ilovenewhaven: New Haven 2010

So, what is New Haven offering its city and neighboring suburban dwellers in 2010? Why, a lot, of course. That's at least according to the city's calendar which is filled with numerous activities to do in and around town. The wall calendar themed, "A Night out in New Haven. What to see, what to do" is published by the city as a 'gift' for its residents. The calendar also has a annual report highlighting the accomplishments of the past year.

Here are a few of the things I look forward to seeing and/or experiencing in New Haven this year. Hope you will do the same!

360 State

360 State is a construction project which began in September 2008 and intended to "revitalize a long-underutilized 1.5-acre site in a prime downtown location, a block away from the New Haven Green and across the street from the State Street train station. It is believed to be the largest private new construction project ever built in New Haven and the greenest large-scale residential building in Connecticut. This project has been selected to be a pilot project for the LEED Program for Neighborhood Development" and is expected to be finalized by Fall 2010.

According to this article in the Advocate, 360 has secured a retail grocery store, but we don't know what store that is. The rumor is that it's not Whole Foods. I guess, we'll have to take a field trip to Chesire or Milford for that then. Regardless, I'm just excited to see our small city grow in what seems like the "right" direction at least environmentally and esthetically.

Salsa!

I've been saying for YEARS that I want to take a salsa class (who hasn't?), but I'm too busy blogging or bar-hopping to do it. And, by "salsa" I don't mean the fake hip shaking and arm swinging that resembles the Carlton dance, I'm referring to the real deal. Lucky for me, New Haven's got Alisa's House of Salsa. It's got a great reputation and owner/instructor Ms. Alisa Bowens is fabulous, so why not? I really hope 2010 is the year for learning salsa or at least that move Alisa is doing in the photo above. Wouldn't you want your next Facebook profile picture to look like that? I would!

More volunteering...

Although I had a hard time finding a place to volunteer last year (see my previous post about that here) before the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (D.E.S.K) accepted me, I still think there are other organizations that could use the help. I thought of the Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven after I ran into an old pal, Erika whose mother is involved with the organization, so there's one. Wanna volunteer with me? I'll be posting these things on my twitter too, so for you CT tweeples, you know the drill. And if you're one of those who refuses to join Twitter, then just go out there, reach out and touch...

Concerts

I've never been much of a concert goer. I find that I don't frequent places that are too noisy or crowded for one to chat, or too quiet for that matter because I have a natural need to talk endlessly. It's kind of a survival thing [insert "LOL" here]. So, I'll attend one or two big concerts a year and maybe about 5-6 of the smaller, more intimate ones around here. Or else, as far as live entertainment is concerned, it's a comedy show or Manhattan, baby. The best sources for info on local or cult bands I'd recommend the Advocate or you could just go straight to the venues' websites like legendary Toad's Place, Cafe Nine, Humphrey's, BAR, Firehouse12, etc.

Here are some big-name concerts you might like -

Black Eyed Peas
Mohegan Sun
Feb 27th - $85, $105