Years ago, the tenant in one of Westport’s most prominent buildings – most recently leased by Patagonia – was Westport Bank & Trust Company. Their motto was “A hometown bank, in a town of homes.”
The next tenant will sell those homes.
Next spring, Compass Westport will move into the red brick space with 20-foot ceilings (87 Post Road East, at the junction of Church Lane). The real estate firm is currently across the Saugatuck River, at 54 Wilton Road.
Their “new” building was built in 1924 — a year after the Westport YMCA (now Anthropologie), a few yards away. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The bank vault downstairs has been repurposed as space for Pink Sumo restaurant, which will remain.
Two large murals by noted artist Robert Lambdin — a handsome backdrop in the bank, and retained by Patagonia — will continue to be displayed.
The Patagonia building has been vacant since Christmas Eve, 2023. The Westport location opened in 2005.
87 Post Road East recently …
… and as Westport Bank & Trust on Christmas Day, 1975. (Photo/Fred Cantor)
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Hollywood — and the world — is mourning the death of Robert Redford.
Westport and Weston residents are remembering him as a neighbor. He lived in this area for a while, and visited frequently with his great friend and frequent co-star, Paul Newman.
Twenty years ago, they settled into the Westport Country Playhouse’s red velvet seats, and were filmed for a Sundance Channel documentary, “Iconoclasts.”
Paul Newman and Robert Redford. (Photo courtesy of Westport Country Playhouse)
If you have a local memory of Redford, click “Comments” below.
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They’re all over the place. You can’t ignore them. And there will be more to come.
No, not spotted lanternflies.
Political signs.
What — if any — are the regulations regarding those ubiquitous placards?
Free speech (including political signs) is protected. It is not regulated by zoning — unlike signs advertising businesses and special events (which are regulated).
These general guidelines apply to all temporary signs (including political ones):
- No sign may be placed on any public school property without permission from the superintendent’s office.
- No sign may be placed within the interior of Compo Beach or Longshore Club Park.
- No sign may be placed on Town Hall property.
- No sign may be placed on trees or utility poles.
- No sign may interfere with traffic visibility.
PS: Do not steal political signs! You may not agree with another candidate, but that’s not cool.
Political — and non-profit — signs from a past election.
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As fall approaches, and residents declutter their closets, the Westport Woman’s Club invites donations of clothes for its annual tag sale.
Retail businesses can contribute surplus inventories of clothing and accessories too.
Items may be dropped off any weekday between 10 a.m. and noon, and 1 to 4 p.m., at the clubhouse (44 Imperial Avenue).
All women’s and men’s clothes, along with shoes, boots, handbags, scarves, jewelry and more is welcome.
Torn or soiled items cannot be accepted, or personal items like undergarments, lingerie and bathing suits.
The clothing tag sale is Friday and Saturday, October 24-25 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), and Sunday, October 26 (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
Funds raised support the Woman’s Club’s food closet, student scholarships, and community grants.
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What’s cooking at Wakeman Town Farm?
“Hot Sauce Hangout” (September 24, 6:30 p.m.; $40): Learn to make your own from farm fresh produce, with music and a nosh.
“Friday Fun for Kids” (September 26, 5 to 6:30 p.m.; $65): Grill and chill cooking class; ages 7-12. After gathering herbs and veggies from the garden: marinated grilled chicken, corn skewers, baked potato bar, and apple fritters.
“Family Fall Beer Garden (October 12, noon to 4 p.m.; $15 adults, kids free; food beverage, crafts available to purchase; proceeds benefit WTF educational programs). Music, lawn games, bubbles, animal encounters, pumpkin crafts and more. Pizza by Tony Napolitano; Food Truck Refinery; gelato from Fatto a Mano; adult beverages from Greens Farms Spirit Shop.
Click here, then scroll down for more information.
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Rach’s Hope — the non-profit honoring the memory of 2015 Staples High School graduate Rachel Doran, which provides nutritious food, lodging, transportation and encouragement to family members when a child is in intensive care — is as active as Rachel herself was.
