The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
He loves New Haven, especially its inspiring ducks and ice cream
Chris Randall sat on a bench, taking in the scenery and marveling over the serenity at one of his favorite places in the world: the Duck Pond at Edgewood Park in New Haven.
“Oh, I love it!” he said. “It’s always different. I come here in all seasons.”
He pointed to three ducks gathered near a footbridge overlooking the pond as it gurgled into the West River. “They’re bobbing for something,” he mused.
There aren’t many people who “get” New Haven as completely as does Randall. Five years ago, he co-founded the website “I Love New Haven,” a collaborative effort with Jeffrey Kerekes.
The website states: “The mission is to promote community engagement and civic pride through photographing the people, places and things of New Haven. It includes regular contributing photographers and guest photographers from all over the globe who share their images of New Haven.”
Randall had brought his camera and tripod with him when we met at the pond last Thursday afternoon because he never knows when he might spot something he wants to photograph.
“I can always find inspiration here,” he said. “If I have photographer’s block — like you might have writer’s block — I come down here to get re-inspired.”
He looked around; there was nobody else alongside the pond other than a young woman seated on an adjacent bench, talking on her cellphone and another woman doing exercises on a blanket.
“We’re in New Haven but it’s a respite,” Randall said. “Chapel Street, a main road in the city, is right over there. But if you took somebody and plopped them in this park, they’d never guess they’re in New Haven.”
Randall, now 42, grew up in West Haven near the New Haven line and close to the West River. “That’s why this place resonates with me. My father took me here from an age as young as I can remember. This is a connection to my childhood.”
Then he added, just in case I hadn’t noticed: “It’s quiet and beautiful. It’s an Olmstead park.”
He was talking about Frederick Law Olmstead Jr., who also designed the National Mall and the White House grounds. A detailed history of Edgewood Park is provided on a sign near the pond: in 1889 city officials set aside 60 acres for this park; residents donated about another 60 acres and Olmstead designed the layout in 1910, including the Duck Pond. The people of New Haven and beyond have benefitted from this ever since.
Randall told me, “When I was 20 or 21, I took the leap and moved into New Haven. At first, I felt disconnected; I didn’t fit.”
He said part of it was the town-gown problem, his inability to relate to Yale students. “But I’ve since met and become friends with many Yalies. I have invitations to stay on their couches all over the world.”
Randall said of Yale people, “The reality is far from the perception.” He could be talking about New Haven itself, and how some people still often misperceive it as a dangerous, unappealing place.
“New Haven is one of those places where, whatever your interests are, you can find other people pursuing those same interests,” Randall said. “And if not, it’s so small that you can create that community.”
He added, “And it’s a gorgeous place that a lot of people overlook and don’t see. I’m lucky I can portray New Haven with this beauty that I see.”
Randall, sometimes to his own surprise, is making a living as a photographer here. “It baffles me how I can actually do it. But it works.”
Some of his photos are portraits or quicker shots of the city’s interesting people, such as the walking man about town Roger Cruz, he of the big flowing beard and gentle greetings. Randall also mentioned Mar-
FROM PAGE 1 garet Holloway, known to many as “The Shakespeare Lady,” from the days when she recited verse in the streets for spare change.
“New Haven has so many characters,” Randall noted. “And talented musicians and artists and photographers!”
Having splashed around on his website, I had to ask him: ‘What’s with this Ashley’s fixation?”
“I just love Ashley’s ice cream!” he said. “Maybe it goes back to when I was a kid and I’d buy something from the ice cream truck every day with my paper route money.” (He delivered the New Haven Register and Journal-Courier from age 12-18 in the Allingtown section of West Haven.)
People who know Randall have learned to look for him at the Ashley’s on York Street in New Haven. “I had a stretch where I went there almost every day for three weeks in a row.”
What’s his favorite? “Usually I’ll get a sweet cream sundae with two other flavors mixed in. I’ll always go with the same toppings: peanut butter sauce, peanut butter cup and whipped cream.”
I took a closer look at his stomach, which did not appear to be prominent. When I commented on this, he said, “I’m pretty active. Although I excessively eat ice cream, I don’t excessively eat everything.”
His dog is named Ashley. “She loves ice cream too. Sometimes, I’ll bring her there with me.”
Randall said he usually goes to the Ashley’s on York Street because “I like to support the people who have been around longer. There are so many frozen yogurt shops popping up.”
We started reminiscing about the great old enterprises that once lined New Haven’s Broadway: the York Square Cinemas, the Daily Cafe, Cutler’s Records, the Yankee Doodle Coffee Shop. “I would love to have one of the Doodle’s fried doughnuts now!” Randall raved.
“Now it’s all the same, big box retail,” he said sadly. “Those other places had a lot of character and charm and grit.”
Because I had done some research about Randall before our interview, I knew his story isn’t all fun and ice cream: in March 2014 he was arrested on a charge of second-degree larceny for allegedly stealing money from the New Haven Land Trust while he was its executive director. The charge was reduced to fourth-degree larceny, a misdemeanor, in exchange for his guilty plea. In August 2014 he received a one-year jail sentence, execution suspended, so he was not incarcerated.
“I did make a mistake,” he said when I asked him about it. “I was in a tough place. I was advancing myself money from the land trust without paying it back. I used it to pay my phone bills and other things I was having a hard time paying. That was totally wrong. I wish I could go back and undo it.”
Randall added, “I’ve paid my penance. I’ve tried since then to continue to give back to New Haven and live my life. I’m not perfect. I’m not an angel.”
For the past 18 years Randall has lived in an apartment near Wooster Square. He has gotten involved in neighborhood issues such as helping to create a community garden on William Street and persuading officials to erect sound barriers at Farnam Courts near Interstate 91. “I’ve seen how the collective actions of a few people can affect change.”
Randall said he hopes some day to buy a place to live in this city. “I think New Haven will always be my home.”
With our interview over, he headed off to Ashley’s for a sundae.