Monthly Archives: April 2021

Roundup: Remarkable Movies, Compo Parking, Y Animals …

Posted on April 26, 2021 | 3 comments

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Everything about the Remarkable Theater has been easy — parking, viewing, exiting.

Everything, that is, except the website. It was hard to find out what was playing, and when.

No longer. Westport’s amazing drive-in movie venue just rolled out a redesigned website (http://remarkabletheater.org). Now there’s no excuse not to see a show.

But I’ll make it easy. Here’s this week’s schedule:

  • Tuesday, April 27: “Singin’ in the Rain.” Perhaps the most memorable movie musical ever. Half-price Tuesday!
  •  Wednesday, April 28: “Sixteen Candles.” Perhaps the most memorable teen flick ever.
  • Friday, April 30: “Pitch Perfect.” Fun with an all-girls singing group.
  • Saturday, May 1: “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” This Avengers film is a fundraiser for myTeamTriumph. Tickets are $125; all proceeds benefit this great group, which helps people with disabilities participate in triathlons and 5Ks.

Gates open at 6:45 p.m. Pre-show content starts at 7:15. The feature film begins around 7:45. See you there!

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Several readers have asked whether daily parking will be allowed for out-of-town vehicles this summer at Westport beaches.

The answer is: yes — at Compo only. 100 daily passes will be available, at the gate. They’re $45 on weekdays, $70 on weekends.

Out-of-town visitors were not allowed last year, due to COVID-19.

Westport Parks & Recreation staff will sell parking passes for out-of-towners this year.

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Peter Stuart Swann — a Westport resident for nearly 50 years — died peacefully this month, with his wife Patria by his side. He was 83.

Born in New York City, he had been a Westport resident since 1972. He attended the University of Colorado and served in the United States Navy.

Peter enjoyed a long career in the newspaper representative business, retiring as director of research for the Papert Company. He was a former president of the Media Research Directors Association.

Peter was also an active community volunteer. He served as treasurer for Save Westport Now, Friends of the Westport Library, and the “River of Names” mural fundraiser for the Library. Until COVID, he helped stock the Westport Book Sale’s free books carousel at the Saugatuck train station.

For many years he performed patient outreach for Trinity Episcopal Church of Southport, playing piano for patients at the Ludlow Health Center.

In addition to his wife he is survived by a brother, Sherwood Lee (Mary) of Newport, North Carolina; a dear cousin, Lawrence Tuttle of Munson, Massachusetts; 2 nieces and a nephew.

A graveside service will be held Friday (April 30, 11 a.m.) at Willowbrook Cemetery in Westport. In lieu of flowers, a donation in Peter’s memory may be made to Trinity Episcopal Church, 651 Pequot Avenue, Southport, CT 06890. Click here to offer an online condolence. (Hat tip: Richard Lowenstein)

Peter Swann

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Westport gets more gorgeous by the day. These tulips are among many in the Greens Farms area.

(Photo/Kathleen O’Keefe)

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For years — well, at least since it opened in 2014 — members of the Westport Weston Family Y have marveled at a cow, visible on the roof through windows nearly the lobby.

Now it’s got company.

There must be a back story. But I have no idea what it is.

(Photo/Dan Woog)

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Saturday was Westport Clean-Up Day. Jerry Kuyper went out on his own, to do his part.

In an empty lot on Spicer Road, near Rayfield Road, he found a number of empty cigarette packs.

It was not the first time he saw such a collection of litter. So he wonders: Did someone methodically deposit one pack every day or so? Or store them in a bag in their car for a week, before flinging them out the window? Consciously not throw them on a neatly kept yard, but find an overgrown one irresistible?

The mind boggles.

(Photo/Jerry Kuyper)

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And finally … memories of Ye Olde Bridge Grille flooded back when I heard of the death of its longtime owner, Dave Reynolds.

It was a “Cheers”-like bar the likes of which Westport may never see again. In one corner sat a jukebox. In all the years Dave owned the Bridge, I don’t think the records ever changed. The song I remember most — it was played over and over, night after night after night — could not be more apt. It’s a fitting epitaph for a great bar, and its big-hearted, much-loved owner.

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Posted in Beach, Entertainment, Environment, Library, YMCA

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Remembering Dave Reynolds

Posted on April 26, 2021 | 18 comments

Dave Reynolds died on Saturday in Fairfield, after a long battle with cancer. He was 80 years old.

To generations of Westporters, he was the welcoming owner of Ye Olde Bridge Grille. Located on Post Road West, next door to National Hall (at that point, the Fairfield Furniture store), it was the “Cheers” of its day (though smaller and less well lit). Today it’s an interior design shop.

