A couple of months ago, my friend Noe Jimenez and I made our usual trip to Sports Haven, the gigantic off-track betting hall on Long Wharf.
For me, Sports Haven carries a similar sense of awe you would get when walking into the Beinecke Library. (What can I say? Cultural significance and historical value come in many forms.)
On this particular day, walking inside, we got some hard news: Winners—the leaseholder—would be moving out of 600 Long Wharf Dr., downsizing to a smaller space in East Haven.
My first thought was, this building will probably be demolished. It felt like another loss for New Haven’s character, in a time when things are slowly becoming more sterile. It also meant there was only a short window to document Sports Haven’s final days, so I started filming from mid-October through its last day open on Nov. 30.
Along the way, I spoke with Tony Falcone, who painted the iconic horse mural; operations manager Scott Symonds; artists Eben and Aude, creators of a DOOM mod video game set inside Sports Haven; Abigail Carlon, Director of Marketing and Communications at Newman Architects, the firm responsible for the iconic building design. And last but not least, I spoke to long-time patrons, the lifeblood of the place, even some who were there from Sports Haven’s opening night in 1979.
As online betting becomes more prevalent, the need for a massive, single-purpose hall faded. New Haven has now lost a place where regulars came not just to place bets, but to be social. It is the end of an era.
As Brian, one patron, told me: “It’s one of a kind, and if you were never in here you should’ve come—just to see it—even if you didn’t place a bet—because you’ll never see it again.”
He’s not wrong. I hope this video stands in for that visit—for anyone who never made it, and for those who want to remember.
Travis Carbonella is an EMMY-nominated (regional EMMY, but still) documentary filmmaker and co-creator of Westville PopUp Cinema. He lives in Westville and works out of Lotta Studio.