The other day, a longtime friend and fellow Staples grad joked — at least, I think she was joking — that Westport natives like us should be “grandfathered in” for certain privileges.
For example, she said, we should be exempt from the 1-way prohibition on Wright Street — near that gross office building — because it was 2-way all the way, back in the day.
She also said we should still be allowed to call Earthplace “The Nature Center” — because that’s what it always was, and really still is. Plus, whenever we walk into Elvira’s, we should not be surprised by the full shelves and lack of grubbiness.
Before it was Elvira’s, it was The Old Mill Deli. Also known as Kenny’s. Or Grub’s.
I came up with my own grandfather clause: driving both ways down Main Street — like from the pizzeria toward Thompson’s Pharmacy. I mean, Ships. Sorry: Tiffany.
Sure, that would cause a bit more chaos than turning onto Post Road West from Wright Street.
But it is a grandfather-driver-type thing to do.
Yep, there was 2-way traffic on Main Street. Plus a traffic light, Klein’s (now Banana Republic), the Townly Restaurant, and a Mobil station.
If you’re a long-time Westporter, click “Comments” to add your own ways of being grandfathered in.
And if you’re a newcomer, click “Comments” to share ways you might be grandfathered in to Westport, years from now.
A little off topic but:
1. Nothing should ever be allowed to be on the corner of the Post Road and Roseville road that isn’t called Big Top.
2. No one should be allowed to say ‘Boy, Five Guys has good burgers’ without the follow-up ‘BUT… they are nothing compared to Chubby Lanes!’
3. Everyone that arrived in Westport after 1970 should ALWAYS be referred to as ‘new people’
Wait! I arrived in 1971, but that’s when I was born. Can I be an exception :)) I love points one and two though! I loved Big Top!!
You’re grandfathered!
Thank you!!!
Earth Place? It is the “Youth Museum” to me. 🙂
Many of us who grew up here still refer to the corner space where Tiffany’s is now as Colgan’s…a great pharmacy with a soda shop grill…one of the places kids hung out at when they “hacked” around downtown after school.
I’d like to be grandmothered in when it comes to turning right on red going from Lyons Plains to Weston/57. (I, after all, am well aware of the staggered light coming off Ford.)
Only been here 24 years but I’d like to grandfather in a supermarket somewhere between Stop and Shop and Stews. Oh, I mean a real market that carries food, household products and real things people need at real prices!
Bobbi, you are talking about Grand Union, Finast (“FIrst National”) and the A&P. The 2 latter supermarkets also featured conveyor belts, which carried your bags of food from the store out to the parking lot.
I remember in the day when Stop & Shop had those bins on the rollers that carried your shopping bags from the inside to your car outside and loaded into your car by a bagger… I was 16 and working there!
Denise, please use your full name when commenting in the future. New policy!
Bobbi….I am so on your side I can’t stand it. After all as Hyman Roth put it I’m just a retired guy living on a pension. Gas and grocery high prices are killing me.
Left turn on Treadwell by the VFW; 2 way on Westport Ave, and freedom from all the added STOP signs.
Tom, in addition to Westport Avenue (running into Soundview), there’s also Bradley Street as it runs into Compo Beach Road, right near the beach entrance. And by added stop signs, you mean the ones like Green’s Farms Road near Hale Road, right?
How about blocking Bradley Street in the summer at Westport Ave so my kids can jump rope in the street and not worry about cars! Thank you chief Sam Luciano for that grandparently perk….killed by the Compo Beach Road folks who rightly claimed too much traffic on their street!
Yep and at Bradley and Compo Road South
The Barron’s Property instead of Winslow Park. Will never call it that
Though some folks will still be grandfathered in, calling it “the sanitarium.”
Right!
That’s kind of putting it nicely! How about the old Ice Cream Parlour on the Post Road across from Playhouse Square? How about when there was no Playhouse Square?
Before that the Ice Cream Parlor was on Main Street, upstairs where Tavern on Main is now. My dad used to take us there on Sunday afternoons and I would always get the upside-down cone decorated to look like a clown with a tall hat and a whipped cream collar along with a bag of penny candies.
Please use your real name when posting in the future. This is the new “06880” policy. Thanks!
Fort Appachie. (Sp?). Does anyone still call it that? (Doctor’s offices at the Corner of King’s Highway and Wilton Road)
Or the “Willows”
Weeping Willows, Pussy Willows….does anyone remember any of the other off color punny names?
I do. Along with Franklin Simon, Chez Pierre, The Separate Shop and Packroads!
Yup. Absolutely. I love the inquisitive looks it brings to the faces of people who have no idea what I’m talking about…!
Anyone who knows the place as Fort Apache will never call it anything else.
And it really would be useful to have another “real” supermarket in town again. There used to be several. Gristede’s, Food Emporium, Grand Union/Shaw’s and I suppose we must include Stop&Shop since they are the only real supermarket still here. We had choices . . . .
And before it was Fort Apache or The Willows, the site was occupied by Miss Bolton’s School where I attended Kindergarten – I guess that makes me great-grandfathered in! Sharon McCarthy
Dan, you sound like the old-timers I met when we first moved to Westport. They always gave directions by no longer existing landmarks: “How you get to Compo Beach? Well, you go down the Post Road, and you make a left turn where the old Ed Mitchell’s used to be.” (Compo Road)
LOL and right-on. When we moved here in 1995 my wife and then 10-year-old daughter were trying to find Coleytown El on the first day of school. My wife stopped asked somebody walking down Coleytown Road. He said it was near Paul Newman’s House. Of course my wife didn’t know where Paul Newman lives, and my daughter asked “Who’s Paul Newman?”
Hey…what happened to The Tack Room…they used to sponsor John Labarca’s weather reports on WMMM that my kids would listen to for school closings.
Speaking of John LaBarca…he was the “must listen to” guy on the radio for train delays on his morning show the “Coffee Express”. In the mid to late 60’s the commuter trains NEVER ran on time. He must have had someone up the line call in to advise how late they were running.
he could really make the school lunches sound delicious.
And don’t forget about when we bought our fresh corn at Rippe’s–now Harvest Commons–where I forgot all about getting my corn when I looked up from “stripping” it to check for worms (don’t get those in corn anymore, either) right into the eyes of a young Paul Newman!
