There was no other information. Nothing about when the shot was taken, or where exactly near Compo Beach the inn was located.
I’ve never heard of it. (The Compo Beach Inn is not to be confused with the Compo Inn, a larger structure that stood for many years at the corner of Post Road West and Ludlow Road.)
I found nothing online — just the same photo, on eBay.
If you know anything about the Compo Beach Inn, click “Comments” below.
Bonus points to anyone who actually went inside.
(Friday Flashback is one of “06880”‘s many regular features. If you enjoy this — or anything else on our website — please consider a tax-deductible contribution. Just click here. Thank you!)
Posted onApril 3, 2025|Comments Off on Roundup: Brian Lewis & James Beard, Blondinit & Passover …
Westporters know how talented Brian Lewis is.
Now the James Beard Foundation does too.
The Cottage‘s chef/owner was named yesterday as one of 5 nominees for Best Chef, in the New England region. The others are from Providence (2), Cambridge and Burlington, Vermont.
The winner will be announced on June 16, at a ceremony in Chicago. The Awards will be broadcast live on Eater. Click here for more James Beard information.
Chef Brian Lewis
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Speaking of restaurants: The Blondinit is (“06880” thinks) the only one in Westport offering a kosher menu for Passover.
Available for catering and in-house dining, and made with true Israeli flavors and 100% kosher ingredients, the half and full trays include appetizers (deviled eggs, smoke salmon, fried matzah, flourless potato latkes and matzah ball soup); dips; salads; entrees (baked chicken, mafrum, stuffed peppers, matzah-crusted sea bass and grilled salmon); sides, and desserts.
The catering order deadline is Monday (April 7).
Every dish is served with matzah, Israeli pickles and schug. Available in half or full trays for gatherings big or small.
Click here to order (use the “Passover” tab under “Order Online”), or call 203-557-3277.
If it’s April, it must be time for the Minute Man Race.
One of Westport’s most popular traditions, the event — actually, a 10K run, 5K run, 5K walk and kids’ fun run, plus a Kids’ Zone with games and entertainment — returns Sunday, April 27 (Compo Beach).
All net proceeds benefit the Westport Young Woman’s League Grants program. Last year, they awarded $65,000 to 9 non-profits doing vital work across Fairfield County.
Now is the time to register.
And to sponsor and donate. All are welcome!
Click here for more information, and to register, donate and sponsor.
Another great Westport tradition — the Day of Champions — is coming soon too. Mark your calendars: Sunday, May 18 (9 to 11:30 a.m., PJ Romano Field).
It’s Experience Camps’ morning of family competition and fun — and a major fundraiser for their efforts to provide free programs for children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver.
Everyone who has participated (and that’s almost everyone in Westport with an elementary school-age kid) knows it’s a great event.
They also know how much work it takes.
Volunteer sign-ups have begun. There are tons of tasks. Click here to help. Click here to learn more about Experience Camps.
The “En Fuego team”: on fire at the Day of Champions. (Photo/Amy Shapiro)
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This is also the time of year to clean out basements and garages.
CB Sportif and Northeast Community Cycles are collecting “pre-loved” bikes.
They’ll be refurbished, then given free to children and adults throughout Fairfield County who need — but cannot afford — themm.
Bicycles can be dropped off tomorrow (Friday, April 4, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and Saturday (April 5, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) at CB Sportif (1554 Post Road East). Tax receipts are available.
Questions? Call 203-586-3030.
New life for old bikes.
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Barbra Streisand celebrates her birthday at the Westport Country Playhouse.
Well — April 24 is her birthday. She’ll be represented there in “Me, Myself, and Barbra,” a tribute by Jenna Pastuszek.
She was inspired by a meeting with the singing star, who inspired her to embrace her inner Barbra.
The show is April 24 — Streisand’s birthday. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are $45 and $40; pre-show party and show tickets are $55 and $50. Click here to purchase, and for more information.
