Opposite the Old Campus, on Chapel Street, in New Haven, Connecticut: from when the glaciers melted, stewarded by the Quinnipiac people; in 1614, charted by a Dutch explorer; in 1638, colonized by Puritans; before, during, and after the American Revolution, home of the Founding Father, Roger Sherman, his wife Rebekah, their fifteen children, and the Sherman family store; in 1860, Gaius F. Warner's Italianate villa, by Henry Austin; in 1880, Carll's Opera House; in 1884, the Republican League; in 1887, the Hyperion; in 1903, the Union League Club, by Richard Williams; in 1926, the Roger Sherman Theater; beginning in 1977, a tradition of French fine dining, which continues today. While the Roger Sherman house is no longer standing, it holds up all right.
"The first time you climb High Street Gate marks a new phase of your life at Yale that can be most accurately described as the 'late-night phase.' Yale Police lock the gate at 12:30 a.m. on weeknights, which seals off all access to Old Campus except for Phelps Gate, directly across the Green."
"International retailer L’Occitane en Provence opened its newest boutique on Chapel Street just in time for the holiday shopping rush. The company signed a lease with Yale University Properties in early October and has spent the last several weeks refurbishing the building, which now features a wired glass and metal structure that is supposed to mimic a traditional greenhouse, according to a L’Occitane press release. Since its establishment in 1996 as a branch of the Office of New Haven and State Affairs, University Properties has sought to reinvigorate New Haven’s downtown shopping district by bringing in new restaurants and retailers to Broadway and Chapel streets."
"THE DECISION by Loews Theaters, New York, to shut down the College Theater in downtown New Haven for the umpteenth time while determining the movie theater's future, points up the markedly winnowing away of what was once a firmly entrenched element in Connecticut entertainment — downtown motion picture theaters. With the closing of the College — its beginnings, as the then Hyperion Theater, go back to the late 19th century — downtown New Haven has only one motion picture theater playing conventional Hollywood product."
"CHAPEL STREET in New Haven is at the center of a booming downtown. Some people say that the economic vibrancy is being driven by nearby Yale University, but city officials say that energy is coming from other sources, such as new offices and apartments."
"Piano rags filled the air as waiters and waitresses bedecked in Gay Nineties clothing served the libations. A woman in a bear costume mingled with the crowd; a mime 'sang' songs of the era. Outside, a horse hitched to a carriage whinnied in the crisp, winter night. And who was in the carriage, trotting dignitaries up and down the street? Who else but Joel Schiavone, New Haven's flashiest developer, a flamboyant 46-year-old who believes -- and proves -- that showmanship is as much an ingredient of success as business sense."
-Image courtesy of the Yale Daily News Historical Archive, Yale Daily News Commencement 1977, no. A, May 3, 1977 "This restaurant, once the home of New Haven's exclusive Union League Club, is one of the most elegant eating places in all of Connecticut. Its atmosphere of well bred opulence and hospitality is a perfect setting… Continue reading Sherman’s Taverne by the Green
Roger Sherman house 