Also the apples! I remember going there for the hot apple cider too!
Saugatuck, where all the quaint little buildings use to be!
Terry, please use your full name in the future – new “06880” policy. Thank you!
In the “I still call it” category: the Merritt Superette, Fort Apache, Grubs (sorry, the name you used in your high schools days always stays with you), Ships’ corner, Coleytown JUNIOR HIGH (Long Lots Junior High for that matter), “where S&M Pizza used to be,” “where the Bridge Grill used to be,” “where Allen’s used to be,” the Post Road Bridge, the metal swing bridge . . .
As far as grandfathered things I’d like, I’d like to be able to park in one of the 6 “choice” parking spots at the corner of Compo Beach Rd and Soundview Ave as if I’m going to run right in to the concession stand where the volleyball courts now sit . . . and I’d like to go get a great burger at Charpentier’s, or even the old Dairy Queen
Every time I’m turning on the corner of Post and Riverside, it’s “Ye Olde Bridge Grille” all over again.
full names, but you know that………
I have already deleted one “Ironic” comment. This is the last one that gets through.
Turn the Town Hall back to Bedford EL, Saugatuck EL back to Bedford J.H,
and all 5 of my kids into infants still in their diapers. Reopen the Remarkable Book Store, Gristede’s, Greenberg’s 5 and 10, the World Affairs Center, the woman who made clothes from African fabrics who was on the 2nd floor over the World Affairs Center, and many more wonderful locally, family owned stores. I miss them all, especially our kids!
Estelle where was the World Affairs Center? Was it on Taylor Place?
We should also bring back The Crest. Best hotdogs and bacon cheeseburgers EVER. While we’re at it, how about bringing back the Deep Dark Woods off North Compo, by the old Town Farm? We could go in there and play all day, build tree forts and not worry about stepping on “private property” on all the manicured McMansion lawns that took over the woods long ago. And what about the Original Bill’s Smokeshop? No, not the one at Brooke’s Corner, or the one where the Westport Pizza has been for years. No. I’m talking about the little red stand, where the comic books were lined up at a 9 year old’s eye level, where Bill stood behind a counter and sold candy, cigarettes, magazines, where easy to cook grill items were available to all, and where the soda machine was a cooler with cold water circulating the glass bottles that you had to run through a metal maze after putting your nickel (or dime) in the slot to retrieve your choice. Yes, there was Gristede’s, Ben Franklin and other stores I can no longer remember. And there wasa Bedford Elementary (now the Town Hall). It was a small town with Mom n’ Pop stores. We had the Townley Restaurant and Werner’s Restaurant. A different era, for sure. Oh Yes! We had the Ice Cream Parlor and Chez Pierre. We saw the filming of “Man in a Grey Flannel Suit” just outside the Ice Cream Parlor, on Main Street. Yep, a small town where folks tended to smile at one another, where we all knew we had to wait for the person on the right, or the person who got there ahead of us, to go forward at a 4-way stop sign. A different time and place for sure. (I moved to Westport in 1949. Went to Bedford El, then Bedford Jr High. Never got to go to Staples. Went to prep school when we moved to NYC. But I kept my pals and stayed in summers. Worked for Bob’s Equipment Service as a welder’s apprentice, worked as a busboy at Charpontier’s and then Westlake Restaurant on Main Street. Worked for Albert Cuzeo as a garbageman (sanitation professional – hah). Yes, that was a VERY different time indeed. A large home was 3000 square feet! Tamarac Road went in when we lived on North Compo’s Country Road. And it WAS a country road. Long ago and far, far away.
In the Westport-in-heaven Dodi Perez is still turning out burritos and curly fries that are just a memory of a dream here. So I think my wanting to be grandfathered in to at least one great Tacos or What burrito a week is futile.
Hi Werner! Also in Westport-in-heaven Frank Wiener is teaching AP English and Frank Nistico is managing the floor at the Arrow restaurant while Paul Newman is hanging out at Chubby Lanes. In the Westport in my mind you and Bobby are living in a little red house by the old Peter’s bridge, I have a coloring book that reads “Kites, Killian were invented in China…” the mini busses are running their routes through town the Staples football tea was called The Minute Men.
How about some perk at the fireworks? Say…special parking and then priority lane for quick exiting at the end?
how about Mac’s Meat Market and Mac himself,an Irish butcher and philosopher who handed out thick slices of bologna to the kids so all the young mothers could schmooze with him and not be interrupted—also at that end of town there was a small grocery store–i think it was called Westfair Market (not sure of the name but the cole slaw was great) and my kids could walk to the Westfair Smoke Shop and there was a pharmacy in that same westfair complex,probably named Westfair Pharmacy—it made life much easier for the young mothers in the late 1950-’60s–i could go on and on and i miss them all
Buy milk from Stew Leonard’s machine at the “rotary” and dine after a Staples game at the Arrow. For a fancy Sunday dinner, try The Canterbury (corner of Post Rd & Main St.).
I remember when the “Nature Center” was the Mid-Fairfield County “Youth Museum.”
Tim Woodruff I wanted to be grandfathered in for playing after dark croquet in your family’s back yard on Stonybrook-but feared it was to specific a memory for this chain. But now that you have chimed in I’m emboldened.
Personally, as a long time Westporter in real life and a life long Westporter at heart (of course, I was already 6 when I moved there in the 60s…) I think everyone should have to refer to places by what they always were….Ships, Klein’s, Main Street Scoop, Chubby’s, Rippe’s, Burr Farms Elementary School (what is there now??)….Grandma Burr’s house on the corner and of course the Sanitorium. I am at a total loss for the Library….I do know where the new one is, but what is where the library WAS? Makes me feel connected to be able to envision where things are, since everything is gone, or has a new name!! I plead the fifth for any misdirection on one way roads that are now or were then…. And lest we forget, the Bridge and Grass Roots, where ‘The Sound of Silence’ required a broken amp kick! Are there still bowling lanes? Waldbaum’s?? Remarkable….Miss Plums Particulars…the list goes on. I love your idea of ‘Grandfathering’ us in….and heaven forbid I should be referred to as ‘an old timer’! Thanks, Dan…such a great conversation starter! 🙂
I would like to see the Kramer family’s book bins outside The Remarkable be grandfathered in and brought back. See the link below for a photo I took I took during the Great Race Sidewalk Sale on Main Street in the summer of 1977. (The book bins were open for biz during warmer weather). https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=501089369958388&l=0df664a2f2
My first summer job in 1966 (at the Remarkable Book Shop; I used the $ to buy my first “real” guitar!! Wage was $1.25 an hour and the guitar cost $200. A Martin 🙂
Saugatuck School will always be on Bridge Street (where “The Saugatuck” apartments are), Bedford Jr. High will always be on Riverside Ave. (where Saugatuck School is now), Bedford Middle School on North Avenue will always be the Nike Site, Staples will always be that campus style covered walkway highschool on North Avenue not the big red building it is today. HOWEVER, older SHS classmates (50s-early 60s) still consider the library/auditorium wing of current Saugatuck School to be hallowed ground for “The Old Staples.” Whew, I could go on and on but I think you all get the picture…don’t you?!