The Bridge Grille, around 1980. Fairfield Furniture Store is at right; today it’s been restored to its original look, as National Hall.

Bars like “the Bridge” — with a jukebox, bowling game, wooden tables, plenty of beer, and a mostly-but-not-entirely young crowd of regulars — no longer exist in Westport. In the 1970s and ’80s, it was legendary.

Dave — an excellent golfer — became a soccer fan thanks to several of his bartenders. He sponsored a Westport Under-23 team that was as legendary as the bar that sponsored it. His Bridge teams won numerous state championships, with a roster that included some of Staples’ best players ever, and top stars from around the tri-state area.

Dave Reynolds, at the bar.

A Brooklyn native, Dave played varsity basketball at Boston College. After graduating in 1963, he worked on Wall Street. Owning the Bridge Grille was his second career.

Dave was a devout parishioner of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Fairfield. He was also active in the Knights of Columbus.

Dave is survived by his sister, Mary Anne Reynolds; 2 sisters-in-law, and several nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. He was predeceased by his brothers Arthur, Frank, Robert and Paul.

A funeral service will be held Tuesday (April 27, 11 a.m.) at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 1719 Post Road, Fairfield, with burial to follow in St. Thomas Cemetery, Fairfield. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Knights of Columbus.

Dave Reynolds

 

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Posted in Local business, Looking back

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Eartha & Kitt: A Love Story In Black And White

Posted on April 26, 2021 | 3 comments

In 1957, Eartha Kitt starred in the Westport Country Playhouse production of “Mrs. Patterson.”

She was already famous. The actor/singer/dancer had debuted on Broadway a dozen years earlier. Her 1953 recordings of “C’est Si Bon” and “Santa Baby” both hit the Top 10. Orson Welles had called her the “most exciting woman in the world.”

She had homes in Beverly Hills and London. But in 2001 — after her daughter Kitt Shapiro had married Allan Rothschild, and moved into his Westport house — Eartha Kitt bought a home in Weston.

She loved it: the people, the river, the proximity to New York (and her grandchildren).

Kitt and her kids thrived here. She loves living in “a unique area, with eclectic people.” Three years ago she opened WEST, a very cool Post Road East boutique.

Eartha Kitt died in 2008. Kitt had worked closely with her, on business matters.

Now Kitt has written a book. Eartha & Kitt: A Daughter’s Love Story in Black and White details their wonderful relationship. And much, much more. It will be published May 4, just before Mother’s Day.

Eartha’s mother was of African and Cherokee descent. Eartha never knew her father; he may have been white.

“I was meant to be her daughter. I gave my mother roots and grounding,” Kitt — who was born in 1961, during Eartha’s 4-year marriage to John McDonald — says. “That’s not always easy, for people in that industry.”

Eartha Kitt was sometimes “too light-skinned for Black people, and too dark for white people,” Kitt Shapiro says.

Kitt herself has been attacked on social media for being “too light to be Eartha Kitt’s daughter.”

Eartha Kitt and her daughter.

“The gene pool does what it does,” she says. “My mother thought that treating people a certain way just because of their skin color was preposterous. She couldn’t understand the need of society to pigeonhole people as one particular thing.”

In her early years in New York, Eartha had to be “either a jazz singer or a gospel singer. She couldn’t be just ‘a singer.’ She fought against that, and we’re still fighting that today.”

That’s one of the themes of Eartha & Kitt. Kitt felt this is “the right time to talk about race, and a woman who was a trailblazer. She was a Black woman, a role model who spoke out.”

Eartha Kitt certainly did that. In 1968 — at a White House luncheon — she sharply criticized President Johnson’s handling of the Vietnam War. The CIA called her “a sadistic nymphomaniac,” and her career stalled in the US. She continued to perform, with great success, in Europe and Asia.

In 1978 she returned triumphantly to Broadway, in “Timbuktu!” She gained new generations of fans with voiceovers in movies like “The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story,” New York cabarets and much more.

Kitt Shapiro’s new book is “for anyone who had a relationship like we did — whether it was with a mother, a mother figure or a sibling.”

Its message, she says, will resonate with many: “We all have a right to be here. We are all unique. We can embrace and learn from each other. That was my mother’s philosophy, and it speaks to a lot of people.”

When Eartha Kitt died, her daughter says proudly, she had 200,000 Facebook followers. Many were women between 18 and 35 years old. They admired “a woman who never compromised who she was. She always spoke the truth.”