Westport Police made no custodial arrests between March 26 and April 2.
They issued these citations:
Failure to renew registration: 15 citations
Failure to obey state traffic commission regulations: 15
Traveling unreasonably fast: 12
Driving while texting: 10
Reckless driving: 3
Operating a motor vehicle under suspension: 3
Operating an unregistered motor vehicle: 3
Failure to obey stop sign: 3
Failure to obey traffic control signals: 3
Speeding: 2
Disorderly conduct: 2
Breach of peace: 2
Operating a motor vehicle without a license: 2
Unreadable plates: 2
Interfering with an emergency call: 1
Traveling too fast for conditions: 1
Failure to insure a motor vehicle: 1
Operating a motor vehicle without minimum insurance: 1
Failure to renew license: 1
Failure to display plates: 1
Improper use of markers: 1.
Texting while driving is illegal — even at a red light.
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For the last couple of weeks, we’ve introduced our “Westport … Naturally” feature by saying, “In a couple of weeks, this scene will look very different.”
And finally … in honor of the bicycle collection this weekend at CB Sportif:
(From restaurants and road races to volunteer opportunities, “06880” offers it all to you today. We do it every day too — 24/7/365. Of course, we rely on reader support. Please click here. Thank you!)
Comments Off on Roundup: Brian Lewis & James Beard, Blondinit & Passover …
The latest edition of “Westport in Focus” — 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker’s regular newsletter to residents — landed in email inboxes earlier today.
For those who did not open it — and “06880” readers outside of Westport who did not get it — the highlights include:
✔ A note about the newly redesigned Selectwoman’s Office page on WestportCt.gov: Selectwoman’s Office Home.
IT director Eileen Zhang and Tooker’s staff have spent quite a while redesigning this, and other departments’, home pages. The result: greater visual appeal, and ease of use.
Screenshot of the new Selectwoman’s Office page.
✔ The tentative pubic meeting timeline for the Hamlet at Saugatuck project. It includes
Planning & Zoning Commission meetings: April 7, and late April and May (NOTE: There is no Hamlet discussion tonight, March 31)
Flood and Erosion Control Board: April 2
Waterline Protection Line Ordinance and Conservation Commission: April 23-April 30
Historic District Commission: TBD
Board of Selectwomen, acting as the Traffic Authority: TBD
The Hamlet at Saugatuck proposal for Railroad Place.
✔ An update on the Long Lots School Building Committee.
Tooker reports that regular meetings continue. “Providing there are no other delays, it is anticipated that groundbreaking will occur this year, with an anticipated move-in date in September of 2027,” Tooker says.
The LLSBC recently received approval for awarding contracts for MEP commissioning aervices, building envelope commissioning services and geothermal test well services.
The project now enters the design development phase, with more detailed plans, elevations and finishes. This is expected to be completed in the next several weeks.
Meetings with the Board of Finance and Planning & Zoning Commission are being scheduled, and are anticipated to take place in the first part of April.
The School Building Committee will also schedule a work session with the Architectural Review Board, a meeting with the Representative Town Meeting Education Committee for an update, and meetings with all funding bodies and the full RTM (plus committees) over the next few months.
The LLSBC also hopes to schedule a town-wide charette during the design development phase.
If the Staples High School Orphenians’ trip to Spain this summer is half as successful as last night’s “Cabaret Olé,” it will be one of the famed a cappella group’s most legendary events ever.
Christ & Holy Trinity Church was filled for the fundraiser. They got their money’s worth.
Mary Kate Morrissey starred in “Wicked” on Broadway.
All-star entertainment — including the Orphs together and as solo acts; Broadway’s “Wicked” star Mary Kate Morrissey and music director Dan Micciche; future Broadway “Stranger Things” star Jamie Mann (Staples ’21), and world-renowned VOCES8 (just off a plane from California), accompanied by super-talented keyboardist Andrew Maskoff (Staples ’25) — were on stage for nearly 4 hours.