As an early trespasser from NY State in the late 50’s and then later from another CT town, we seemed to hang out in Westport after hitting Sherwood Island, where you could see the cows grazing at Nyala Farm, or Compo, places like the Clam Box where Bertucci’s now resides, Franklin Simon Department Store (OK the moms would shop) at Compo Center and when an independent teen: the Ice Cream Parlor with the cool head shop below and then the night club inside the Westport Country Playhouse and another on the second floor on Main Street. Of course there was the required stop at Ships before and after the movies. Remember the legal drinking age was 18, and we took full advantage of it.
One of my favorite Westport landmarks was the greenhouse at Daybreak Nurseries, now just a fragment of it’s glory.
Having grown up across the street from Burying Hill Beach,.. I say no beach stickers !
Well all us old-timers should of course receive honorary beach stickers. While we’re strolling memory lane – how about Players Tavern and the incredible live acts that came to town there, the Playhouse Pub, and my favorite store The Selective Eye on Main Street. I can’t remember the name of the used jeans store on Main street down the staircase behind a jewelry store, but the owner was the loveliest lady who always made sure I got the jeans I wanted even when I was short a couple of bucks. Personally I’ll never forget Soup’s On or the generous owner Sue Fine who trusted me and gave me my first management job, even though I really was just a kid. Funny enough, I met the man who became my husband there and we’re still together 33 years later!
Functional Clothing!!
I still have a scarf and handbag from Functional. I loved that place. There was another place down Main St. that sold Landlubber jeans for $7. I can’t remember the name of it but it was across the street from Selective Eye and Country Gal.
I should still get to play ball at Gault Field, even if it’s not there.
How about Calise’s grocery store not far from the Clam Box? That still can’t be there, can it? I was trying to remember the store that had penny candy, and I think it might have been the Ice Cream Parlor that Mary Ann mentioned. Just before my senior year at Staples my mother moved us to a small apartment complex in Norwalk right across the street from the original Stew Leonard’s, and I remember the milk machines that Jeff Strauss mentioned. Besides the library and Klein’s there was another store we spent a good bit of time at on Main Street that sold white chocolate, but I can’t remember the name of it. I think it started with a Z.
I believe it was also a pastry shop. Was it something like Zayla’s?
Sending the kids off to work in the restaurants of Saugatuck at age 12.
Barbara, yes Calise’s Market is still there, but I don’t think it’s run by the Calise Family anymore. I’ve lived in Norwalk near Stew’s since the 70s so I think you might be referring to an apartment building that might have stood on the corner of Westport Ave. (Post Rd) and George Ave. Kingsway, a senior living facility is there now.
I know the apartment we lived in was at Wolfpit Avenue. That’s all I remember. I am surprised to hear that Calise’s Market is still in existence. A good friend of mine worked there for some years, Louise (Weezie) Gerry.
Hi, Barbara!!!!
Hi, Madeleine. Loved your little story about your first guitar. One of my first summer jobs was at the Big Top.
Sadly some restaurants don’t last forever. But It is great that Maneros, Le Chambord, Glynns, the Clam Box and Allen’s are still in the same old places – although the service has gotten very slow!!
Barkers, Country Gal, Rashna of India. And hi Susan, the used jeans place was Functional Clothing!
Hi Tracy – yes, Functional Clothing, and while we’re at it, how about Fred at The Plumed Serpent,and the big Army Navy next to S&M Pizza. My brother Dan reminded me of another little country store, Borchetta’s. I remember the guy was missing several fingertips! What great childhoods we had in Westport where the time during summer days was counted in high and low tides and we used to swim and jump off the bridge at Old Mill and ride the current on our inner tubes at Burying Hill spending half the day back in the marshes until low tide brought us and the current back out to the beach. The best!
Rashna of India!! ha- that brings back memories- Remember American Graffiti- with the live mannequins in the windows??
I would like to back-date my train station parking application to the first known residency date of anyone in my family history. There may be some debate about whether claims made during the colonial period, or the Articles of Confederacy, should be honored. But pre-1835 (secession from Fairfield) residency should count.
Killian, The World Affairs Center started in a store on Main Street and then moved to Taylor Place.
Estelle
Before it was Fort Apache it was The Bolton School
I went to the Bolton School 🙂 but by then it was a nursery school in Saugatuck, just off of Riverside Ave. I can never find any record of it on line so it’s nice to see you mention its predecessor here.
My late dear mother always referred to the WAC as a “communist front.” Now THAT’S Old Westport!!!
I *still* think “The Nature Center for Environmental Activities” a k a The Nature Center is the NEW name for the Youth Museum (where my youth should be on display). My father’s office was in The Willows and he called it that, although one wouldn’t have been wrong to call HIS section “Pussy WIllows” (inside joke). I think whatever lackluster avatar of Manero’s occupies that space should have to switch back to the original identity – extra salad please! But I guess my favorite thing to grandfather in would be to still be able to buy music from Sally… wait… !!!
Does anyone remember the Pet Shop on Taylor Place? Seems like it never gets mentioned and I spent a lot of time in there after the library looking at fish and kittens. We got our first cat, Maggie as a kitten at Mac, the butcher’s on Post Road. He always had cats in there having babies to catch the mice I guess.
Greenberg’s , The Selective Eye , Gristede’s, West Lake Restaurant, and the list goes on…
I worked at both Dorain Drugs and Klein’s.
