Longtime lovers of the Arrow — for decades, Saugatuck’s favorite restaurant/gathering spot/clubhouse — will find this photo immeasurably sad.
So will devotees of the Blu Parrot, the much shorter-lived, but also greatly admired, live music/bar/restaurant.
As Saugatuck undergoes a renaissance — Phase II opened officially last week, adding more retail and residential space to the current mix of excellent restaurants, popular bars, walkable streets and new river activities — there must be a way to repurpose this great space.
Click “Comments” for suggestions. Use real, full names, please!
I could write for hours with stories about the Arrow and the Nistico family. You couldn’t find a family more dedicated to the town. They have been serving great food since the mid 1930s. I started going to the Arrow with my parents around 1955. They had the best salad dressing I ever tasted. My father graduated with Frank Nistico from Staples in 1936, so my family has know their family for decades.
A drive through Starbucks right opposite the train station and just off the 95 exit would be great!
Well, the building would have to go – but what about a movie theater? I know, I know, there’s a plan for an arts movie theater in town, but what about a “regular” run theater? Parking lot would be filled, and spillover could go into the commuter lots in the evening.
it’s under contract. Selling for 2.8 million
The recent brief incarnation as a destination for live entertainment was definitely the right idea. It had many good elements in place, including easy parking. There are so few places to go AFTER the movies or just to hang out in an adult atmosphere late in the evening, We still need a few more establishments where the kitchen does not close at 9 pm.With its accessibility to the highways and trains, this is an ideal location,The sad reality is that it is difficult to keep such a venue profitable without charging a very high cover fee in a rental market like Westport.
Who is buying in it, jlg?
Anything that brings people off 95 for a quick hit, is a bad idea. A Starbucks, NOI!!! A totally plastic place without any character. In addition that would kill Commuter coffee, cocoa Michele and the new Steam in the RR station. No chains, Other than Dunkin (which agreed to use a wood sign), there are no chains in Saugatuck. Gault was not putting any in and the RR place owners have agreed to strive not to as well. Let downtown be that a mecca, Saugatuck can be home grown, unique and inviting, not another faceless mall of stores.
Tarry Lodge, has Tarry Markets, that would be cool, a small store, a bodega, some place for the local folks to buy their milk, juice and eggs.
I like the movie theatre idea, if there’s enough space. One could walk from a restaurant to a flick, just like in the ‘old days’ of the Fine Arts.
Seems likwe an ideal place to move the fire house.
Not enough room for either a movie theater or the fire house. But the firehouse would be great just up the hill between the exits of 95. We just need to wrestle the land from the state to do it.
Little Pub would be fantastic – they have figured out the right menu, wait staff and cocktails