The Black Duck is a Westport legend.
Between its sloping floor, river view, frequently flooded parking lot and basic but down home menu, “the Duck” never pretended to be anything other than what it was: Westport’s favorite (okay, only) dive bar.
(Don’t believe us? It was immortalized on the “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” TV show.)
One view of the Black Duck … (Photo/Lynn Untermeyer Miller)
For decades, the former barge — which always seems ready to sink, yet somehow remains afloat — never changed.
… and another. (Photo/John Videler for VidelerPhotography)
But the age of AI is here.
And it’s everywhere. Including the Duck.
Last weekend, longtime Westporter Scott Smith, his son Cole Prowitt-Smith and Cole’s girlfriend headed to Saugatuck.
She’s from out of town. Cole wanted to show her a genuine Westport landmark.
They sat outside, on the covered deck. As Scott enjoyed the classic view of the Saugatuck River under the I-95 bridge — with action at the boat ramp across the water, and listening to trains rumbling past — Cole showed him the menu.
It was a new design. Scott says, “perhaps I wouldn’t have picked up on it. But since Cole is a Gen Zer working in New York, and very much involved with AI, he pointed out some glaring absurdities with the photos on the cover.”
Black Duck menu. (Photo/Scott Smith)
As he looked closely, Scott saw that every image was “a horrid example of the AI-enshittification of our commerce and culture.”
The small second floor had been transformed into something grand. Ditto the bar.
The outdoor deck had umbrellas, like Longshore.
The sun was setting — to the north! — across what looked like a wide bay.
And, Scott wondered, What happened to I-95?!
The sun sets to the north, across an impossibly wide Saugatuck River. And why, Scott asks, is one couple sitting oddly behind the backs of others?
“The Black Duck has its own beauty and history, right down to the slanted floorboards,” Scott says. “How anyone could sign off on this faux design is beyond me.
“Truth in advertising may no longer be a thing. But how do you square this AI-feverish depiction when you’re sitting in the real Duck?
“You have to laugh. But it’s not really funny.”
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Ugh. That’s messed up. But it gives me an idea. For the next Revaluation I’m going to have AI make my (aggressively overassessed) house look look like something from Hooverville.
Doesn’t make a difference. Mine already looks like someone’s sad little hunting cabin, and the Vision guy kept saying “but it’s in Westport!” during the appeals process.
I wouldn’t have noticed it either. But I’ll go for the view! It has a large wrap around porch as well. Lovely.
Unless I’m mistaken, it is not only a barge but it is actually atop another barge that is below it.
The Duck has been a Legacy of Westport since I was a kid. It is not this garbage AI put onto the menu. It means more to those that have been there and witnessed the charm it truly is/was… I hate myself for having to include that “was”. To most growing up and being introduced to the Duck, the allure of it, what it meant to our parents and our parent’s parents. The establishment of what the most non Westport thing was, brought a community together.
Now, a small thing like a menu is something to pay attention too, but there are bigger issues this community deserves to have an answer for. Things like, Why can’t we have our Clam Jams back? Why is it impossible to be there when Steamers are on special? Where have the specials gone?
As a community that has supported a staple of Westport, we deserve answers to these questions. No, not answers, we deserve to know why our one little piece of heaven no longer offers the things we each looked for ard to having.
Dan has not heard back from the Black Duck manager or owner after seeking a clarification and/or comment on the “new” menu?
Correct.
I love love love the Black Duck. In the last year, I have brought out-of-town guests from Mississippi and Berlin, Germany, to the Duck for lunch, and they love love love it, too. Heck, I took my daughter there when she was just six weeks old!
I had lunch at the Duck (party of 5) last Friday and immediately noticed the AI-generated menu cover. It made me queasy. It is 100% un-Duck. should have mentioned my unease to our wonderful server, but I didn’t have the heart. I did send a photo of the menu cover to a friend who has been touting the Duck for close to 20 years. He sadly responded, “Gonna see a lot more of that, I’m afraid.”
I KNOW some earnest human effort went into using AI to make the menu cover. But it’s just wrong. I really hope they’ll soon switch back to a simple, human-designed menu cover.
For such a little thing, this actually really important! When you see something that may seem and feel inevitable, say something! And get out to the Black Duck, spend some money, and tell ’em what you like!
Here’s the problem, in a nutshell, The Black Duck has always felt authentic. AI does not feel authentic.
So while I understand the appeal, from a small business owner’s standpoint, to spending ten minutes and zero dollars to create a professional-looking (to a point) menu, that menu becomes part of the brand. And an easily-identifiable AI-generated brand artifact becomes a distraction, at best, or at worst, evidence of lack of care on the part of management. Like filthy silverware.
And I don’t believe that about the Duck. I’d venture that many of us Duck fans would be leagues happier with a menu drawn in crayon by the owner’s grandkids than a “professional” menu that is at odds with what we love about the place we love to go.
We are all learning about this new tool, and what it does well, does poorly, and, crucially, what it says about us when we use it indiscriminately. Just this week I’ve seen multiple online discussions amongst Gen Zers, accusing each other of using AI to generate their thoughts, arguments and syntax. In all these cases, that queasy feeling is of losing a vital piece of our humanity – our unique voice – in service of a shortcut.
Back when Westport was a haven for Mad Men, there was an ongoing debate over whether certain human-generated images were art, or (just) illustration. That argument, now so quaint, persisted for years, following the likes of Normal Rockwell into the grave. How far we will have fallen when our world is populated only by dreams of Electric Sheep.
I remember when that barge came in up the Saugautck in one of the 3 major hurricanes of the mid-1950’s. Hurricane Carol, Diane or Connie. When the storms were over and we could back into our house at 20 Harbor Rd., the school bus driver stopped at the intersection of Charles St. & Riverside Ave., on the way to Saugatuck Elementary, to show & gawk at the barge. Which later on in the 1960’s was converted into a restaurant “The Barge”. I have had such great times there from when Pete and Doug Uccellini first opened around 1975 to the present date! Glen Cummings