Harrisburg and Binghamton, the Ravens (coached by former major-leaguer Paul Zuvella) are the official Class AA affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. Tickets go for as little as $3, and the field is easily accesible--you can either catch a bus to the Yale sports complex or walk there.

Or, if you're jonesing for some brawling on the ice, the Elm City has a brand new hockey team, the Beast of New Haven, who play in the American Hockey League. The Beast, as the team is affectionately called, plays in the New Haven Coliseum against other AHL teams around the region. But with Yale's hockey team topping the Ivy League, hockey fans may find themselves spending more time at Ingalls Rink watching the Bulldogs.

Hanging Out

As a freshman, tradition dictates that you go to Naples Pizzeria (90 Wall St.) on Thursday nights. The pizza at Naples isn't bad, but it's the atmosphere that draws the crowds. The tables are made of thick, stained wood and are covered with carvings of students' initials. The jukebox contains a random assortment of sing-along tunes, including Sinatra's My Way and the classic Paradise by the Dashboard Light. For students lucky enough to avoid taking Friday morning classes, Thursday nights at Naples can be an integral part of the Yale undergraduate experience. Local bands sometimes play there, and two years ago Naples built a dance floor and hired a disc jockey. In addition to music, Naples is a reliable source for pitchers of beer, and it introduced its own microbrewery last year.

A recent addition to the club scene this past year is Gecko, a new dance club threatening to eclipse Naples' dominance of the Thursday night social scene. Gecko offers a slightly more commercial alternative to the familiar college bar feeling, with pool tables, multiple T.V.s, and a tremendous dance floor. It feels a bit VH-1; it doesn't yet have the familiar signs of wear and tear one expects from a crowded club and looks like it just popped off the dance club/sports bar assembly line. But it offers Yalies great discounts on alcohol the dance floor that is jammin' till 2 a.m. Gecko can't compete with its compatriots in NYC, but in New Haven, it's one of a kind.

If the usual drinking games just aren't cutting it for you anymore and you feel like you need a bit more "culture," then you should definitely check out Mory's (306 York St.). Mory's is a members-only restaurant with high-priced and often mediocre food. Part of the Old Blue tradition at Yale, Mory's was where the Whiffenpoofs were founded in 1909, and indeed, they still gather to sing and perform there every Monday night. What attracts most undergrads to Mory's, however, isn't the food or music, but the cups. "Doing cups" involves consuming large goblets of colored champagne-based drinks, loud singing, and pointless rules that are followed solely for tradition's sake. The dress code is strict: skirts or dresses for women, jackets and ties for men.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Viva las margaritas!

Large groups often like to frolic with nachos and sangria at Viva Zapata (161 Park St.). Some students go there for Mexican meals, but most go for late-night snacks, the occasional birthday or cast party. An eclectic variety of farm equipment and sundry objects decorate the wood interior. It may be dim and smoky, but you are guaranteed to find some of your friends there on a Friday or Saturday night.

Near Viva's are Baja's on York and El Amigo Felix, two Mexican restaurants with better food but not as much fun. Baja's nachos, however, are definite contenders for Viva's crown, and El Amigo, by the Holiday Inn, gets points for weekly drink specials.

Where can you find a local artist's gallery (Arts Council of Greater New Haven), a community arts center (Artspace), a performance space (ECA), classes in pottery, bookbinding, and calligraphy (Creative Arts Workshop), and the sad remnants of a TCBY? They're all on Audubon Street, in addition to the popular coffee shop Koffee?, a bookstore dedicated to music (Foundry), beautiful brick walkways, and Clark's restaurant and soda shop around the corner (try the shakes!). As a fall or spring hangout, Audubon is perfect. Even though its location is a bit out of the way for those not in Silliman or TD, it is worth the trip even for those Yalies housed in Morse, Stiles, or the newly Swing Space-d Berkeley. If you feel like walking even further, head up nearby State Street to another great mercantile 'hood that boasting a hip coffee shop and shoestore.

Parks

Edgewood Park is a good place for rollerblading, biking, and, if weather permits, ice skating, Edgewood offers spacious outdoor possibilities. It has acres of rolling woodland, a duck pond, two playgrounds, soccer and baseball fields, shuffleboard, bocci, and tennis courts. It's located between Whalley Avenue and Chapel Street, just past Boulevard Avenue.

East Rock Park has forests, 10 miles of trails, and barbecues. At the summit, a 112-foot tall monument dedicated to local residents who fought in America's early wars overlooks a panorama of New Haven. To reach East Rock, you need only walk straight down Orange Street for about 45 minutes.

West Rock Park, although farther from campus than East Rock, offers more strenuous mountain
biking and a wider array of trails, but an equally fantastic view. A short bike or car ride away, you can reach West Rock by following Whalley Avenue to Blake Street and Springside Avenue. At the road fork, take a left to get to the summit or turn right to get to the Judges' Cave, a field of large, piled-up rocks. The West Rock Nature Recreation Center on Wintergreen Avenue has native birds, reptiles, and mammals.

It may not seem like the ideal getaway, but the Grove Street Cemetery is actually a cool place to both reflect and get a sense of New Haven's history. It's peaceful and quiet, and the tombstones make nice seats if you want to get some reading done and don't mind the morbidity of it all. Big, old trees line the avenues of the cemetery. Spooky. Although the police warn that the cemetery can be dangerous and one can never be too careful, students generally feel relatively safe walking around during the daytime, especially when it's warm outside.

Edgerton Park, located off Saint Ronan St. in one of the wealthier neighborhoods of New Haven (and home to a pavilion and a greenhouse), is a great destination for a walk.

New Haven Green is your typical city park, and in the spring and early fall, it's beautiful. If Old Campus is too crowded, or if you're sick of being surrounded by Gothic architecture, the Green is a great place to relax and escape any Frisbee crossfire.

Meena Bewtra, Jill Silverman, Michelle Anderson, Barry Levey, Lauren Anderson, Nicole Lai, and Andrea Lynch contributed to this article.

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