Orphenians conductor Lauren Pine (left) leads her singers, in a combined number with Mary Kate Morrissey (back row, right).
Students from chef Cecily Gans’ Staples culinary classes provided fantastic Spanish tapas, desserts and more.
Staples grad Jamie Mann makes his Broadway debut next month in “Stranger Things.” The show is in previews now.
NOTE: Silent auction bidding remains open until 9 p.m. tonight. Click here to see the many great items, or to donate to the fundraiser itself.
¡Bravo! ¡Felicidades! ¡Olé!
Staples senior Andrew Maskoff, at the keyboard. (All photos/Dan Woog)
The other day, “06880” highlighted Westporter Bill Shakos’ informative, behind-the-scenes new podcast “What Do I Know.”
We won’t be mentioning every episode. But the fourth one — which dropped this morning — features a guest dear to our hearts.
Me.
Titled (a bit grandly) “Legacy of the People: One Man’s Generational Advocacy Shaped Our Town’s Culture and Identity,” it’s a look — led by Bill’s gentle but crisp questioning — into my “06880” blog, life in Westport, LGBTQ advocacy and more.
The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple, Amazon and the web, all from this handy link. Click below for the trailer.
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The Westport Book Shop’s Short Story Club meets April 24 (6 p.m.). They’ll discuss “The Elephant Vanishes” by Haruki Murakami, and “Patriotism” by Yukio Mishima.
Registration is required. Call 203-349-5141, or email RSVP@westportbooksaleventures.org.
Also next month at the Westport Book Shop:
Puzzle Night (April 3)
Book signing and conversation with Chef Alison Milwe Grace, author of “Savor: Recipes to Celebrate” (April 10)
Book reading and signing with Marsha Temlock, author of “Tuesday’s Mah Jong” (April 16).
Book reading and signing with Ira Joe Fisher, author of “The Birth of Snow’ (April 17).
All events are 6 to 7:30 p.m.
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Last week, Staples High School Class of 1991 graduate Lynsey Addario’s photo from Ukraine ran on page 1 of the New York Times.
Yesterday, her fellow Pulitzer Prize-winning Times photographer Tyler Hicks contributed his own image, in the same upper-left page 1 corner.
The 1988 Staples alum’s shot showed Ukrainian soldiers.
It — and others inside — illustrated a major Times story on America’s efforts in the war against Russia. (Hat tip: Arthur Hayes)
There will probably be a large crowd Saturday, for a “Hands Off!” anti-Trump rally on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge downtown.
This past Saturday, one Westporter got a jump on the event. He exercised his First Amendment rights, and showed his patriotism with a large American flag.
(Photo/Bean Corcoran)
He was a lone figure.
But he may have been a familiar one.
More than 50 years ago, Rex Fowler co-founded Aztec Two-Step, the legendary folk-rock duo.
He’s still playing and singing — this time in Aztec Two-Step 2.0 — with his wife, Dodie Petit.
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It was almost 80 degrees Saturday.
It was not anywhere near that yesterday.
But a sailboat race was full speed ahead, off Compo Beach.
Laurie Sorensen captured the chilly scene:
(Photo/Laurie Sorensen)
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Today, dogs are allowed on Compo Beach.
Tomorrow, they’re not. The ban is in effect through September 30.
This guy — the star of today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo — is not, technically, on the beach. He’s on the Soundview Drive wall next to the beach.
(Photo/June Rose Whittaker)
Is he okay?
Probably. But a leash would help.
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And finally … speaking of what we learn about trees (story above):
(As you start another week of Roundups, did you ever think: “Wow, I really should pay for this stuff?” If so, it’s your lucky day. Just click here to support our work. Thanks for keeping this blog alive!)
Comments Off on Roundup: Salmon Trees, Orphenians’ Ole, Shakos Podcast …
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