<p>Are there different areas of New Haven that have their own "character". I know of some cities that have, very generally, a hippyish area, trendy area, city-slicker (?) area, rough-unfriendly area, etc.</p>
<p>Is there an area of New Haven that has restaurants, shops, cafes, lots of friendly people walking the streets looking at the shops and hanging out together, etc?</p>
<p>Is there an area near East or West Rock Park like this?</p>
<p>Are the academic (non-library, non-dorm) buildings at Yale open to the public generally, or are all buildings secured requiring key-card entry or ID entry, including class buildings, lobbies, gathering buildings, etc?</p>
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<li>All cities do indeed have these areas. The areas in New Haven you will frequent most are more residential-ish, small city feeling. Broadway and York have some interesting boutiques/shops and stuff. Also, Chapel is an interesting area as well. There are plenty of people frequenting “downtown New Haven.” That’s about as much as you’ll see. Just a bit past Yale, you have the more urban areas of New Haven. But rarely will you go there.</li>
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<p>There is East Rock, which is a popular nature-ish thing to do. It’s a bit far though.</p>
<p>The main library (Sterling) is open to the public. To get to the stacks, though, you need a Yale ID. (The public can only use the computers, if that…) Old Campus and Cross Campus are open to public during the day. At night, Old Campus is closed off. All the colleges are only accessible to Yale students 24/7. Should anyone strange ever get into a secure area or Yale property - security will be on that.</p>
<p>Are there rental options next to East Rock Park? IF so do many Yale people live there?</p>
<p>I’m wondering if there is a trail-park that has a lot of Yale people every day, walking, running, etc? Is East Rock like this? I’d prefer to not be the only runner, or only see a few people over an hour of running.</p>
<p>From what I see, East Rock, especially, Orange St., Whitney, side streets, are called the “grad student ghetto” because of the number of grad students living there. Many professors also live in that area and you will see them waiting for the shuttle in the morning.
I haven’t been running in East Rock area in quite a while, but driving I still see many neighbors, students running daily and many dog walkers, rain or shine.
How many just use the park exclusively, I couldn’t say, the smaller parks and streets are full of runners.
I know if you walked from Yale College, it’s a few miles, maybe 2, I used it to train for a marathon years ago, but the shuttles run to that area or close to it.
Chapel St around the green, has a lot of people shopping, great places to eat, museums, etc. Most Saturday’s I see sidewalk musicians, interesting characters,people you can get to know by name if you want, it’s been a nice afternoon for my family on and off over the years.</p>
<p>Yes and yes. As an earlier poster mentioned, East Rock is referred to as the “grad student ghetto.”</p>
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<p>Yes. Although many of East Rock’s trails would be considered “hiking” trails and may not be suitable for running. That said, I seldom pass through East Rock without seeing runners on the sidewalks. Unless you run in the middle of the night or dead of winter, you won’t be alone.</p>
<p>hmmm does anyone know how far away yale is from the nearest beach? when i was in the new haven area - ish last week i saw a sign the said public beach pointing in the opposite direction of yale</p>
<p>There are small, not terribly appealing beaches near the airport in East Haven, 3-4 miles from campus. Bridgeport has a bunch of beaches, too, that I have never seen. But there is a gorgeous, huge public beach at Hammonasset State Park in Madison, about 15 miles east of New Haven. You need a car to get there, but it’s a great place to go.</p>
<p>I wonder if New Haven is generally like Hyde Park (U-Chicago) in terms of the surrounding rough neighborhoods. U-C seems to be sort of imprisoned by bad neighborhoods, to the south just a few blocks away from the campus, to the west just a few blocks away, and to the north farther away. There is about a 1/2 mile or so north of the campus that is generally ok, and then it gets bad quickly.</p>
<p>/\ No. And I would be in a position to know since I lived in Hyde Park for 8 years and New Haven for 16. They are not at all similar. First of all, the area north of campus in New Haven doesn’t become “rough” (or what I suspect you really mean urban high-crime black) until you hit, oh, East Hartford or something. The area west of campus - not safe for walking alone after dark for about 1-1/2 mile. Not a problem for small groups of students to walk through, however (just not advisable alone). I consider the miles and miles of South Chicago to the North, West and South of Hyde Park to all be off-limits to U of C students who are on foot, whether they are alone or in groups. Hyde Park is just much more isolated from the surrounding parts of Chicago. Students from Yale volunteer at public schools all over New Haven, for example. For most students at U of C this is not a huge problem. Hyde Park is kind of intense and inward, but relatively full of interesting people and events, and when you need more, you hop on a train and go to the North Side, or downtown. New Haven is…more chill, more small town. Yale <em>is</em> downtown. If you need more, you take the train to NY.</p>
<p>Pollutionconcern - what are you looking for? I would guessing based on your queries that you want an academically intense university which has safe long-distance running on dirt paths available starting from campus. Frankly, most urban core areas don’t have safe long-distance dirt-path running available right on campus. At Yale, a student looking for that would actually be in a pretty good situation - many of them actually <em>do</em> run up to East Rock Park and then through the park - which has both asphalt roads and (rocky) hiking trails. You seem to have chip on your shoulder about urban campuses. What’s the problem? Don’t like living in a city? There are plenty of other choices.</p>