As traffic builds once again in Saugatuck, many drivers are stuck on Charles Street. They have time to look at Tarry Lodge, and wonder about its odd configuration on that tight lot.
Did it used to be something else?
Of course! Everything in Westport was once different.
Tarry Lodge — and before that, Abbondanza — was once Esposito’s service station.
In this 1929 photo — posted to social media by Deej Webb — it was the place to go for “No-Nox” Gulf gas, tires, ice cream, tobacco and “provisions.”
A taxi service operated there too. The phone number was 418.
As with many old photographs, there are questions. Are those the Espositos posing in front? If so, did they always dress that way? If not, who are those customers, and where were they going?
What about the little kid hiding shyly in the doorway? He (or she?) could still be alive today — though nearing 100.
Esposito’s was around for a long time. Here’s a view from the mid-1950s. Still a Gulf station, by then it offered storage, washing and lubrication.
You can really see the bones of Tarry Lodge in the photo above.
You can also see I-95 behind it — midway through construction that sliced through the neighborhood.
And contributes to the heavy traffic at this same spot today.