On Sunday, October 5 (3 p.m., Ned Dimes Marina at Compo Beach), everyone is invited to join the 5th annual “Walk the Extra Mile … For Rach’s Hope” event.
It’s a fun, community-wide beach walk, with live music, a pizza truck, beer and wine, dessert, and special Rach’s Hope swag.
Need more incentive? In celebration of his 84th birthday, Rachel’s grandfather Michael Isenberg completed his pledge to walk 1,000 miles for Rach’s Hope.
He’ll be there. He invites everyone to “walk the extra mile” with him — or come cheer others on.
Click here for tickets, and to make added donations.
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Woodpeckers are supposed to peck wood. I mean, it’s right there in the name.
The star of today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo — spotted at Earthplace — doesn’t quite get it. I guess he’s a dirtpecker.
(Photo/Johanna Keyser Rossi)
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And finally … on this date in 1630, the city of Boston was founded.
(Whether Westport’s your home — or Boston, or anywhere else — you’re here because you enjoy “06880.” But publishing this blog every day takes work! Please click here to support us. Thank you!)
A bunch of us were hanging out at a table at the Ships Lantern, probably around 1971, which was our regular hangout in the late 60’s and 70’s. Despite that, when Redford and his posse came in the management made us vacate the table for them. I suppose we were somewhat rude about it rather than star struck, but a fun memory. Chris Wood
Wow, that’s pretty poor business practice on the part of management unless he was a regular more than you folks.
I was at the Ship’s Lantern around that time. Just me and a friend having a beer and the bartender. The door opened and a beautiful woman way out of our league entered. Behind her a second beauty then a smallish guy. After they walked by I told my friend that was Redford. He didn’t believe me so he walked in the back to the bathroom and came back and said yep.
I remember it well. I was the “smallish guy.”
I later took care of his old property on Davis Hill in Weston.
Back in the 80’s I was a mortgage lender at a bank. One of our loan officers got a call from a “manager” who submitted an application for his client. He would eventually disclose that it was for Redford when he bought his home in Weston. Everything was done by power of attorney, of course, but all the women on the staff kiddingly insisted he came into the bank to sign.
Redford and Newman used to play tennis at Sylvan Tennis. A few times I played on the court next to them… or I sorta played, finding my attention to my game and trying to keep my balls out of their court very challenging!
I remember hearing about a young teen who found a wallet at a local tennis court sometime around 1975. Inside were loose bills totaling over $1,000. He brought the wallet to Mr. Redford’s house, and Robert was genuinely delighted by the boy’s honesty.
That’s not a woodpecker; it’s a Northern Flicker (although it is in the woodpecker family).
Westport/Weston YMCA, run by Dick Foot, on Church Lane would close up the gym in the 1990s for Paul Newman and Robert Redford. They would enthusiastically run up the back staircase like school boys, grinning, Robert wearing a black beret for their spirited BADMINTON Match! 🏸 Love these two and their lifelong contagious chemistry.
My husband Chef Pietro from Da Pietro’s was telling me stories about his time spent with Robert Redford yesterday. Pietro cooked for him in Utah after having many meals at the restaurant. But the best story is the morning Pietro came into work and yelled who drew on my table cloth?! Well he was pleased to know it was Mr. Redford who had made a drawing of Pietro in the middle of the tablecloth. What an amazing gift we have treasured for years!
Patagonia’s space is a perfect fit for a theater to add to the arts and culture of Westport. Another real estate office does zero.
There were 3 theaters across the street, for 60 years, and one around the corner. In the late 1990s, it became financially unviable. Have you run the numbers on opening a theater in that space? It was vacant for over a year. Seems like enough time for a theater group to have made a bid, if they could make it work.
David,
With the home prices being what they are it only takes one sale and you can retire. Almost as lucrative as having a meth lab in your basement (which is probably what enables the people to buy the house in the first place).
