by | Apr 7, 2021 2:07 pm | Comments (4)
Emily Hays Photos
Anna models a tie-turned-headscarf.
“La Bottega” has opened within the Skappo storefront.
Anna Sincavage will sell dresses in the morning and lasagna in the evening — all from 59 Crown St.
That’s the plan now that the family behind Skappo Italian Wine Bar is taking advantage of lower indoor dining demand to convert one corner of their restaurant into a new mini-shop, La Bottega.
by | Mar 29, 2021 8:51 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Frank Critelli and The Birdmen share the distanced love.
“Boy, does it feel nice to be back in this room,” said Shellye Valauskas from the stage at Cafe Nine . She and Dean Falcone were one of four acts who made their way through three songs each in celebration of the Local Bands Show’s 34th anniversary — and the birthday of one of its founders, local music legend James Velvet, who died in 2015.
Continue reading ‘Local Bands Celebrate New Haven Music Icon’
by | Mar 23, 2021 9:25 am | Comments (2)
Karen Ponzio Photo
Cafe Nine in fall 2020.
From rooftop jams to bartop guitar solos, from hip hop to punk rock to doo wop, Cafe Nine has a tangled history as a fixture of New Haven’s music scene. As the venue looks to reopen in the near future, Jason Bischoff-Wurstle, the New Haven Museum’s director of photo-archives, dives into its past in a recent installment of “Micro-Histories,” a now nearly year-long series about the corners of the Elm City that make it what it is.
by | Feb 4, 2021 10:20 am | Comments (0)
Yawen Zhang
Eating in Front of Fish.
Yawen Zhang’s Eating in Front of Fish manages to feel like a documentary and like a bit of surrealist humor. At first glance the fish appear to be swimming in midair. And while there’s nothing weird about eating fish in front of fish — some restaurants have aquariums in them — there is also something deeply weird about eating dead specimens of animals while the live specimens of those animals are watching. What happens to the diner who stops to think about this midway through their meal?
by | Jan 11, 2021 2:12 pm | Comments (2)
Emily Hays Photos
Kuro Shiro owner Kenny Kim prepares vegan tantanmen.
The broth was creamy, savory, almost nutty. And it was vegan.
Kuro Shiro owner Dohyuan “Kenny” Kim created his recipe for vegan tantanmen with his younger brother. It was a twist on the meat-based, Japanese noodle soups that were just getting popular in the U.S. at the time.
by | Dec 17, 2020 4:50 pm | Comments (4)
DESK’s future new home.
Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK) has purchased 266 State St., one of the brick buildings sandwiched between Cafe Nine on Crown Street and the State Street Parking Garage. The nonprofit plans to move into the building in 2022 and transform into a one-stop-shop for people experiencing homelessness.
Continue reading ‘Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen Buys New Home For Expansion’
by | Dec 14, 2020 12:27 pm | Comments (3)
Thomas Breen photo
Safe Haven at 204 State St.
The 33 formerly homeless residents of a supportive-housing complex will have access to on-site medical treatment, after a Ninth Square nonprofit won permission to boost wraparound services.
Continue reading ‘Zoners Support Onsite Supportive-Housing Healthcare’
by | Dec 14, 2020 10:59 am | Comments (0)
Kicker Pictures
S.G. Carlson & The Tines
Sam Carlson has made it one of his personal and professional goals to create new ways to help New Haven’s music scene survive, thrive, and proliferate. His latest endeavor involves video, a media he has used with success before. But this time he’s using it to showcase a live performance of three songs at one of New Haven’s live venues — even if that venue can’t be open for an audience to enjoy them in person.
Continue reading ‘S.G. Carlson & The Tines Debut Live On Video’
by | Dec 7, 2020 1:55 pm | Comments (3)
Lisa Reisman Photos
Prayer plant. Below: Matis and Saldi at Sunday’s pop-up.
As a first-time plant parent, Matthew Matis was anxious. He’d already selected a low-maintenance peperomia. Now he was wondering how soon he should repot.
Ralph Saldi had the answer ready.
by | Dec 3, 2020 2:59 pm | Comments (5)
Paul Bass Photo
Qulen Wright at Ninth Square’s vegan Caribbean paradise.
Qulen Wright didn’t have “chicken” or “wings” in mind when he invented his latest main course dish.
Then his customers took a taste.
by | Nov 20, 2020 11:14 am | Comments (1)
Bek Andersen
Power Portraits, detail.
Kerry Ellington, Addys Castillo, and Orisha Ala Ochumare stand with confidence on the walls of Artspace’s gallery. As captured by Bek Andersen in her piece Power Portraits — part of Artspace’s exhibition “Who Governs?” running through Dec. 12 — they become the images of the leaders and activists they are. Their voices and work in reshaping the city is palpable. But just as their actual political work involves revisiting and learning from the past, so “Who Governs?” delves into New Haven’s past, coming up with vivid questions about how unique the moment we’re in really is. What has changed? What has stayed the same? And what does progress mean when it seems that sometimes we find ourselves asking the same questions again and again?
by | Nov 19, 2020 11:14 am | Comments (6)
Laura Glesby Photo
Del Carpio-Beltran reads artist statement at 600-square-foot mural.
While the city sleeps through a pandemic, the Ninth Square has come alive with outdoor murals — as local artists like Francisco Del Carpio-Beltran demonstrated on Wednesday.
by | Nov 16, 2020 11:32 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
The Right Offs on the roof!