Fur, Fin and Feather-or maybe Featherm Fur and Fin? I never got it right even back then. But I though it was on the Post road just between Tayolr place and Fine Arts 1.
Dan, I badly want to have lunch at Chez Pierre, be seated by Brendan Donahue ,have a drink with Pierre Nelli, a caeser salad and beef tartare –both made at the table by Horst. Cross the street to The Remarkable to hug Esta, walk a few feet for a pickle out of the barrel at Oscar’s, walk down Main, say hi to Stanley Klein and Sally, buy a sweater at Town ‘n Tweed, stop to check in with my Mom and Grandfather at Shilepsky’s, then across the street to see Uncle Sherm and Aunt Sal at Gray’s Pharmacy, walk next door to chat with Ed Lee at Westlake, then next door to browse at the “old’ Library, across the Post Road for a quick beer at Townley, then drive to share memories with Steve and Susan Silver at Silver’s (Oops, they’re still there, thankfully!).
Thanks, Dan, for letting me take this trip down Memory Lane.
How about natives still get at shot at eating ‘The Pig’s Trough’ in under 3 hours?
You’ll recall this was the massive serving of ice cream at ‘Ye Old Ice Cream Parlor’ on the Post Rd and if you could eat it all in less than 3 hours it was free. Gotta admit I never gave it a shot- but it would be fun if some local creamery offered the challenge as a gesture to the old days. Maybe as a Fourth of July event?
John, we have a new policy on “06880”: Please use your full name in the future. Thanks!
I commuted to New York for $17/month. I’d suspect it’s a few bucks higher today.
How about beach stickers for $1. I worked after school at a place called Amanda’s on Main St…we sold French copper cookware, Georg Jensen silver,chrystal, and cute gift items plus chocolate ants, popadums and dozens of exotic food stuffs. Doris made Chicken Tetrazinni and a ham concoction to order and fresh crab cakes were available every day – Westport’s first gift/gourmet shop? She tought me how to cook, appreciate nice things and deal with people like the Gabor sisters…my after school education.
We should all be so lucky and still have a town Doctor like Ruben Solway who made house calls 24/7/365!
John, I saw my first TV telecast at Rueben and Ruth Solway’
s in 1945 (give or take a year). It was the Joe Louis vs Arturo Godoy fight from MSQ. 5 or 7″ B&W picture, but what a thrill.
Or pediatricians Neil Lebhar and Bud Lynch, John, who did the same from their office in the house across the street from the police station.
Dr, Lebhar was my pediatrician for many years. Very nice fellow.
The Doctors Beasley (husband and wife) made house calls and several times rescued me from major asthma attacks at home in the early 1960s. Dr. Al Beasley is still going strong and I’ll forever be grateful to both of them!
Anybody that deliberately gave out wrong directions to a driver of a car with New York license plates during the summer, deserves to be “Grandfathered” in. Or played on the “Horse Swings” at the Beach.
@Tom, yep!
I did that a couple of times myself.. (hanging head) But there used to be a RIDICULOUS number of New Yorkers in the summer.
Well, I guess it’s obvious (and people who were smart enough to stay wouldn’t need these) but having moved away in my wild youth, I’d love to have “grandfathered” a beach sticker and a parking space at the train station — on the basis of having grown up in the ‘Port!!
That’s an amazing photo of the Remarkable Book Shop – thanks for posting!
I need to be grandmothered in. And like a grandmother, I need help. I’ve been in California so long, I can’t remember certain details, like street names. That said, when I think of Wet-spot, I still think of Chubby Lanes, The Pepper Mill, Klein’s, Remarkable Books, Gold’s Deli, the very first Pottery Barn, the place we picked corn at the end of Long Lots Rd., Carvel’s… Hey, is the pedestrian tunnel still there? The one that went from Main St. to the parking lot?
Nicholas I have always wondered if that Westport’s Pottery Bard-on the post road across from the Grand Union-was the antecedent to the massive chain. I’ve never been able to confirm-are you sure? I’d love to put my mind to rest on the subject. BTW I too am an expat Westportonian living in California. Are you in Northern or Southern? I’m in the bay area.
Nobody mentioned the Bowling Alley and Coach Hall’s Jumpin Gyminy behind it The ice Skating ring, how about Compo Stickers allowed you in Sherwood Island , And our pre Walmart – Barkers.
My favorite, let’s grandfather in the week before Christmas when all the down town stores were open and served cider and roasted chestnuts but were not selling just entertaining “The Christmas Walk”
Lastly grandfather in all the “things” that occurred in the woods around Staples like the Nike Site, the missile silos.
I mentioned the Bowling Alley…but assume it is long gone. I bowled in an after school league there…long, LONG ago!
Oh, wow! I just read all the comments and can not believe that I am selling my house and leaving Westport in the Fall for California. Maybe if Chubby Lanes, the Remarkable,The World Affairs Center and the WestLake were still around, I would stay. The builder is tearing down my livable house and putting up another McMansion. All too sad.
alas dear Dan – what’s the use? We have done what was done to us. How can we undo???
I wish the YMCA was grandfathered in as the bustling, kid friendly place it was in the 50’s-60’s which included dances are Friday nights, Ms. Comer’s dance class (perhaps skip that one), pool tables, ping pong, hoops, and a steady array of activities to keep kids busy and happy. The Y was the center for many of us in the Wonder Years. Times have changed and now it is moving.
Yeah, skip Ms. Comer’s, CAS! The Y was also home to all Staples fraternities and the two sororities from 1942 until they went out of fashion in the late 60s. Having weekly meetings at the Y gave us a chance to revisit the childhoods we’d spent there under the watchful eye of director and fabulous Staples swim coach Matt Johnson.
Have long since wished the return of the mini golf course- Arnie Palmer’s?- that was akimbo another loss- the Bowling Alley – on the Post Road, and the movie theaters Fine Arts 1,2,3 and 4 and the Post Cinema where we all got our first taste of Jaws (after waiting for hours in a line that wrapped the building.) How could the town remove every kiddie entertainment venue???- Used to love the old library where Starbucks is now (at least, the last time i was in Westport- that was there in the library’s stead), with the metal stairwell up to the second adult section and the narrow inside stairwell to the small but cozy children’s library upstairs. Grandfather in those and throw in free beach parking all over the entire country–how can they charge us for that??????- and I’d still feel like a Westporter (yes, even with the removal of Chubby Lanes -which was like a kiddie country club-(remember the hard plastic drink stirrers with monkeys and other animals on them that you could KEEP?), The Remarkable Book Store, Westport Food Centre, Kleins, and The Carousel.)
