Folks shopped there, they ate there, they bought cigarettes and alcohol there. Celebrities went there to tout plays and movies coming to the downtown theaters, sometimes through live radio broadcasts. (more…)
Mystery Book
Tucked away among the collections of Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library lies one of the world’s most mysterious manuscripts (more…)
Good Bones
I never got over Brontosaurus excelsus (“noble thunder lizard” for those of us who don’t speak ancient Greek). I don’t know when I first visited Yale’s Peabody Museum, probably at age 4 or 5, but that ginormous dinosaur floored me. It became my first stop on all subsequent visits and the first spectacle I would […]
Distant Relativity
The Puritans who settled New Haven did so in part to worship as they pleased. But they weren’t necessarily willing to offer that freedom to others—especially Quakers, whose pacifism and egalitarianism were deeply heretical, and whose tactics were needling and disruptive. (more…)
Hall Past
Standing at the edge of the New Haven Green with its Victorian Gothic visage, New Haven City Hall strikes an immortal pose. So it’s hard to believe that its time was once up. (more…)
Brut Force
Hard hulking structures, recessed windows, abrasive raw concrete. These are the hallmarks of some of New Haven’s most striking buildings—enormous, bare creations that inspire gut reactions, often of distaste (more…)
Golden Ages
Differently than the actual 49ers who went west during the Gold Rush, the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs will rush (and pass and kick) for gold this Sunday. The victors’ deliriously opulent Super Bowl rings will be smithed from that prized metal, then studded with dozens or even hundreds of diamonds—treasures paid for […]