As the city braced itself for the possibility of another shutdown, Cafe Nine decided to raise a safely distanced ruckus one more time with one more roof show, starring another group of local rock ‘n’ rollers, The Right Offs. Saturday night saw the band take to that stage three floors up that Dust Hat had previously christened back in September under much warmer conditions.
by | Nov 10, 2020 10:58 am | Comments (0)
by | Nov 9, 2020 3:02 pm | Comments (0)
Mass timber construction is coming to New Haven in a new “highly affordable” development on the long-vacant Orchard//Dixwell /Munson triangle and in a two-story addition to the circa 1877 former ACME Furniture pile of bricks on Crown Street.
Continue reading ‘Former ACME, Joe Grate’s Lots Approved For Mass Timber Affordable Complex’
by | Nov 8, 2020 6:57 pm | Comments (0)
Paul Bass Photo
Tuesday was too long to wait to send love heavenward to Sharon Clemons.
So hundreds of the beloved salon owner’s friends, family members, and customers lined the sidewalks on both sides of State Street Sunday with balloons ready to soar.
by | Nov 6, 2020 10:46 am | Comments (32)
RJ Development & Advisors Rendering
Planned 150-unit apartment complex at Ashum, Canal, and Henrys.
Zoom
Alder Roth: Too little; no consistent standard.
The Board of Alders approved tax breaks for two residential building projects aiming to add 219 new apartments — 105 at “affordable” rents — to Dixwell.
The board also voted to drop, at the developer’s request, a proposed tax break deal for a Ninth Square project.
by | Nov 6, 2020 10:45 am | Comments (1)
Steve Hamm Photo
David de la Mano at his emerging mural on Crown Street.
On the side of 33 Crown St., an eagle is spreading its wings, taking flight. The silhouettes of people can be seen riding on its back. Other birds rise in formation around it. There is an element of freedom, but also struggle.
And behind them, a familiar coastline — not as it appears today, but as it appeared over 100 years ago, when Black entrepreneur William Lanson was making his mark on the Elm City and moving it into the future.
Continue reading ‘Uruguayan Muralist Makes King Lanson Soar’
by | Nov 5, 2020 1:35 pm | Comments (6)
Spinnaker
Envisioned Coliseum site project.
Breen FIle Photo
Marchand: Don’t make “perfect” enemy of “the good.”
With misgivings that it’s not a monumental, breathtaking, Frank Gehry gateway building, and with lingering concerns about open space, the City Plan Commission approved the site plan for the first phase of the “mini-city” that is to rise on the former Coliseum site.
by | Oct 28, 2020 12:18 pm | Comments (20)
Thomas Breen / Markeshia Ricks file photos
Affordable housing developers seeking local tax breaks: RJ Development’s Joseph, Beaulah’s Brooks, and Beacon’s Kovel.
Tax-break deals for three different residential building projects planned for vacant lots around town were fast-tracked for approval — revealing some of the current strategy for promoting affordable housing.
by | Oct 22, 2020 1:47 pm | Comments (3)
Spinnaker
Envisioned Coliseum site project.
Frank Caico and his Spinnaker Real Estate Partners sounded as if they were about to take a victory lap.
After a year of design and modifications, their site plan for the first building in a multi-year project to redeem the former New Haven Coliseum site with a mixed-use “mini-city” came before City Plan Wednesday evening commissioners for a site plan review and approval.
Continue reading ‘Vote Delayed 2 Weeks On Coliseum Project Site Plan’
by | Oct 12, 2020 9:35 am | Comments (1)
Melanie Crean
If Justice Is A Woman.
The group stands on the steps of the courtyard. It means something that the women are occupying that space. It also means something that they’re not inside. Each of them exudes strength and resilience on her own. Bound together, their power seems to multiply. Melanie Crean’s If Justice Is A Woman is the final commission for Artspace’s “Revolution On Trial,” an exhibit running until Oct. 17 examining the Black Panther trials and May Day protests in 1970. Crean’s photograph received an unveiling on Friday at Artspace on Orange and Crown. That reception was another chance to revisit the legacy of the trials and protests, which continues to shape the city to this day.
by | Oct 8, 2020 2:40 pm | Comments (23)
Thomas Breen photo
Beacon CEO Kovel: Seeking tax relief.
The 300 State St. lot, soon to house 60 apartments?
A Boston developer has revived previously-approved plans to construct a new 60-unit apartment building atop a State Street surface lot — and is seeking a local tax abatement to help cover the costs of restricting 48 of those apartments to affordable rents.
Continue reading ‘Affordable Apts. Planned For State St. Lot’
by | Sep 28, 2020 3:52 pm | Comments (3)
Ram Vishwanathan Photo
Harry and Romy Singh.
Flashback to early 2020: Harry Singh, Gasser Badawi and Qulen Wright all had plans to expand each of their businesses in the food service industry.
The pandemic changed that — but they’ve found ways to keep going and growing.
by | Sep 21, 2020 8:54 am | Comments (4)
Karen Ponzio Photo
Dust Hat up on the roof.
“I’ve never played on a roof before,” said Dan Soto, vocalist and bassist for Dust Hat — a couple of hours before his band did exactly that on top of the three-story building that houses Cafe Nine, with a socially distanced array of rock ‘n’ roll fans watching from down below.