Before there was an Old Mill Store (Grubs), Kenny Montgomery’s store (He was the owner) was located where I95 now crosses Compo Rd and it was even grubbier then!
Can I be grandfathered into skinny dipping in the quarry off Greens Farms Road (now “Signal Lake”)? May I be served at Compo Beach by the high school girls in oxford button-down shirts, bermudas and knee socks who’d bring your food from Chubby’s directly to your blanket? Can I resurrect my membership in the Downshifters? And can anyone name the 3 miniature golf sites (not 2 – all three of them)?
Three miniature golf courses: 1) Regents Park condos across from Balducci’s. 2) Lansdowne condos across from “the trailer park.” 3) Ta-da: corner of Hillspoint and Hale’s Road, across from the Penguin (now town houses).
our backyard went down to signal lake. we swam,fished,skated, row boated, climbed “the cliff” and looked for dinosaur bones.we called it “the lake”. it was perfect playground for adventurous kids. for me it was the most magical place of my childhood.
Barbara Sherburne — The apartments are still there on Wolfpit Avein Norwalk. The bakery with the first initial “Z” was called Zwerdlings. I think it was next to West Lake Chinese restaurant on Main St. Marvel’s was the other bakery in Westport on the Post Rd.
Thank you, Cathy. I have a weird talent of being able to remember what letter some things start with, and I knew it was a strange name. Zwerdlings. For some reason I thought there were two bakeries on Main Street. Boy, those apartments on Wolfpit Avenue must be pretty old by now.
Barbara, the Danish Hearth restaurant had a bakery in the front. It was on Main Street in the stretch between Klein’s and The Selective Eye. I waitressed there one Summer and was in pastry heaven!
Great post. Like many here, I wish I could relive experiences from my youth. So the grandfather clause requires a time machine to hitchhike to Compo Beach to hang out with friends, drinking root beer floats at The Ice Cream Parlor followed by trying on bell bottoms next door at The Rage. Buying albums at Kleins, hockey sticks at Schaefers, and new school clothes each fall at Paul Zabin’s. Earning my swim badges at the Y (except the time I was in the pool the night of the blackout in 68), eating Alaskan King Crab legs with my grandparents at La Normandy, riding minibikes in the fields that are now Sherwood Farms Lane. But mostly I miss skating and swimming with Andy in Erickson’s pond, or what us neighborhood kids called “the lake.”
A quick perusal showed many familiar names and places, and a few missing favorites from 1977 when I lived ON Wright Street and approvals were made for #’s 8 & 10: It will always be Cafe de la Plage across from Grub’s. I painted the exterior for Connolly’s, when it opened next to West Bank Food Center. Moon Street Frame Shop was in between Larry T’s Buick dealership and Rocco’s, and across the street from Arnie’s Place. I can remember the taste of French fries and lemonade from Pal Joey. Players Tavern didn’t just have Toots & the Maytals and Dexter Gordon, there was also Brian Fox’s movies before he relocated to SoNo. Way too many memories from meeting and marrying a Westporter and staying forever connected . . .
McClellan’s Five & Ten in Compo Shopping Center across from First National grocery store. Used to walk to both from my grandmother’s house on Crescent Road. Mac’s Meat Market, on the corner of North Maple Avenue, was a necessary stop for those who walked home from Long Lots and we’d buy ice cream from the freezer there. Libby Zadoff (sp?) ran the pharmacy in Westfair Shopping Center. We’d walk there on snow days and sit at the lunch counter and drink hot chocolate. Zwerdlings was he bakery on Main Street that sold pastry and the white chocolate that Barbara Sherburne referred to above. Big Top and Chubby’s burgers will NEVER be beat! I worked at Chubby’s and got to eat those burgers for free, waited on Paul Newman and his family and had great fun working with all the terrific fellow Staples students there! I say ALL former Westporters should get to enter any and all of the town beaches, forever!!
Thank you also, Nancy, for remembering the name of that bakery. There is no way I could have retrieved that from my memory banks. I wasn’t too close with Zayla’s.
100+ comments. No anonymous snarks. I must be on the wrong blog. ; )
Right blog. New sheriff.
Well noted, John. And very happy NOT to grandfather the former nastiness aboard the good ship Woog. Congrats to the Professor on a good transitional subject matter.
THANKS, Carl!
I would stop bringing my garbage to the dump (excuse me-transfer center) if Angelo Cuseo could still pick it up. Perhaps the only “sanitation engineer” to get ink in The New Yorker.
My husband grew up on South Compo near the Gault Barn and “the gravel pit,” where they built all those houses on Gaul Park.
How about that little park on the mill pond forever and always Allen’s Clam House!
Bait and tackle shop at the southeast corner of Riverside and Post Road. Riding bikes to the driving range on Post Road and drinking YooHoo from the soda machine. Cutting through the corn field at Wakeman’s to get from Cross Highway to Staples. Christie’s Country Store when it was run by Christie and Mary Masiello. Climbing the towers at the Nike Missile site on Bayberry Lane. Having friends whose fathers were plumbers and carpenters and worked with their hands.
One of the most pleasurable reads in a long time… Cheers Westport… I feel truly fortunate to have been born and raised in such a special place. We lived next to the Hunt Club and could never afford to be actual members… that never stopped us from taking full advantage of all it had to offer for 15+ years! Tennis anyone?
So many great memories, but there were a few not so great: How about that Chinese restaurant on the second floor in Carriage Hill that we all thought was great until it was closed for serving bad meat (or was it dog?) and where they found rotting, insect-covered carcasses? I still wretch when I think about it.
THANKS, Howard — I had forgotten about that. In the future, please post using your full name — new policy. Much appreciated.
On the topic of Chinese food, how about Leon’s Palace, then Fudruckers, then the Sprint telephone store (now a bank).
And could we please have a pay phone put back across from Westport Pizza. Sometimes you just need a pay phone, like when I was locked out of Brooks Newspapers (basement of Brooks Brothers/Williams Somoma) on a Sunday and needed to develop film for the next issue.
