The 75-foot-long brontosaurus at the reopened Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven, Conn., is the same dinosaur that the natural history museum has exhibited since 1931. But it looks different. A fresh pose. New front sides. The head is repositioned at a more odd angle. The museum’s four-year renovation not only renewed the nearly 100-year-old building, but also included an overhaul of the fossils that research proved to be inaccurate.
The Peabody’s update — 15,000 square feet were added, creating more spacious galleries and dynamic displays — was a long time coming. Like other Yale museums, it is now free, offers more Spanish-language programming, and invites more voices into the conversation, with some exhibits interpreted by students and artists, opening the lens to how visitors might respond to what they see.
“We want to signal that there is not just one way to react and interpret what you see,” said museum director David Skelly.
The idea of change running through Peabody’s 19 galleries is symbolic of what’s happening elsewhere in the city. Over the centuries, New Haven has had capitals devoted to maritime trade, railroads, manufacturing, and—as the home of Yale University and other institutions of higher learning—education and health care.
Now, New Haven — which was among the Times’ 52 places to go in 2023 — is going through a chapter driven by creativity and ingenuity. Although Yale continues to imbue New Haven with some gravitas, the surrounding city showcases its own cultural capital in the areas of art, food, music and more.
Open studios, open mics
Yale’s museums have long stolen the spotlight, but there are new institutions bursting with energy. In the predominantly Black and Brown Dixwell neighborhood northwest of campus, Titus Kaphar, a resident and 2006 graduate of the Yale School of Art, and Jason Price, a private equity manager, founded NXTHVN. Founded to mentor underrepresented artists and curators, the organization focuses on community building and a scholarship program.
Two low-rise brick buildings, formerly manufacturing plants, house artist studios, co-working spaces and a space for exhibitions, such as the current “To Echo a Shadow,” curated by two NXTHVN collaborators. Other events bring in local talent, including a recent open mic with New Haven’s own award-winning poet Sharmont “Influence” Little.
The community vibe is also buzzing throughout the city. Erector Square — a group of eight buildings that was once a factory that produced Erector sets and other toys — is filled with 175 studios for artists, designers, musicians and other creatives who host an ambitious open studio weekend in the fall and smaller events throughout the year .
Talks, tours, workshops and gatherings are also part of the Ely Center for Contemporary Art mix. The public gallery hosts six solo and group exhibitions annually, with much of the talent found through open calls for artists to share their work, such as last winter’s “Revival: A Spiritual Journey” by Guyanese-born artist Stanwyck Cromwell.
The goal of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas is to promote New Haven as an arts center. The annual celebration brings together artists, along with musicians, chefs, storytellers and other creators and thinkers, every June. While pioneers like Jon Secada, Dolores Huerta and, this year, Stokley Williams take over the downtown green, local acts are presented in six neighborhoods, representing the city’s diverse cultural heritage.
New Haven is “a city of creative entrepreneurs,” said Shelly Quiala, the festival’s executive director. “People like to make things here.”
Back on campus at the Yale University Art Gallery, recent acquisitions highlight more modern themes than many of the gallery’s impressive collections, which include ancient Southeast Asian gold and textiles, Greek and Roman mosaics and sculptures, and mid-19th-century European paintings century. Collages, such as “Feeding a Nation,“ by Mr. Kafar and David Wojnarowicz’s Untitled (One Day This Kid)“ Confront racism and homophobia in beautiful, if haunting, style.
The art gallery is also currently displaying 25 paintings by its neighbor across the street. The Yale Center for British Art, housed in a Louis I. Kahn landmark, will remain closed until next spring while it restores parts of the building, including 224 Plexiglas domed skylights.
Big names and welcoming spaces
Connecticut’s theater contributions are largely unknown — unless you know. Yale Repertory Theatre, known as the Rep, counts among its alumni Meryl Streep, Lupita Nyong’o, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Paul Giamatti. Over the years, the 58-year-old theater, housed in a 19th-century Baptist church, has staged more than 100 premieres by playwrights such as August Wilson and Caryl Churchill.
Long Wharf Theater has its own legacy of plays and world premieres, with more than 30 productions coming to New York. Two years ago, he left his longtime home at the New Haven Food Terminal and is now on the road, staging productions in venues that reinforce their subject matter. Last year, a one-woman production of Joan Didion’s “The Year of Magical Thinking” was presented in various houses and venues, and last winter, Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge” debuted at the Canal Dock Boathouse in Port city.
Before any of these venues existed, the Shubert Theater was the venue for Broadway-bound shows. It closed between 1976 and 1983, a time when the city was struggling with population decline and rising crime, but now features a full rotation of live performances, including the New Haven Ballet.
On the music front, New Haven has always been a good place to catch a show. U2, The Rolling Stones, Ziggy Marley and other famous bands have taken the stage at Toad’s Place, lending legitimacy to the 47-year-old club’s tagline, “Where the legends play!”
The College Street Music Hall occupies the 2,000-capacity venue in the city centre. The Westville Music Bowl, on Yale’s athletics campus, opens an outdoor option in the warmer months. and smaller acts — such as jazz, funk and rockabilly — fill spots like Cafe Nine and Jazzy’s, both in the hip Ninth Square district.
So. Very. Food.
As delicious and worthy as New Haven’s famous pizza (a thin, charcoal-grilled style known as “pizza”) is, there’s a lot more to the food scene.
The town’s waterfront location means seafood is served with a view. Shell & Bones, in City Point, where the oyster industry once thrived, is an ideal spot. The oversized dining room with gorgeous harbor and sunset views is the perfect perch for sipping martinis over a plate of Rhode Island Ninigret oysters or swordfish served Milanese-style.
Less ostentatious but no less delicious is award-winning chef Emily Mingrone’s Fair Haven Oyster House Co. A 28-seat piece of joy on the Quinnipiac River, it makes good use of its waterfront deck for extra seating and also rolls in a food truck from May through October to serve up lobster rolls and hot dogs from nearby Hummel Bros. Showing the same finesse he does at his East Rock restaurant, Tavern on State, every dish, from baby butter lettuce with fried oysters to shrimp with baked flageolet beans, is elegant yet understated.
There are also excellent coffees. Pistachio, which has two locations founded by Syrian artist Mohamad Hafez (who has a sculpture at the Peabody), infuses Middle Eastern flavors into its teas, pastries and brunch items, as does Havenly, run by immigrant women and refugees. Atticus, inside a busy Chapel Street bookshop, and Poppys, in East Rock, serve high quality soups, sandwiches and salads. G Cafe produces excellent European breads and pastries.
Outdoor adventures
It’s easy to overlook New Haven’s outdoor shops — but too bad if you do. East Rock has a 425-acre eponymous park with 10 miles of trails and a 350-foot peak for epic views of the city and Long Island Sound. Across town, West Rock Ridge State Park stretches from the family-friendly neighborhood of Westville northward for six miles. Defined by its massive ridge, it is one of the most ecologically diverse areas in Connecticut, with 230 species of birds and unusual plants such as jack-in-the-pulpit and American Bladdernut.
The Canal Dock Boathouse debuted on Long Wharf six years ago. Built as a tribute to the original 1911 Yale boat, it is an elegant structure with a serious mission: to connect residents, especially young people, to the harbor. Rowing and kayaking opportunities and yoga on the outdoor platform are available to members and non-members alike, making the boathouse perhaps the best example of what New Haven does right: bridging old and new, indoors and outdoors, in a vision that benefits All.
Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and subscribe to the Travel Dispatch weekly newsletter to get expert tips to travel smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming of a future getaway or just an armchair trip? Take a look at ours 52 places to go in 2024.