I haven’t lived in Westport for quite a while but where I do live, I pay close attention to the number and positioning of political campaign signs. The campaign with the most signs LOSES MY VOTE.
Same, and for a Party that hates guns so much they sure love to shoot at people who disagrees with them.
The Kirk shooter came from a Republican family, who conveniently, showed him how to shoot and made sure there was a rifle in the house. Probably loaded.
Yes, and that “Republican family” did exactly what they were supposed to, called the police. The left can’t handle a debate, so they pick up a gun instead. The Kirk shooter wasn’t some product of a “Republican household” he went far left, was pro-trans, and even engraved anti-fascist slogans on his bullets. Trump rally shooter, Kavanaugh attempt, Paul Pelosi… the list goes on. This isn’t random, this is a pattern of left-wing political violence that too many including yourself refuse to see.
So glad they called the police. Too bad the horse was already out of the barn.
If you teach your child to shoot a rifle, provide them means to mayhem and all breaks loose, then maybe you should have taught them to bowl instead.
Any firearms in your house? I’m sure they’re in a “safe”.
So now teaching kids safe gun handling is the problem? Great take. Millions of families pass down firearms and responsibility without producing killers. The Kirk shooter didn’t snap because he knew how to shoot – he snapped because he got radicalized by Leftist terrorists and chose violence. Trying to shift blame onto law-abiding families instead of the individual is exactly why this kind of left-wing violence keeps getting brushed aside.
And as for whether I own guns, that’s none of your business.
Huh. Did you know that the 2024 US Justice department report on this question came to different conclusion:
“Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists, including 227 events that took more than 520 lives. In this same period, far-left extremists committed 42 ideologically motivated attacks that took 78 lives.”
Too bad the current administration took down the report before you got a chance to read it. I wonder why they did that? Lol.
Luckily for you, I found it:
https://web.archive.org/web/20250911012550/https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/what-nij-research-tells-us-about-domestic-terrorism
I hope you cheer up. You sound grumpy.
Russell, nice of you to dig up decades-old DOJ stats – truly riveting bedtime reading. Sure, far-right extremists caused more deaths over 30 years but we’re not debating history, we’re debating right now. Political violence from the left is front and center: Kirk, Kavanaugh, Pelosi, and it’s only getting attention when it becomes deadly. Using 30-year-old aggregates to excuse or deflect from current attacks is not analysis -it’s intellectual cowardice.
And seriously, framing murder as a footnote in a statistics game? That’s not debate, that’s moral bankruptcy. Disagreement is one thing. Violence is another. Normalize “views you don’t like = acceptable target” and you’ve lost both the argument and common sense.
Btw, my son will be leading the TPUSA chapter at BYU this year, you should come out and support. Maybe see some ideas that survive beyond cherry-picked numbers
A report covering 30 period ending in 2024 is not a “30 year old report”.
You asserted “for a Party that hates guns so much they sure love to shoot at people who disagrees with them”. That false smear is aimed at democrats, but then you said “far right extremists cause more deaths”. At least you got it right the second time.
By the way, the Pelosi attacker, according to the internets, espoused far-right views, promoted QAnon, Pizzagate, and other far-right conspiracy theories, as well as sharing far-right Internet memes. So you got that wrong too. I’m reached my 06880 limit.
No, no, Russell, you did not just try that. A report covering 1990–2024 is literally a 30+ year span, so yes, it’s decades-old data. That doesn’t erase the reality of what’s happening right now: Kirk, Kavanaugh, Pelosi. You’re leaning on historical aggregates to pretend the current wave of left-wing political violence doesn’t exist. That’s not clever, it’s denial.
And as for Pelosi, you’re flat-out wrong. David DePape wasn’t some MAGA diehard; he was a fringe, mentally unstable drifter with a long history of leftist leanings who spiraled into conspiracy nonsense. Even major outlets noted he didn’t fit neatly into “far right,” but you’ll grab whatever talking point makes you feel safe.
