New concessionaire Nikki Glekas will soon open “The Sandbar” at Compo Beach.
She replaces the much-reviled “Hook’d” (which in its final death throe year rebranded itself as something like “Bluestone”).
Hook’d was preceded by the much-loved Joey Romeo, whose “Joey’s by the Shore” spent about 3 decades as everything a beach food stand should be.
Before all those, of course, was “Chubby’s.”
Concessionaire Chubby Lane operated at the beach entrance, where the volleyball courts are now.
You could park in front, without a beach sticker.
The screen doors slammed. The smell of burgers and fries was intoxicating.
Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, this was summer in Westport.
Nikki Glekas stands on broad shoulders. She’s got big shoes to fill.
Here’s wishing her a warm, Chubby’s and Joey’s welcome to Compo.
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Wow, that photo does take me back. My mother was an avid Compo Beach goer as a teen. Later on as little kids she regularly brought my sister and I there every summer. I remember going to Parks & Rec at Longshore to get our beach sticker and I definitely remember Chubby’s concession (although mom liked to bring our lunch in a cooler). Best wishes to Nikki and ‘The Sandbar’.
50 years ago when we spent 4 months diligently searching for a home in Westport, our Real Estate Agent announced at one point, in frustration, that she thought the process was really a sham as it was merely an excuse for us to have lunch every Saturday at Chubby Lane. We finally did close on June 6, 1976 and unfortunately Chubbies closed soon thereafter. Not sure that would have been a deal breaker but it really was one of the positives in moving to Westport. Also, we had a tag sale soon after moving to town and I was able to off load all my used blue button down shirts that eventually ended up on the staff at Chubbies.
Oh Chubby’s! My family would rent a cottage at Compo for a month most summers when I was a pre-teen … and the walk down Soundview towards that intoxicating smell of grilling cheeseburgers was heaven. Chubby’s and the Minute Man statue and the jetty stayed in my heart forever, and are the reasons why I decided to move here after early retirement.
I never got to Chubby’s at Compo; Much later, after my piano lesson each week, my mom would then take my sister & myself to amazing Chubby’s on the Post Rd. (By New Englander,I think?)
(Many years later, I played solo piano at the (then) ‘Ocean House, same location, there..:-)
60’s and early 70’s “worked” at Compo Yacht Basin under harbormaster Vince Williams. Worked for tips only – spent just about all my income at Chubby’s.