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 zing into your campus experience. Here's a sampler:

Live Entertainment and Film

JULIA TIERNAN/YH The Shubert Theater on College Street.

Called "the birthplace of the nation's greatest hits," the Shubert Theater (247 College St.) was once the site 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 have 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 in the fall of 1997 before going to New York. Other recent productions have included Crazy for You, Angels in America, Guys and Dolls, Les Misérables, Grease, and Fiddler on the Roof. This past year, the Shubert presented operas and musicals such as Madame Butterfly, Chicago, plus 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 with a passion for mass destruction will be delighted to learn that monster rallies are also an Elm city phenomenon. The New Haven Coliseum (275 Orange St.) hosts them fairly regularly. Just listen to local radio stations to find out when and where to catch some of the action. 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. Last year also featured a World Wrestling Federation event.

JOHN YI/YH Home of the Saturday Night Dance Party.

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. To the many Yalies able to circumvent the bouncer, however, Toad's is well-known for its Saturday night dance parties , including the notorious "booty cam," which projects images of partygoers across the club for everyone to see.

Just across the street from the Shubert, the Palace Theater (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 concertgoer and the performer. In the past few months, Rusted Root and 'NSync performed here, and in the past several years, Ani DiFranco, Sonic Youth, the Indigo Girls, Lou Reed, Dave Matthews Band, Spin Doctors, Robert Cray, Tori Amos, Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett, Natalie Merchant, and Blues Traveler have all made appearances. In addition to musicians, comedians, bodybuilders, and other entertainers also frequent the Palace. This winter, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sold the theater to a private area developer when Yale declined to buy the property. But despite the change in ownership, the Palace remains fully functional and dedicated to attracting prominent performers.

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 plays every year, each running three weeks.

Plays range from the traditional to the bizarre, but each is superbly produced and acted. This past year's shows included Galileo, Peter and Wendy, The Glass Menagerie,Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Measure for Measure,and Hay Fever. Tickets can range from $10 to $28, or you can buy a $51 season pass that is good for all six of the shows.

If you really like the blockbuster first-run feature movies, York Square Cinema (61 Broadway) is not the place to go. York Square generally shows artsier films, such as the latest Merchant-Ivory flick, foreign films, revivals, and cult classics. York Square occasionally shows widely publicized movies such as Life is Beautiful, 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 the theater'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, admission is free for undergraduates. Located right around the corner from Old Campus, the Gallery 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, and the new wing was designed by the American architect Louis I. Kahn. This past year, the gallery acquired a new director, Jock Reynolds, who plans to make all artwork, even those currently in storage, available to students.

Kahn also designed the Yale Center for British Art (1080 Chapel St.), 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 artists from J.M.W. Turner to Vanessa Bell. Like the Gallery, it's all free. The Center houses traveling exhibits, hosts guest lecturers, and offers musical concerts in its skylit portrait gallery. Following the death of philanthropist and BAC founder Paul Mellon, Class of 1929, this winter, the museum received $75 million and over 130 works of art from his estate. As the result of his bequest, admission to the BAC will always be free for everyone.

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 collections of fossil dinosaur bones 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 ever to roam 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 anthropological 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, including 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, showcases an extensive collection of artifacts and documents from the more than 350 years of New Haven's existence.

Professional Sports

In April 1996, a new professional sports team debuted 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 Seattle Mariners. Tickets go for as little as $3, and the field is very accessible. You can easily 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 minor league hockey team, the Beast of New Haven, who play in the American Hockey League (AHL). The Beast plays in the New Haven Coliseum against other AHL teams in the region. However, hockey fans may come to prefer spending time at Ingalls Rink watching our own hockey team, given its promise and its recent run of impressive seasons. The Bulldogs won the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship during the 1997-98 season, earning a trip to the NCAAs, and currently remain the best team in the Ivy League.

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 covered with carvings of students' initials. The jukebox contains a random assortment of sing-along tunes, including Sinatra's "My Way" and Meatloaf's 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. Two years ago Naples built a dance floor, but it has since fallen into disuse due to competing Thursday night hot spots. Nevertheless, Naples underwent a revival this winter as the prototypical college hangout. In addition to music, Naples is a reliable source for cheap pitchers of beer, and it introduced its own microbrewery last year.

A recent addition to the club scene last year was Gecko (239 Crown St.), a dance spot that temporarily threatened 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 TVs, and a huge dance floor. Gecko 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. It was a popular place among Yalies for about a year, but its allure has begun to wane. While still a contender of sorts, it has become more of a place to pick up local New Haven residents rather than Yalies. Go expecting to see plenty of gold chains, hairspray, and body piercings, and be prepared to dance up a storm to techno and Top 40 dance music.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Kavanagh's is your typical Irish pub.

Most recently, Kavanagh's (1166 Chapel St.) has become the place to see and be seen on a Thursday night. While this charmingly traditional bar (read: slightly dirty and very crowded) primarily caters to an older, non-Yale clientele, on Thursday nights--often Fridays and Saturdays too--you usually cannot move without bumping into a fellow Eli.

Large groups often like to frolic with nachos and sangria at Viva Zapata's (161 Park St.). Some students go there for Mexican meals, but most go for late-night snacks, and 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're guaranteed to find some friends there on a Friday or a Saturday night.

Near Viva's is El Amigo Felix (8 Whalley Ave.), a Mexican restaurant featuring better food but somewhat less fun. El Amigo gets points for its weekly drink specials.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH

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 eating club with high-priced traditional food. Part of the Old Blue tradition, Mory's was where the Whiffenpoofs were founded in 1909, and the group still gathers 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 mysterious, color-coded 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.

Community Arts

Where can you find a local art gallery (Arts Council of Greater New Haven), a community arts center (Artspace), a performance space (Education Center for the Arts), 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 coffeeshop Koffee?, a music store (Foundry), and beautiful brick walkways. Clark's restaurant and soda shop is just around the corner on Whitney Avenue (try the shakes!). As a fall or spring hangout, Audubon is a perfect deal. Even though its location is a bit out of the way for those not in Silliman or Timothy Dwight, it is worth the trip. If you feel like walking even further, head up nearby State Street to another great mercantile neighborhood.

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, bocce, and tennis courts. It's located between Whalley Avenue and Chapel Street, just past Boulevard Avenue.

East Rock Park has beautiful forests, 10 miles of trails, and barbecues. At the summit stands a 112-foot-tall monument for local residents who fought in America's early wars. It is very simple to reach East Rock--just 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 with 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, the alleged former hideout of three British judges running from an angry king. The West Rock Nature Recreation Center on Wintergreen Avenue features native birds, reptiles, and mammals.

It may not seem like the ideal getaway, but the Grove Street Cemetery is a beautiful place to reflect and to get a sense of New Haven's history. It's peaceful and quiet, and the tombstones make nice seats to get some reading done if you don't mind the morbid feeling. Big, old trees line the avenues of the cemetery. Although the police often warn Yalies that the cemetery can be dangerous and that one can never be too careful, students generally feel safe walking around the grounds during the daylight hours.

Edgerton Park, located off Saint Ronin Terrace in one of New Haven's wealthier neighborhoods (and home to a pavilion and greenhouse), is also a great destination for some rest and relaxation.

New Haven Green, on the other side of College St. from Old Campus, is your typical city park; in the spring and early fall, it's beautiful. If you're sick of being surrounded by Gothic architecture, the Green is a great place to unwind.

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

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