New Haven Independent

As a crowd celebrated with a music- and movie-filled outdoor party on the Green thrown by the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs Tuesday night, Chapel Street traveled back in time 50 years to double as the set for chase scenes in the next Indiana Jones movie. Shooting begins in town Thursday.

In preparation, the stores along Chapel from College to High streets have been remade to resemble the era — helped by a previous historic renovation of the district that preserved the original buildings. The original Woolworth’s was further east on Chapel, but no one was quibbling as a mock storefront emerged.

Some businesses, like the Copper Kitchen, just needed new names. Otherwise, the ambiance — and menu — already fit the part.

Along the street, in an effort to remind strollers that indeed businesses remain open, the district put up temporary signs with the current names — competing with vintage signs that showed the link between menus or merchandise past and present.

Presumably, as Harrison Ford flies by, the camera won’t zoom in close enough to identify the KC & The Sunshine Band 45 that post-dates the action by some 20 years or so.

Tuesday night’s festive party on the Green began with carnival-link exhibitions like this one by the Aerial Angels (no relation to the patrols in the Edgewood neighborhood). Click on the play arrow to watch a sample.

A symphony hastily pulled together from area civic orchestras delighted the crowd with selections from John Williams’ movie scores. Click on the play arrow for a sample.

City cultural affairs chief Barbara Lamb called the Indiana Jones impersonators present to the front of the stage.

Then the night ended with a delightful summer-evening outdoor screening of the first Indiana Jones adventure flick, a reminder of the reason for all the hoopla in town this week.