Film, btw, purchased at CamerArts in Sconset Square where I worked part-time.
Great job cleaning up everybody’s act with one fell swoop. How many of the happy people here will fess up to having formerly been anonymous snarks? Maybe on Groundhog Day every year we could have Snark Day on 06880 and be our real selves. If not us, who? If not Groundhog Day, when? Hahahahahahaha!!!!!
It is indeed a new day. Thanks, Eric! I am glad people feel more comfortable posting now. As for “if not Groundhog Day” — well, April 1?
What a Proustian thread. But, alas, Thomas Wolfe was right.
Does anyone remember Borchetta’s store located where the Lexus dealer is now? I grew up in that neighboohood and we always walked there for candy, ice cream, sodas, sandwiches, etc. Mr. and Mrs. Borchetta lived in a home attached to the store and they were both very warm and friendly people who always remembered our names and treated us like family. Poor Mr. Borchetta was missing pieces of several fingers from “slicer accidents” but that never stopped him from rinning the store. We would cut through what used to be the Ford dealership next door to get to Borchetta’s store.
Michael Nuzzo
I remember it, Michael. It always seemed dark to me. There were a number of those small grocery stores in the area: Borchetta’s, one in that strip mall right across the street, another one on the corner of Post Road and South Maple (where the BP gas station is now), and of course Calise’s — which is the only one of those still remaining. I’m sure there are many others I’ve forgotten.
I remember Mr. and Mrs. Borchetta and their store too, especially the soda cooler with every imaginable brand and flavor of soda standing in ice cold water.
Their son Mike Borchetta went off to California in the late ’50s as a teenager and became a huge success as a music promoter. He has said he got the bug for the music industry after attending a Bo Diddley concert at St. Anthony’s Hall on Franklin Street when he was in the 11th grade. He’s the guy who discovered and signed Tim McGraw to his first recording contract.
St. Anthony’s Hall—I’d like to be grandfathered for those spaghetti supper fundraisers. Homemade sauce and meatballs from those elderly Italian women.
The store at Maple South and Post Road was run by the Backiels (was it Betty and Adolph?). It was catty corner from Mac’s Meat Market and across the Post Road from Westport Builders Supply later Lloyd’s Lumber then Blockbuster. Backiels was a lot like Rippe’s, except it also had gas pumps. For a brief period in the sixties it was home to a Studebaker Lark car dealership.
Ditto for the St. A’s suppers, Bob! They were a Saugatuck staple.
. . . Meandering through the Remarkable and Klein”s, then dropping my husband off to watch birds along the river or maybe at Camera Arts where he would talk Photography with the folks there. Sometimes I would accompany him, sometimes I would make a quick trip to Brooks Hirsch, among other places. Then we would reunite and go to Allen’s for a bite and maybe a beach walk (Burying Hill, usually) to walk off our meal.
Or dinner and a movie. How lucky we were to have movies in town with our choice of several theaters.
And Manero’s. And remember that ribs place on Saugatuck southbound next to the pillars supporting I95? It was perched on a slight hill. It lasted awhile. There was a hair salon there that either immediately preceded or followed it. Both gone a long time now. And Glynn’s too. Lunch or brunch at Chez Pierre . . . dinner too.
Hmmm . . . this does center on food doesn’t it. Must be almost time for lunch.
I know, things change; and the newer folks in town may not quite understand the fondness held for the named establishments in this thread. These aren’t just memories, they are more visceral than that, I think. There were generational experiences connected with these places. New memories will be made. Meanwhile, I have been enjoying reading the thread of memories and in post after post I can just see the writers’ eyes light up with delight.
Elisabeth, your last paragraph is wonderfully written and sums up what a majority of the contributors to this blog feel. May fond memories be with you forever.
Years from now, will anybody fondly remember The Dressing Room? Just asking.
I don’t think this store has been mentioned, and I am not sure about the name. I THINK it was Max’s Fine Arts. A friend of mine worked there for a number of years, and I think it was close to one of the theaters.
Max’s is still there. It’s the theaters that are not.
At max’s you can still acquire the exact same pen nibs that the many Westport based cartoonists used to use. Analog drawing can still be grandfathered in.
Wow, that is really something. I wouldn’t have expected Max’s to still be there. Too bad the theaters are not.
I miss the Old Westport where we drove to the top of Burying Hill beach for frisbee and picnics without being arrested, swam in the river on Sturges Highway, picked corn at the Ference’s farm, rode our bikes to the Hunt Club, had vanilla creams at The Smoke Shop, ate at The Clam Box, had credit for gas at Cuseo’s and went bowling Saturdays on the Post Road. It was a town where we knew the police by name, where we had the same teacher’s our parents had, where no one beeped at you if you didn’t accelerate immediately when a stop light turned green and where the citizenry was civil, kind and caring. We are seven generations on the same land and it will always be home for me. It was the best town in America!
Remember Country Gal clothing on Main Street? It was *the* place for 60’s preppie-style. I recall that it carried subdued and carefully color coordinated skirts (A-line), blouses, sweaters (V-neck), and knee socks for the proper young lady. These were worn with penny loafers.
Next door, in the Selective Eye, were swirly and feminine dresses, skirts, tops, scarves, etc. in the expensive hippie style of the 60’s, with lots of pattern and bright colors–and I believe many items were one of a kind.
I was torn between the “good girl” clothes of Country Gal and the “wild girl” clothes of Selective Eye.
Dale, Country Gal and Selective Eye were equally appealing to me as well. CG was where I went for the basics like turtlenecks, coordinating skirts and tops, etc. Selective Eye had one of a kind clothing and accessories. Another one of my “haunts” was Young Sophisticates on PRE approximately where Mitchells stands today. YS always had fabulous shoes on sale!
Greenburgs department store, Ben franklins five and dime and their clothes were.basic and good. As a little kid I shopped at every single store downtown. Boy, kids were different back then.
I remember fondly the Gorham Island apartment house on Gorham Island which was torn down to make way for another white elephant office building. It seemed to reflect the character of Westport in a way that many of the older houses do (like the Gunn House). The Gorham Island house served as the perfect subject for painters when viewed upriver from Kings Highway. I still think of that old house fondly when I drive in that direction.
The Merritt Superette at the Daily Corner.. and North Main Garage.
