The other day, an alert “06880” reader emailed:
Is it just me, or are there a lot more New York license plates around town than ever before? Not sure if there’s a story in these anecdotal sightings, but is Westport the new Hamptons?
It was ever thus.
Every year around this time — along with humidity, pollen and new real estate bills — the New Yorkers come.
They sure were here when I was at Staples.
It was the summer before senior year. My friends and I were hanging at Compo, acting like we owned the place (because, after all, we did).
A woman and her kid — around our age — sat nearby. She lathered on the baby oil. He looked miserable.
“Go over there,” she urged, in what I can only describe as the heaviest New York accent I have ever hoid. “Introduce yourself. Make friends with them.”
“Mom!” he complained. “They probably live here all year long.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” she replied, with absolute certainty and even more nasality. “No one lives here all year long!”
We laughed loudly, and obnoxiously, for a very long time.
For the rest of the summer, at random lulls in conversation, someone would blurt out, “Don’t be ridiculous! No one lives here all year long!”
And we would laugh all over again, again for a very long time.
Poor kid.
1969… my Mom is at the Grand Union buying groceries on a Saturday morning, it’s very crowded, she is chatting with the cashier as she does every time when a voice behind her says in the heaviest New Yucker accent… why can’t you locals shop during the week before WE arrive? Without missing a beat the cashier started to tell my Mom every single detail about every single child, grand-child, aunt, uncle and pet she could think of… just because. They both giggled and my Mom left happy.
Hey, nothing wrong with a NY accent. I’ve got a Brooklyn accent. My parents lived in Westport for 36 years. My accent never wore off.
A. David Wunsch
Staples, 1956
My parents moved us to Westport from Manhattan 60 years ago and happily lived the rest of their lives in Westport. Yet within a couple of years of our arrival in the 50s they began complaining about “New Yorkers”. It is ever thus.
Honey, use your time off gently, no rush, do whatever you want I am here for Zphoebe do take it easy !
Sent from my iPhone
As a life long resident, for as long as I can remember, Memorial Day thru Labor Day the Post Road becomes overgrown with NY (lousy) drivers. Got cut off yesterday by an SUV who had clearly decided her turn or not that NOW she is going to join the Post Road traffic. I should have hit her! (Jammed the breaks instead!) It seems like all the roads get too small and traffic lights too short (as in sit through 3 cycles to get past a single intersection. Especially Sherwood Is / Post Road!)
Just an fyi to all…Growing up, I was one of the New Yorkers who came to Westport in the summer months. We lived “inland” in South Salem, NEW YORK. My friends and I from the Salems, Katonah and Bedford, drove here to spend the days at Compo Beach. While we had New York plates on our cars, I am not sure we had the accents! I now own a house at Compo Beach and love seeing the kids of kids I grew up with coming by the carload to enjoy the shore. BTW, Viva’s and the Black Duck were always part of our day trips to Westport. I love that they are still in business.
I grew up in Westport but now I live in upstate New York – Four hours from the city. I always used to assume that a New York plate meant New York City, but now I know that is definitely not true.
I too was one of those “New Yorkers’ who came in the summer starting in 1954, with my parents and grandparents and wondered what people did here in the winter when I went back to “the city” in September. In 1967 I became one of those year rounders and have obviously never left.
Remember, we all came here from somewhere.