C locks have fallen back. Temperatures too. But New Haven moves ever forward, thanks to affordable fine dining, a municipal election and pop-up retail therapy.
Monday, November 4
The latest New Haven Restaurant Week is active through Friday, arranging prix fixe meals—$17 two-course lunches and $34 three-course dinners—at 31 of the city’s favorite restaurants. From Barcelona and Basta to Hamilton Park and House of Naan to Olea and Olmo, reservations are strongly recommended.
Tuesday, November 5 – Election Day
From 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., voters go to the polls to elect New Haven’s next mayor and city clerk as well as alders and Board of Education representatives. Find your polling place here, and familiarize yourself with a sample ballot here.
sponsored by
Speaking of democratic dynamics, the next installment of the Democracy in America/Democracy in Crisis series at Ives Main Library (133 Elm St, New Haven; 203-946-8130) features Yale History, American Studies and “Grand Strategy” professor Beverly Gage—who’s currently working on a book about the FBI’s notorious first director, J. Edgar Hoover—discussing a pair of institutions whose relations have been peculiarly messy of late: “The FBI and the Presidency.” 6 p.m. Free.
Wednesday, November 6
From 1 to 2 p.m. at Yale’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies (77 Prospect St, New Haven), local data maven DataHaven, “whose mission is to improve quality of life by collecting, interpreting and sharing public data for effective decision-making,” presents “New Haven by the Numbers” with a nod to the impending 2020 US Census. Also on the docket are the ways “the Census and other public datasets impact life in the New Haven area.” Free; register here.
Back at Ives Main Library (133 Elm St, New Haven; 203-946-8130), the National Book Foundation presents “Border Stories”—“a conversation on borders, both physical and figurative, in shaping identity, history, and literature” starting at 6 p.m. The people doing the talking are 2019 National Book Awards finalist Carmen Giménez Smith and longlister Greg Grandin, moderated by John Jairo Lugo, who directs community organizing for New Haven’s own Unidad Latina en Acción. Free; registration requested.
On the lighter side—or darker, depending on your Force and/or beer preferences—East Rock Brewing Company (285 Nicoll St, New Haven; 475-234-6176) hosts a free Star Wars-themed trivia night at 7:30 p.m.
sponsored by
Thursday, November 7
“Stitch[ing] together Mary Shelley’s classic novel and the author’s own biography to create a thrilling new gothic tale about the beauty—and horror—of creation,” a three-shows-only engagement of Manual Cinema’s Frankenstein commences in Yale’s University Theatre (222 York St, New Haven) at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $40, with discounts available for Yale students.
Friday, November 8
Joel Ross, emphatically billed as “the most thrilling new vibraphonist in America,” performs a free and public concert in the Underbrook Theater at Yale’s Saybrook College (242 Elm St, New Haven). Organized by the Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective, the show starts at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7:45.
Saturday, November 9
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Lotta Studio (911 Whalley Ave, New Haven) hosts the latest Flair Fair, a “pin + patch market ’n’ meetup” drawing vendors and shoppers “focus[ed] on small pieces of wearable and collectible art.” Towards the end of the pop-up, you can pop down the block to Kehler Liddell Gallery (873 Whalley Ave, New Haven; 203-389-9555), where Kate Henderson, whose work is currently exhibiting there, leads a pastels demonstration from 3 to 4 p.m. Free to attend.
From 5:30 p.m. to 10 a.m. tomorrow, the Peabody Museum (170 Whitney Ave, New Haven; 203-432-8987) throws its latest Dino-Snore family sleepover, i.e. “a night under the dinosaurs you and your kids will never forget!” Promising “a scavenger hunt, fun natural history activities, hands-on specimens, and fantastic snacks,” plus a continental breakfast in the morning, tickets cost $55 per person or $49.50 for museum members. Kids must be 5 or older, while the adult to child ratio for groups of ticket holders must be at least 1:3.
Meanwhile, in Long Wharf Park (near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial), the New Haven Land Trust holds its annual stargazing session from 7 to 9 p.m., with the Astronomical Society of New Haven providing the telescopes in the hope that the weather gods will provide reasonably clear skies. Indeed, as organizers say, “Please note that this event is highly susceptible to cancellation”—or rescheduling—“due to weather conditions.” Free.
Sunday, November 10
Running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (or starting at 8 a.m. if you pay extra to get first dibs), it’s the latest New Haven Record Riot, featuring “over 40 table of LPs, CDs, 45s & more for your greedy vinyl paws” sold by “dealers from all over New England & beyond.” Happening inside the Annex YMA Club Lounge and Hall (554 Woodward Ave, New Haven), regular admission costs $3, while early admission is $10.
And from noon to 4 at Three Sheets (372 Elm St, New Haven; 475-202-6909), an Art Tag Sale helps local artists—about a dozen of them—cast off work that’s taking up too much studio space while helping local buyers grab that work at an apparently heavy discount. Free to attend.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Image depicts a shelf of records in the Institute Library circa 2016. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