This blog post has been a real pleasure, first time I ever wished I was born sooner. The next question that begs to be asked is, what do we wish in Westport to be here in another 20 years, I will start with John Dodig Staples HS Principal and “06880”, Elvira’s (we live near Compo) Great Cakes, seriously the best cupcakes, Acqua, my favorite place for lunch and/or dinner, Mitchell’s because they are so generous and always do the right thing, and I must add Oscar’s, my children’s favorite place for lunch for the past 22 years.
Did anyone mention Food Fair and Golden House (Westlake’s only comp in town)? I loved the interior of Golden House but Westlake was the best food. Food Fair was a great old fashioned grocery story with large bins of crushed ice and jarred grapefruit sitting on it.
My family moved here in 1960. I graduated Staples in 1972. This town holds wonderful memories. I especially remember the Big Top ( now McDonalds) and Carroll’s (the hamburger place which is now Arby’s) where I had my first job as a senior in high school. Of course, Chubby Lanes was a favorite. (Where I worked while in college). The memories of people and places bring a smile to my face. Westport has changed significantly, but the memories and the alumni of Staples live on in all our hearts.
Late breaking grandfatherly item…..let’s get the Sears Catalog Store (w/Mr. Adams) and Lennette’s back into the Compo Shopping Center…thank God Tommy Haircuts is still doing business there…what would I look like otherwise?
I guess that’s right. Compo Barber Shop hasn’t changed in the 30 or so years that I”ve been going there. Tommy in the first chair, Felice (who’s been cutting my diminishing hair for all of that time) in the second chair, and the wall lined with enlarged Post Cards of Westport gong back for over a century. If you want a visual lesson in the history of Westport, ask Tommy to walk you through those Post Cards. There are also one or two pictures of Tommy cutting the hair of a little boy long side a picture of him cutting the hair of the boy’s father when he was the same age as his son. A visit to Compo Barber Shop is a trip down memory lane squared.
No one has mentioned Thompson’s Drug store where Tiffany’s is now. There was a lunch counter in there where we all hung out at one time or another. There was also a diner across Taylor Place from Thompson’s. I remember that because my mother worked at the law offices on the second floor of the building behind the diner. She would send us to the diner to pick up lunch for the girls in the office.
Spent many hours at the Sears Catalog Store picking out back-to-school wardrobes as well as at Franklin Simon’s hiding in the clothes racks. Also, anyone remember Morris’s Luncheonette next to Franklin Simon’s? Spent many Sunday lunches there talking to Morris — he was so funny.
I remember Kenny’s Deli and Kenny, well—althought that was a long time ago. I was living on Richmondville Ave. in Westport with the Morgans. George, Alice, Nelson and thier mother, Mary. Great wonderful memories!
Cathy, please use your full name when commenting in the future. New “06880” policy. Thanks!
Do the cooks among you remember what great shops we had? I still have copper pots from Cook’s Corner (?) in Sconset, pottery from Peggy Kahn’s near the old Grand Union, various and sundry items from the great store across the street – Pottery Corner?. And although it was not one of the independent Westport stores, Design Research was very cool.
Clark Ruff – ruffsea@att.net ’68 I wish I could still swim in the Mill Pond and grab a rope dangling from the bridge as the water rushed through the tidal gates. With my father we’d also rent a rowboat from Allen’s Clam House and catch Blue Crabs and then take the catch home for a feast. Another fun activity was to go to Burying Hill Beach after Labor Day and swim across the channel. Then we’d go up to a tidal inlet that separated the beach property from Sherwood Island. We’d walk across a wooden plank that spanned the inlet and have mud fights in the mud flats and pretend that we could catch Hermit Crabs. It’s fun to think back and I have a good memory and great memories. I was fortunate to grow up in Westport.
Clark…you and anyone else can still swim in the Mill Pond as that is public space. If you have a boat, you can launch it from the old Allen’s Clam House parking lot (now the Mill Pond Preserve parking lot). Lots of blue crabs in the pond last year too.
I want to give a shout out to Dan for making this a forum where our written “oral” histories will be here for years to come.. and possibly the only record of what went and what happened in old Westport. Not long before she died, I spoke do a distant Izzo relative who was born in Westport on Canal Street around 1902 and sharp as a tack until she died at 103 yrs.. She painted a picture for me of Westport back in her day of the fountain at the intersection of Route 1 and Main Street where the horses would stop for a drink. When cars became commonplace, route 1 was very busy with trucks making deliveries up north and caravans of football fans driving from NY to Yale. There were always tourists here and several hotels to house them. She also said that as a teen and young adult, she and her friends would walk to South Norwalk which was the happening gathering place. There were no comfortable shoes back then, either. In my career, I have run across evidence of interesting Westport stories..one such was that there was a speak easy that was ordered dismantled that was part of or next to the old Penguin Inn.. and those very old beams.. were used as exposed beams for the construction of a house built in the 30s I sold on Compo Parkway a few years back. If walls.. or in this case, beams.. could talk, eh? I am also hungry to hear stories of the people and happenings pictured in that mural that was (is, I hope still) in the Banana Republic store that was uncovered during construction. Was that a bar at one time?
I don’t know why I can’t get my where to comment things straight.. sorry.
Yes, Dan. Thank for this opportunity to publicly reminisce. I love each new story. I suggest that you publish an edited version fo posterity.
Great idea, Howard. I’ve had an idea for a while: to collect and publish stories of growing up in Westport. It’s on my to-do list!
Great idea, Dan! I am well acquainted with “to-do” lists. I have stories I could add. I am an amateur writer, but I have stories. So can you tell us, has this blog gotten the most responses you have ever had before?
Not even close to a record! Some of the real controversial posts generated over 300 comments. But this is the most since we kicked the bullies out of the sandbox.
Does a picture of Grub exist? We used to live off the land quite a bit. I claim the gradfathering of clams at the rocky side of the beach, and the wild asparagus on canal rd by the Merritt Superette and watercress in the river at willowbrook. Almost all of the mushroom patches are gone but I don’t trust myself foraging anyway..and sadly , I buy all these things at grocery stores now.
Also does a photo exist of the old house on the park side of canal or the mansion behind Parker Harding plaza? I miss the mansions that have gotten torn down on barons north and south and on long lots road as well as the old inn that was replaced by a beauty on post road west. I also miss the empty space this is now the building that ate westport.
