Last week’s Friday Flashback — about the original Comp Beach concession stand, where the volleyball courts are today — drew a yeah-but-remember-further-back comment from Michael Calise.
The native Westporter recalls that even before the Chubby Lane’s shack, the original pavilion had a second-floor dining spot.
Look familiar?
It should. The pavilion was damaged in a storm, leading to the removal of most of the structure. What’s left today is the open-air pavilion, next to the volleyball courts and drop-off/pick-up area.
Only the roof remains. But it’s the same one as in the photo.
PS: Michael Calise says that across the street — in what is now the Soundview parking lot — a bandshell featured nightly entertainment, run by the concessionaire.
It was the lower part of the pavilion that was most damaged in that 1950 hurricane. I remember the next morning there, talking to with a man I assumed to be a town official who said “it’s all destroyed, there’s nothing left.” I pointed out that the upper part was still there, just a little twisted and suggested that maybe you could make the upper part an open air structure at ground level. Was I talking to someone who could do that? I never knew. But that’s what was done.