The annual “06880″ party is less than a week away.
And if you’re reading this, you’re invited.
Next Thursday (July 15, 6 p.m.) is the day and time. The far end of Compo’s South Beach — away from the cannons, near the boat and kayak launch — is the place. (Still confused? See the aerial view below.)
The blue arrow marks the “06880” party spot.
Every member of the “06880″ (as in, this website) community is invited. We welcome frequent commenters and lurkers. Folks who have lived here all their lives, and those who moved here yesterday. People who want the Cribari bridge to stay the same, those who want a new one, and everyone in between. (Though we’ll keep the party a politics-free zone.)
The tagline for “06880″ is “Where Westport meets the world.” Next Thursday, that world comes to Compo.
Bring your own food, beverages, beach chairs and blankets. (If you bring extras to share with others, we won’t say no). Then mix, mingle and enjoy the evening with the “06880″ crowd.
There’s no charge. It’s a “fun-raiser,” not a fundraiser.
A “blog party” — the “06880” version of a block party.
Between the gloomy weekend weather and canceled fireworks, this was a low-key 4th of July. But at least this Gorham Avenue homeowner got in the holiday spirit. (Photo/Tom Cook)
Maisy, out on the Sound today (Photo/Tammy Barry)
These chickens decorated their Hillspoint Road coop in the appropriate colors. (Photo/Matt Murray)
Compo Beach was uncharacteristically empty until late afternoon. There were plenty of grills available One family celebrated Independence Day by roasting a pig. (Photo/June Rose Whittaker)
“The show must go on” is a time-honored tradition. On Friday night, Drew Angus honored it well.
The Staples High School graduate, recording artist and all-around good guy was booked for the Levitt Pavilion. Right before showtime, a hard rain fell.
But Drew — standing behind his band’s covered instruments — gave a fantastic performance.
Most of the crowd was far in back, under the overhang. A few hardy folks sat on the grass. But it didn’t take long for many to get up and dance. It was an amazing scene. (It didn’t hurt that one of his numbers was “Singin’ in the Rain.”)
Carleigh Welsh announced that Drew will be booked for another performance this summer. Hopefully he knows “We’ll Sing in the Sunshine.” (Hat tip: Laura Schwartz)
Drew Angus, singing in the rain. (Photo/Laura Schwartz)
For decades, kids jumped off the Sherwood Mill Pond bridge.
When the water got grotty, they stopped.
The pond is back in great shape. Several years ago, the jumpers returned.
Last summer, some of them were loud and rude. They ruined it for everyone. Residents complained. Parks & Rec put up a “Danger/No Jumping or Diving” sign, complete with little red-slash pictographs.
Yesterday, Ann Becker Moore, Pam Washburn and Karen Como spotted a new sign. It says simply: “Jump.”
(Photo/Karen Como)
WTF?!
If anyone knows what’s going on, click “Comments” below.
Last night, the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Eastern Conference finals. They advance to the championship for the first time since 1974 (when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the starting center).
The Westport connection? The Bucks are co-owned by Westport hedge fund manager Marc Lasry. PS: They were named the Bucks long before the billionaire bought them. (Hat tip: Fred Cantor)
Conversion of the former Armstrong Rubber Company headquarters in New Haven — the concrete box on the left as you head north, next to Ikea and just before the I-91 merge — into what may be the most energy-efficient hotel in the country has “Westport” all over it.
Hotel Marcel’s developer and architect is Westport-based Bruce Becker. He’s building it to meet net-zero energy standards. It will generate as much energy as it uses. All electricity is produced on site, and it’s the first passive house-certified hotel in the US.
Saugatuck’s LANDTECH is the project’s site/civil engineer.
It’s a great project. To learn more, click on the video below. (Hat tip: Peter Gold)
One of Westport’s most beloved — and most photographed, and most painted — properties is on the market.
The gray house on Compo Cove — the first one we see from Old Mill Beach and Hillspoint Road, gazing toward the Nantucket-like, no-cars-allowed enclave east of Sherwood Mill Pond — has just been listed.