So no, Russell, you don’t get to cherry-pick stats and rewrite history to dodge the present. Disagreement is one thing. Violence is another. Stop excusing it.
Ryan:
Charlie Kirk, nor anyone for that matter, deserves to die in the manner Kirk did.
But your labeling the shooter “far left” excuses Kirk’s “far right” opposition to abortion, gun control, women’s rights, immigration, diversity initiatives and LGBT rights.
He acknowledged that his provocative rhetoric, permissable as it was under our unalienable right of free speech, could potentially cause him harm and he gladly accepted that risk.
You should rethink your ridiculously ignorant statement that “the left can’t handle a debate so they pick up a gun instead”. The very same could be said for the right.
Dave, nobody is saying Kirk was perfect and I didn’t agree with everything that he said. But since when is having opinions on abortion, gun control, immigration, or diversity initiatives automatically “far right”? By that standard, half the country is “far right” and apparently fair game to be shot. You can disagree with him all day long, that’s free speech. But labeling him “far right” to justify what happened is just excuse-making.
The shooter wasn’t violent because Kirk had opinion, he was radicalized, went far left, was openly pro-trans, and even engraved anti-fascist slogans on his bullets. And here’s the reality: you can argue both sides throw sharp rhetoric, but when it comes to political assassinations. The two assassination attempts on Trump’s life, the Kavanaugh attempt, Melissa Hortman, Paul Pelosi, now Kirk – the violence is overwhelmingly coming from the left. That’s a pattern you can’t just wish away.
Ryan:
There is no far right or far left when it comes to murdering someone and there is no pattern. There is only evil intent and this kid had it.
Kirk was far right (some might say radicalized) and he acknowledged it over and over again. He knew that championing far right radical ideaologies put him at risk. It is abhorrent that the risk manifested itself in the manner it did.
For what it’s worth, I’m 52 years old and have been happily married for 27 years to my staunchly Republican wife. We are both pro-trans, oppose fascism and oppressive idealogies and both thought Kirk was an incredibly intelligent individual. We also believed him to be a stupefyingly and profoundly divisive and ignorant ass that did not deserve to die the way he did.
I broke up a fight with them outside Ships in ‘77. They were debating who was the bigger star and I broke the tie by saying it was unquestionably Paul . Bob (Redford) went away muttering but several years later (‘85 I think it was) I was at the Players Tavern having a few shots n’ brews with Paul and Bob broke in and stuck his nose in my face and snarled: “Whose the bigger star now, Buck?” (The Natural had just been released) and I said: “Sorry, Bob, it’s all about staying power. Nothing against your considerable good looks but Paul’s been at this a whole lot longer and he doesn’t need the hair or the cool mustache to pull it off. He’s still tops.” Bob (Redford) muttered something I can’t repeat on 06880 and departed. I transferred to Rochester (only 63 miles from where they filmed The Natural). I had Bob and the whole cast (including Kim Basinger!!!) over to my place for burgers and brews, we all laughed about it. I will miss him. I’m sure it is mutual. He mentored me when no one else took the time. One of the best things about living in Westport was there was no shortage of celebrities who looked to “give back” to the less fortunate (like me).
Bon Voyage dear friend!!!
Great writings, Eric! (I’m sure Right now both Redford and Paul are smiling at this! 🙂
Although a member of the woodpecker family, that is a Flicker. They forage on the ground, primarily for ants.
Chris,
I always thought they called him “Woody” Woodpecker because he used a prosthesis (but he was just glad to see me).
Boston, ‘The Hub of the Universe’. Rightly so.
Many years ago, my (ex) husband and I were having dinner at Tavern on Main, and who walked in, and sat directly across from us? None other than Robert Redford, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Needless to say, I thoughtt I would pass out! I could not stop staring at them! What an amazing, talented trio, who were just so unassuming in “our town” which was also just their town!
Thanks to all for your comments. The subject of gun violence has been thoroughly discussed here. This thread is closed to further comments.