Now Kitt Shapiro brings that message to a new, even wider audience.

(Click here to order Eartha & Kitt: A Daughter’s Love Story in Black and White. Eartha Kitt died of colon cancer; Kitt Shapiro is raising funds for the American Cancer Society’s “Women Leading the Way to Wellness” project. Stop in to WEST at 117 Post Road East; for $125 you get a signed copy of her book, a scented candle, and beaded bracelet.)

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Posted in Arts, Entertainment, Local business, Media, Westport Country Playhouse

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Pic Of The Day #1469

Posted on April 25, 2021 | Comments Off on Pic Of The Day #1469

Grace Salmon Park sunset (Photo/Patricia McMahon)

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Posted in Downtown, Environment

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Students Eat Up Ann Neary’s English Class

Posted on April 25, 2021 | 1 comment

Every day, Staples High School English teacher Ann Neary inspires students.

Now — with a story published in the International Council of English Teachers newsletter — she inspires 25,000 colleagues around the world.

Her piece also provides special insights into the education in the year 2021. She writes:

I am, at heart, a foodie. I think about my next meal as I am eating the one in front of me. I cannot imagine not spending time to find the best Pink Lady apples in the overflowing apple bin at the market. So, when it comes to getting to know my students when a semester begins, one of the survey questions I ask them is, “What is a food you cannot live without?” The results provide conversation starters and connections for the length of a semester and beyond.

Making connections and building relationships is particularly important during this unusual teaching year when I have 12 students physically in front of me and another 14 behind me on a Zoom screen. It is always important when teaching literature from diverse cultures such as those we visit in World Literature.

Ann Neary

As I prepare for my class, I wonder what potential pitfalls might my students face when analyzing text? What sort of questions might I ask to challenge their thinking about literature and culture? How might I support student inquiry? My guiding and compelling “why” for offering selections of literature from around the world, is how do we value the “tapestry of the human condition”? How do we reduce prejudice and bias? How do I make literature the passport to the world?

Essential questions for all units of study ask: what are the points of commonality we notice between different works of literature and people? Where does it diverge? How do we honor all voices and cultures?

One of the points of commonality is food. We all eat. We all have foods we like and love. Writers write about food, students talk about food. One of my go-to sources of literature for easy student access (especially in a hybrid setting) is WordsWithoutBordersCampus. There I found a marvelous story from Korea called Wizard Bakery, written by Koo Byung-Mo and translated from Korean by Jamie Chang. It opens:

The Devil’s Cinnamon Cookies.

2 per serving.

9000 won.

Ingredients: flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, raisins, and a secret extract. The essence of the extract will not be revealed, as certain ingredients may be found revolting. (Baker’s note: Extract contains no known allergens, so not to worry. Besides, you’re not going to eat it yourself!)

Product Details: Give the cookie to someone you don’t like. The cookie will mentally incapacitate the recipient for an average of two hours so that the person will fail in all endeavors, no matter what they may be. If recipient is giving an important presentation or making a speech, subjects and predicates will not match. Recipient will ramble and appear idiotic to anyone present. If consumed on a full stomach, recipient may fail to control a bowel movement. If consumed on an empty stomach, recipient will experience continuous vomiting. Legends say that one infamous lawyer who ate this cookie during court recess was thrown out of court and disbarred!

Students are hooked immediately  A few paragraphs in, students read about the other best selling food items offered such as the Broken-heart Pineapple Madeleine that helps heal broken hearts faster but might not be a good choice because it may cause you to get into a meaningless rebound relationship. This gives rise to a wonderful writing prompt where students can mimic the style and concepts themselves. My favorites included:

Cookie Crumbles: a cookie made with all sorts of cookie dough jumbled in one delicious , gigantic cookie. It will take so long to eat such deliciousness that students will forget all about college acceptances and rejections.

Ann Neary with an aaaaaaa-mazing chocolate chip cookie.

COVID Custard: present this creamy delight to your grannie or anyone without teeth or over 65. It will protect them from contracting COVID and allow them visitation rights to your house so they can make some real desserts.

Food brought them into the conversation about literature from another country. But their thinking as they read  expanded into recognition that there are many commonalities across the human experience that unite us more than separate us. And that was as I hoped it would be.

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Posted in Education, Staples HS

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Photo Challenge #330

Posted on April 25, 2021 | 8 comments

The answer to last week’s Photo Challenge was easy.

Mark Mathias’ shot of a sign — “NOTICE No Skateboarding Etc.” — was taken in the rear parking of Compo Shopping Center. It hangs near CVS, and East Main Street. (Click here to see.)