44 Compo Cove (Photo/Patricia McMahon)
It’s a historic gem. Built in 1917, the “Coleburn house” has withstood more than a century of storms with its original framing and fireplace still intact. The first floor has never been flooded.
44 Compo Cove (right). The “pirate shack” cottage at #42 (left) is also part of the sale.
The kitchen and bathrooms have been modernized, but the interior is true to its original construction.
One of 4 bedrooms at 44 Compo Cove.
#44 is the oldest of the 19 homes on the Cove, a peninsula accessible only by footbridge from Old Mill (or in an emergency, through the west end of Sherwood Island State Park). The Mill Cove is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Preservation CT calls 44 Compo Cove one of the “most typical and best preserved” bungalows in the state.
#44 is a classic beach house: 4 bedrooms, wooden interior, wraparound porch, and 125 feet of private sand.
The wide porch at #44.
The cottage next door, built in 2008 by Michael Greenberg at #42, is part of the sale. With a huge deck, it too offers stunning views in all directions.
The “pirate shack” cottage at 42 Compo Cove is part of the sale.
The price for both properties, on 1.96 acres, is $7.9 million. The seller hopes for a preservation-minded buyer.
44 Compo Cove, in winter (Photo/Betsy P. Kahn)
But #44 and 42 are not the only properties for sale on Compo Cove.
Next door, #48 is on the market too.
It’s a .41-acre lot, available as land only for $2.8 million, or — for $7 million — as a new home designed by Michael Greenberg.
Aerial view of Compo Cove. #44 is at right; #42 is in the center (white). Also for sale, in another transaction: #48 (the now empty lot just above #42, on the water).
Compo Cove is timeless. Its footpath dates back more than a century. Wildlife has been there far longer.
It’s also ever-changing. Each season — every day, really — brings new views.
Every Westporter — whether they’ve visited the Cove, or admired it from afar — feels attached to that small spit of land. We’re all invested in who next will actually invest in those properties.
On Wednesday (July 7, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall auditorium), the Board of Finance considers a request by Public Works for “standard street furniture in the Downtown Area.”
The $154,000 appropriation includes 18 benches; 32 trash and recycling receptacles; 16 bike racks; 7 fixed tables (6 chairs per table), and 2 café tables (4 chairs per table).
The outdoor furniture would be located along the river and in Parker Harding Plaza, and on Main Street, Elm Street, Church Lane, the Post Road (east to Bay Street), and in the Taylor parking lot.
The 5-year capital forecast includes the item, at a funding level of $275,000.
The type of benches requested (right), and their proposed placement downtown.
Bruce Waldera is well-known to many Westporters, for his years of service at De Mattia Fuel, near the Sherwood Island Connector. He started around age 14, and continued until they closed a decade or so ago.
Bruce is a kind, caring, down-to-earth, compassionate, funny, fun, selfless and hardworking man. He loves Westport.
Now he’s battling brain cancer. A GoFundMe page has been set up so that he, his wife Amy — a longtime special education paraprofessional in Westport — and 3 daughters can spend quality time together — and manage some of their many medical bills. Click here to help.
Matt Murray wonders if it’s waiting for the July 4th fireworks. If so, it will be there a while. This year’s display — which would have happened tonight — was canceled by COVID.
The July/August issue of Westport Magazine includes its annual “Best Of the Gold Coast” lists. There are more than 175 categories, from Cocktails and Seafood to Jewelry and Workouts. Westport winners include Manna Toast, Match Burger Lobster, Soleil Toile and WEST.
It’s been a tough year for small local businesses. This issue celebrates them.
Artistic swimming — formerly “synchronized swimming” has been an Olympic sport since 1984.
Alessandra Gavriloiu won’t be going to this month’s Tokyo Olympics. But Paris in 2024?
The Staples High School rising freshman was part of the New Canaan YMCA Aquianas team that finished 3rd in the nation Tuesday. She and Alaina Argiriou of Darien took 10th in the duet competition too. Both were in the 13-15 age group.
