When the Connecticut Department of Transportation clear cut dozens of trees last week along the Sherwood Island Connector, Hillandale Road and West Parish Road — in preparation for next winter’s construction of a new maintenance facility — Westporters realized they had little recourse.
It’s state land. And the state can do what it wants.
Longtime Westporters remember that back in the day, the property that includes what is now Walgreens also belonged to Connecticut.
But it wasn’t DOT property.
It was the State Police.
Troop G barracks. Bonus shot: a Minnybus. (Photo/Clint Vogel)
For decades, Troop G was headquartered there. They occupied a handsome brick building — diagonally across, quite interestingly, from both a gay bar (The Brook) and a strip club (Krazy Vin’s).
Convenient to both I-95 (via the Connector) and the Merritt Parkway (Roseville Road), their sirens sometimes gave local drivers a scare. But — as “staties” — they didn’t care about us. They used our roads to race to more important places.
Today it’s hard to tell a state police car until it’s right behind you, either to pass (phew!) or pull you over (f—!).
But in 1972, this is what we saw headed to the highways, and on them:
(Photo courtesy of Anthony Dohanos)
Troop G moved to Bridgeport in the 1980s. Krazy Vin’s closed later; the Brook followed.
In their places we have a drugstore, pet store and patio store.
And — in a couple of years — a brand new maintenance facility, very visible to everyone who drives by.
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2AM @ the Sherwood Diner
Noisy drunks from the strip club Crazy Vins take half a dozen tables. Moments later a similar size group arrives from the gay bar The Brooke and it looks like there could be trouble 😱
But wait ‼️ sitting at the counter drinking gratis coffee are two State Policemen from across the street with their pistols hanging from their belts.
Peace in Westport 🇺🇸
Yep. Those were truly the good old days!! lol..But we (WPD) had a great relationship with the guys from ‘G”.We used to all go out for drinks together at 8am after a midnight to 8 shift. Still friends with several of those guys.
Curious who was open and serving drinks at 8AM? I mean, certainly nice that they were open to serve the late shift, but seems somewhat unusual.
Bill, we had our spot(s)..Nobody said they were open per se..We were all in our twenties ..It was different time. Nice but different.
Funny, in those good old days, single women were not allowed to sit at the bar in CT. Some bars were open 24-7 up in New Haven.
The State cops used to fly down Roseville heading for the Merritt. As they passed our house off Cross Highway, my father would never fail to say: “Must be late for dinner.”
Interesting. I remember a time (late 1940s, maybe spilling over into the 50s) when *all* CT state police cars were unmarked. Then came the reign of Abe Ribicoff, who pushed through a law mandating a 30-day license suspension for a first-offense speeding conviction. This in turn created a logjam in the courts, as a big percentage of speeders fought their cases hard. Sanity finally prevailed.