Molly Alger, John McCarthy, Andrew Colabella and Michael Calise nailed it.

But do they — or anyone — know what “etc.” refers to? Usually it follows at least a few other items. This sign leaves a lot to the imagination.

This week’s Photo Challenge is, well, sad. If you know where in Westport you’d see this forlorn sight, click Comments below.

(Photo/Bob Weingarten)

 

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Posted in Local business, Photo Challenge

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Roundup: Y’s Men, Oka …

Posted on April 25, 2021 | Comments Off on Roundup: Y’s Men, Oka …

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Yesterday was Westport Clean-up Day. The Y’s Men (of course) did their part, at the Baldwin parking lot.

Unlike last year, they did not find an abandoned sofa. But there was still more than enough trash to go around.

Y’s Men take a break. (Photo courtesy of Jay Dirnberger)

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One more Main Street vacancy has been filled. OKA — the English furniture retailer — will move into the former Banana Republic property. (Hat tip: Kathleen Fazio)

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Longtime Westporter and university professor David Levande died Friday. He was 75.

Born in the Bronx, he grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University.

David was a well-respected professor at the Southern Connecticut State University graduate school of education. He took pride in founding a summer institute for improving urban education, following his lifelong passions of equity, tolerance and kindness.

David previously taught at Iona College, Enrico Fermi Middle School in Yonkers, and the Bronx.

He was a popular fixture in Westport for years, enjoying Compo Beach, tennis, the YMCA, and connecting with new and old friends at local restaurants and cafes. A devoted father and grandfather, he is survived by his daughter Lynne Longo (Christopher) of Bethel; son Paul Levande (partner Bryce Payne), grandchildren Andrew, Dylan and Matthew Longo, and niece Rachel Sirak. David was predeceased by his sister Laura Levande.

Services will take place tomorrow (Monday, April 26, 2 p.m. at Willowbrook Cemetery in Westport. In lieu of flowers, David’s family requests that donations be sent to the Lewy Body Dementia Association in his name.

David Levande

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Rindy Higgins is a substitute teacher in town. She writes:

One day when I was assigned to 3rd grade at Saugatuck Elementary School, a little girl looked pensively at her writing, slightly nodding her head from side to side.

Eventually she came up to me and said excitedly, “Look! Look at the word ‘impossible.’ If you change it just a little bit, it can say ‘I’m possible!'”

Wow! Learning from kids is the biggest reason I love to teach! So I called the class together to consider how one might use this idea.

Lots of them shared their ideas, such as changing ‘it’s impossible for me to make that goal’ to ‘I’m possible; I can make that goal!'”

What a great lesson. So the next time it seems ‘impossible,’ think “I’M possible!'”

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And finally … Shock G was found dead on Thursday in a hotel in Tampa. He was 57.

He was the leader of the hip-hop group Digital Underground, was found dead on Thursday at a hotel in Tampa, Fla. He was 57.

Digital Underground had a string of hits in the early 1990s, and launched the career of Tupac Shakur.

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Posted in Downtown, Local business

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Kami Evans Helps Sustain Westport

Posted on April 25, 2021 | Comments Off on Kami Evans Helps Sustain Westport

Quietly — but powerfully — Westport has become a beehive of sustainability.

Between composting, our Net Zero 2050 commitment, the Home Energy Challenge, our embrace of electric vehicles, and organizations like Sustainable Westport, Wakeman Town Farm and Earthplace, many residents, businesses and groups are trying to do what we can to save our planet.

It’s not always easy. many areas need improvement. But awareness of the urgent need to act — and concrete steps to do so — seem high.

One small but important step took place Thursday night. Social media/ networking whiz Kami Evans gathered a group at Wakeman Town Farm. All have a product or concept in the sustainable space. Each spoke briefly about what they do, including what’s going well, and what they need.

Connections were made. Conversations were sparked. Community was formed.

There were established businesses like Savannah Bee, whose products and educational programs raise awareness of bees’ crucial role in our ecosystem, and BD Provisions, which sells healthy food in bulk (and sustainable containers).

Savannah Bee manager Julie Cook talked about her company’s mission — and the importance of bees on our planet.

Westport entrepreneurs described their inventions, like Lustir‘s carbon fiber straws, and those they sold, like SKP hair and body care.

Service providers spoke too: Curbside Compost, which picks up your food scraps and drops off a clean pail, and Staples High School graduate Rachel Precious, whose Precious Oysters offers “tide to table” shucking services.