The Junior Olympic competition took place at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
The Westport Library has some intriguing events ahead. They include:
“Camp Explore: Homemade Microphone Magic” (Tuesday, July 6, 10 to 11;30 a.m): Students in grades 5 to 8 use repurposed materials from around the house, to build a working microphone for use anytime and anywhere. Click here to register.
“Burning Down the House: The New Republican Party” (Wednesday, July 7, 7 p.m., livestream): Princeton historian and CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer shares the history of the “new” Republican party with Bruce McGuirk, leader of Pages Through the Ages (the Library’s history discussion group). Click here to register.
“Verso Studios Production Pizza Party” (Monday, July 12, 6 to 8 p.m.). Find out about opportunities to learn, laugh and let rip your creative talents. Click here to register.
Westport Country Playhouse Radio Theater — a series, with WSHU-FM — presents a new humor and suspense play. “Special Delivery” (Saturday, July 10, 1:06 p.m.; rebroadcast Sunday, July 11, 4:06 p.m.). is also available on the Playhouse website (westportplayhouse.org) from July 12 through August 1.
“Special Delivery” is about Leesa Colescott, a courier of fine arts. She must deliver not only a strange piece of art, but also an angry 12-year-old boy named Asher, to the home of an uncle he’s never met – during a raging thunderstorm.
Their destination — an isolated farmhouse — is full of surprises, including other-worldly voices coming from the paintings on the walls. Running time is 35 minutes.
For over a year, construction has been halted on the Hillspoint Road residence meant to replace the old Positano restaurant. Multiple zoning permit violations led to the stop-work order.
The half-finished structure has become a neighborhood eyesore. Blue sheets wrap the exterior. A construction fence keeps out intruders. Weeds grow in the driveway and sand.
The homeowner hopes to move forward with new plans. Nearly 20 Hillspoint Road residents joined a phone call Wednesday night with the architect.
They were not pleased.
Representative Town Meeting Andrew Colabella says there was “very robust discussion,” with opposition from neighbors.
Michael Calise adds, “All of the neighbors were against the proposal. Some even said they were offended and appalled by the proposed design.”
Construction has been halted at 233 Hillspoint Road. (Photo/Dinkin Fotografix)
The plan — presented by Vita Design Group — includes a new rooftop, and elevator with cupola. It adds bulk, makes the entire roof line higher, and blocks views from Compo Hill even more than before.
Hal Kravitz — who owns the Joey’s by the Shore property, diagonally across the street — says that cupolas are allowed only for light. They are not supposed to be functional.
The height would be 47 feet — even higher than the original plan. Mechanicals would be relocated to the roof deck.
Calise says that for him, the most significant change from the first plan was the conversion to a gambrel roof. It reaches down to the top of the first floor, with the lower section parallel to the side walls of the second floor.
Details from the new proposal.
“Under the current method of measuring gambrel roofs, they were able to lower the midpoint of the roof so significantly that they actually raised the ridge of the roof 10 feet,” Calise says.
“This proposed design and the resultant ridge height was above the existing elevator shaft, and required a higher chimney to comply with building codes.
“When I pointed out that this actually created a third floor and a higher building, they argued that it did not because the roof design had openings which meant it was simply a cover for an outdoor deck, and therefore not a roof.”
This is not the first new construction in that area of Hillspoint Road. Recent new homes, however, have been low-slung, in keeping with the scale of the land.
Colabella says of 233 Hillspoint, “What is there now is a bullet wound. What is proposed, dumps salt into the wound.”
The new proposal is subject to approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals.’
For many years, 233 Hillspoint Road was a restaurant. The most recent tenant was Positano. (Photo/Fred Cantor)
Binky Griptite filled the Levitt Pavilion last night. It was just like old times (except for the pods outlined on the grass).
The WFUV “Boogie Down” host — who has played with Janet Jackson and Amy Winehouse, and backed Sharon Jones with the Dap-Kings — brought his funk and soul to the lawn.
It’s the start of a near-normal summer. On the Levitt bill this week:
Tuesday, June 29: The Suzanne Sheridan Band
Wednesday, June 30: Joanne Leeds/Children’s Series launch
Friday, July 2: The Drew Angus Band.
Click here for details, and to order (free) tickets.
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