Does anyone remember The Carousel Toy Store in what was Sherwood Square, now Sconset Square, with the HUGE Winnie the Pooh on the outside of the building? I think the store was in a Victorian that belonged to the Sherwood family. The house and Pooh Bear burned down in what I believe was the late 70’s. I lived on Evergreen Avenue back in the day, worked in the store for a few years while at Staples, and unfortunately watched the building burn down. I always wondered why the name of the little shopping center was changed from Sherwood Square to Sconset Square. Does anyone know? What a shame as the Sherwood Family obviously, as in Sherwood Island, was an important part of Westport history. I also have a personal interest as my husband has distant Sherwood cousins dating back to the 1600’s.
My guess is that the eventual owners of Sherwood Square (who probably came from NYC) and couldn’t understand (or more probably couldn’t give a rat’s ass about) the heritage of Westport including the Sherwood family, decided to call it Sconset Square so it would sound like “The Cape” and sucker-punch other NY’er weekenders to have a look-see and maybe buy something. Whenever you want to understand why Westport isn’t Westport any more just follow the money.
When you want answers to anything just follow the money. I don’t remember it being called Sherwood Square.
Definitely started out as Sherwood Square. It was the site of the original Sport Mart. And a restaurant that was called, I think, the Pickle Barrel (now Blue Lemon).
Another bygone Westport resource was the Saugatuck tailor shop run by Andrew Passarelli, who died last summer at 90. He provided expert tailoring for generations of commuters and brought formal, old-world charm and expertise to the task. I saw him in a retirement home just before he died and he stood out from the other patients dressed in a dapper wool sport jacket and cap. Mr. Passarelli, still possessing courtly charm, offered my father (also a patient there at the time) a similar coat from his collection and my father said “Naaaah.” (That’s how you may speak to friends if you make it to 90.)
I also want to give a shout out to Bob Sloat’s parents who ran Sam Sloat’s coin shop at the original Main Street location. I worked there in high school in a humbling job in the basement making boxes for them to mail coins to clients. I made thousands of boxes, always working as fast as I could, sweating through my clothes, sometimes stoned, and I loved it because it was my first paying job. The Sloats were lovely people and were nice to me, although Mrs. Sloat sometimes told friends who called by for me that I was out so I would continue my maniacal box-building. I also remember some kids smoking a joint in front of the shop and Mrs. Sloat asking, “Who’s cooking hamburgers?” Miss those folks.
Not a single mention of the head shop on Taylor ave, the penguin (brothel, apt.,hotel, speakeasy), wizard of Westport, viva la France? Pastry shop in carriage hill, or the parsley…. And in the bar category Masters
Wasn’t the Parsley on the Post Rd in Norwalk? It was owned by Dick Voigt, who crearted and owned The Peppermill.
gary-i left a long comment for you but it got lost out there with all the mates to the single socks that come out of my wash–the bakery was “Vie de France”–i was their “cookie lady”-and Marthas’ brother George and Sister Laura helped with croissants—i started cooking with Martha when the old Pack Roads gave her space for a gourmet take-out and catering—and if you are a real old timer,Gary Singer wil be remembered along with his wife Bunny as stalwarts af The Community Theater—-aside to Danny Woog ,this trip down memory lane has been a blast–i have a list of things and places and people for another time
Audrey, great seeing your name in print and reading your comments. Brings back a ton of memories. I believe Bunni, Mary Haberman and I are the remaining founding members of the WCT, unless Ellen Bernard and Al & Sue Senie are still on this earth. After about 50 production, I’ve put away my theatre hat in order to concentrate on my golf game. Be well.
hi gary—i don’t know if i’ve figured out how to reply BUT if i reach you–how are you and bunni????–as for who’s stilll around–i feel like i’m the only one left—speak to liz gallagher colodny occassionally–lester is still racing around and they had to move out of westport{long story)–i miss linda very much {another long story)–i ‘ve become “the little old lady in the little red house in the woods at the end of the road” and i’m staying put—-i did see renee rosenthal at a shiva for my ex,alan and she looked beautiful—-keep in touch every once in a while—-kisses to you and bunni—audrey d—by the way,wasn’t this whole grandfathering thing fun?–danny woog has become the trivia keeper of Westport
Audrey, send me your email address. Send to GarBun@comcast.net.
We can delve deeper into the many subjects you brought up above. Gary
Spell check forgot how to spell “create”
I worked at Stop & Shop when I was 16, either took the mini-bus or hitch hiked downtown after school for a slice of pizza, frequented the smoke shop for “stuff”. Went to Greens Farms Elementary then Long Lots Jr High. Can’t believe Staples now… was 9 buildings separated by the open canopies and tiny lockers, I remember the 1st day of my senior year canceled because of “mud” from all the construction, Barkers for toys then Ames. Being able to leave Staples when had a “free period” not “study hall” and going to grab lunch at Burger King. Buying school supplies at Kleins downtown, sitting behind Paul Newman, his daughter & her boyfriend at the little movie theater downtown to watch the 1st Rocky. Hot apple cider at Rippy’s, visiting friends working at KFC and Subway. I probably would get lost if I drove around now… or LOL drove the wrong way on a 1-way street!
for those who wanted the ‘”hippest” new clothes –liverpool/platypus– next to
Westlake Jeff and his partner got me the best deep purple long fringed
jacket to go with my white leather bell bottom pants
As we remember the places and events that made Westport special, lets remember that it was the way we treated each other, took time for one another, showed patience, listened, and participated in town events that really made Westport a special place.
Dan, you commented above that this isn’t nearly the record for most responses. But this sure has legs. Six days and still going strong.
Has anyone yet mentioned a great store for young womens clothing called Young Sophisticates? Back in the 60s it was a favorite place to shop. I got a great pink (eek!) formal there for the Red and White Ball one year. And they also carried pretty Capezio flats. The store was right by Pottery Barn (wait, was that the name of the fabulous kitchen/pottery store that was waaaaay before the chain ever existed?! It doesn’t sound right)!
And Benjamin Franklin was THE place to shop for back-to-school clothes. Also Brooks Hirsch across the street.
THANKS, Pam. Yes, Pottery Barn is correct. But Brooks Hirsch was in Compo Shopping Center — not far away, on the Post Road.