The Eco Dude shared his vision of a space that will include non-plastic retail products, an artisan cooperative, all-compostable coffee shop, and workshops. (He’s still in the funding phase.)

Organic Krush catered, providing delicious, healthy, and pesticide-, GMO- and hormone-free food.

It would have been compostable, of course. Except it was too good. Not a scrap was left at the end.

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Pic Of The Day #1468

Posted on April 24, 2021 | 1 comment

National Hall, Wright Street building and more (Photo/Michael Chait)

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Roundup: Memorial Day Grand Marshal, Beach Stickers, Church Lane …

Posted on April 24, 2021 | 9 comments

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Plans are underway for a traditional Memorial Day parade. And there’s no better tradition than the grand marshal.

This year’s honor goes to Nicholas Rossi. The 98-year-old World War II veteran has captured the hearts of Westporters since moving here several years ago, to live with his son, daughter-in-law and 3 grandchildren.

The Oyster Bay, Long Island native was a 4-sport (football, basketball, baseball, track) high school athlete.

After graduation in 1940, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. His flight crew was part of the 305th Bombardment Group of the 364th Squadron, assigned to the 8th Air Force Bomber Command in England. A technical sergeant, Rossi flew multiple bombing missions as a B-17 gunner over occupied central Europe.

He was discharged in March 1945, but remained in Liege, Belgium after the war. As a civilian, he was employed by the government to work with the American Graves Registration Command, locating and identifying unrecovered dead military personnel.

Rossi married in 1956 and raised 5 children (Paul, Christine, Caren, Carla and Peter) in the house he built in Mill Neck, New York. Since moving to Westport, he has gotten involved in the town. When his grandchildren were at Staples High School, he attended their many plays, concerts and athletic events.

Congratulations, Mr. Rossi, on this great honor. See you at the parade!

Nicholas Rossi

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This is the week for everyone to enjoy Compo and Old Mill Beaches.

Next Saturday (May 1), parking stickers (“emblems”) are required to enter. For Burying Hill Beach, the date is May 29.

Click here to log in; choose “Memberships,” then type “Vehicle” in the search box. Parking emblems may take a week to 10 days to arrive by mail.

Forgot your login and/or password? Email recreation@westportct.gov or call 203-341-5152.

This driver has plenty of beach stickers.

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Church Lane is once again closed for outdoor dining. And the Westport Downtown Association is doing its part to make the area even more alluring.

They’re producing 40 nights of dinner music, starting April 30. Every Friday and Saturday, from 6 to 9 p.m., area musicians will play. They’re paying gigs. Funds come from sponsorships, and a GoFundMe page.

The WDA will also add lights, outlining details on the Patagonia building and beyond.

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Jeff Seaver waited in line this morning, for the hazardous waste drop-off at the Greens Farms railroad station.

He was not alone. There were 70 cars in line.

But the line moved quickly, Jeff says. “Volunteers worked their tails off. Westport at its best.”

They collected a lot of waste. Which means there’s a lot that is no longer hazardous, at home.

(Photo/Jeff Seaver)

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Folks are buzzing about Wakeman Town Farm’s next event (May 8, 12 noon, Zoom). It’s “The Wonderful World of Honeybees” — a look at why they’re essential, and the microcosm that is the hive.

Shelby Schulman studied environmental science and anthropology at the University of North Carolina. Her introduction to bees came as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea.

As WTF notes, “bees are behind a third of all the food we eat, including fruits, vegetables, chocolate, nuts and coffee.” Click here for tickets ($10).

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Westporter Ken Goldberg owns AFC Urgent Care, a walk-in medical center near the Department of Motor Vehicles in Norwalk.

They do COVID testing (PCR and rapid); they take most all insurances, and they have a doctor who does a brief telemed screening beforehand. Patients then come to be swabbed in their car.

AFC Urgent Care also provides Moderna vaccines. Appointments can be made easily and directly, by phone (203-845-9100). Click here for more information.

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“06880” has followed the saga of 19 Soundview Drive — the century-old home that evaded the wrecking ball this spring (though there are rumors it may still be demolished in the fall).

Yesterday, Patricia McMahon spotted this sign on the house. Whatever happens to the property, someone has a great sense of humor.

(Photo/Patricia McMahon)

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There’s always something to smile about at Compo Beach. Here’s Erica Davis’ message for the day:

(Photo/Amy Saperstein)

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And finally … Les McKeown, lead singer for the Bay City Rollers, died on Tuesday. He was 65. (Hat tip: Amy Schneider)

 

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Posted in Beach, Downtown, Entertainment, Environment, Local business, Westport life

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