Levitt Pavilion and full moon, from the Saugatuck River (Photo/Nicole vonDohlen)
Posted in Downtown, Entertainment, Pic of the Day
Tagged Levitt Pavilion, Saugatuck River
Westport sure has a lot of bridges.
Last week’s Photo Challenge showed the underside of one. Every “06880” reader figured that out.
But where was it? The William F. Cribari Bridge in Saugatuck? I-95, nearby? The new one on Saugatuck Shores? The old one on Kings Highway North, near Fort Apache?
Nope. No. Nah. No sir.
The image showed the view from underneath the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Memorial Bridge — aka the Post Road bridge over the Saugatuck River. (Click here for the photo.)
It gets tons of vehicle traffic every day, and a decent number of pedestrians. It’s rarer for someone to paddle underneath it. But Maggie Gomez did just that, and sent the shot to “06880.”
As Dan Herman notes, the fiberglass pipes shown are electric and telephone conduits.
Besides Dan, other correct answers came from Rob Hauck, Robert Mitchell, Seth Schachter, Jay Tormey, Seth Braunstein, Jonathan McClure, Fred Rubin, Andrew Colabella, Robert Fatherley, Breno Donatti, Jalna Jaeger and Michael Brennecke.
Maybe there are more paddlers than we realize!
This week’s Photo Challenge is back on dry — very dry — land. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/Beth DeVoll)
Over the past few years, the Blues, Views & BBQ Festival strayed from its local roots.
Crowds poured in from the tri-state region. They heard great music, ate smokin’ barbecue, and their kids played in bouncy houses and on slides.
The only thing lacking was Westporters. For some reason, it was hard to find our neighbors there.
The event — set for August 31 and September 1 , at the Levitt Pavilion and library parking lot — has been reimagined this year. Founder Bob LeRose returns as a producer. He, Westporters Peter Propp and Crispin Cioe have reached out to local businesses.
They’ve targeted 2 great non-profits — Staples Tuition Grants and Wakeman Town Farm — for a portion of the proceeds.
Though they’ve scrapped the BBQ portion of the event, they’re bringing in top acts like Lawrence, Anders Osborne, Southern Avenue and the Main Squeeze.
“We view the event as Westport’s hometown festival,” Propp says.
This summer, 3 interns helped maintain that hometown feel.
In the spring, Taylor Barr — a 2019 Staples High School graduate who heads to George Washington University soon — joined the team.
He recruited rising seniors Emily Stone and Emma Vannart. The trio worked on social media, strategy and sponsorship sales. They’re now distributing posters and postcards around town.
From left: Taylor Barr, Emma Vannart and Emily Stone.
Propp calls the interns “an unstoppable force.” They helped bring on West, Earth Animal and Greenwich Medical Spa as new sponsors.
“They analyze problems, crack jokes, are thoughtful and smart,” Propp says. “It’s been really fun to get to know them.”
As Blues & Views draws near, more volunteers (of any age) are needed. There’s work to be done before — and of course during — the festival. For more information on the event, click here. To volunteer, email info@bluesviews.com.
Posted in Downtown, Entertainment, Organizations, People, Staples HS
Tagged Blues & Views Festival, Emily Stone, Emma Vannart, Peter Propp, Taylor Barr
The opening of the transformed Westport Library brought back memories of the original — and reminders, once again, that it was built on what was once the “town dump.”
Alert — and historic minded — “06880” reader Fred Cantor found a fascinating aerial photo, published by the Town Crier in 1965
(Photo/Robert Lentini)
Back then, the library was located in the building at the lower left of the photo. Today it’s the site of Starbucks, Freshii and other tenants.
Across the Post Road — at the foot of what we now call the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge — is a block of shops and apartments that burned in the late 1960s or early ’70s. Today it’s South Moon Under, and other stores.
But the most fascinating part of the photo is seen beyond Jesup Green and the Taylor Place parking lot. There — in the center of town — sat the Rogers Little League baseball diamond. The dugouts are about where the upper entrance to the library lot is today. (Why is it so bumpy now? Landfill.)
Unfortunately, the photo does not show what lies beyond left and center field. That was the town dump.
It smelled. It attracted seagulls. It was not uncommon for the birds to swoop near unsuspecting outfielders, attempting to catch flies (the baseball variety).
Around that time — perhaps a few years later — Westport artist Arthur Cady drew a series of Westport scenes.
(Illustration by Arthur Cady/courtesy of Jim Ezzes)
This one may have been a bit of artistic license. I don’t think the dump was quite that close to downtown.
But it sure was near to what is now Tiffany, nestling right behind on Taylor Place.
Folklore says that cats have 9 lives.
The proposed Hiawatha Lane housing development has been rejected 8 times by town officials.
Its developer is betting the 9th time’s the charm.
In June, Westport’s Planning & Zoning Commission struck down Summit Saugatuck’s plan for 187 units on the narrow road nestled between Saugatuck Avenue and I-95 exit 17. Board members cited concerns about access by firefighters and first responders, as well as traffic and pedestrian concerns.
Applications for sewer connections were denied earlier, by the P&Z and/or Board of Selectmen, in July and September 2007; January 2015; July 2016, and February 2017.
A text amendment and zone change were voted down in November 2016. The text amendment, map amendment and zoning amendment request defeated this past June was the 8th request.
Every denial was unanimous.
Summit Saugatuck’s plan for Hiawatha Lane.
But Summit Saugatuck principal Felix Charney will be back again. Because the proposal is submitted as an 8-30g application — meaning it falls under the state’s “affordable housing” regulation — it’s been re-submitted. A public hearing is set for September 12.
The plan would include 130 market-rate units, and 57 deemed “affordable.” Hiawatha Lane already includes many homes that are among the most affordable in Westport.
The 8-30g statute mandates that 10% of a town’s housing stock be “affordable,” under a state formula. Westport is currently at 4%.
However, only units constructed after 1990, and those that are deed-restricted for 40 years, are considered. Most Westport units serving lower-income groups do not fall into either category.
In March, Westport received a “Certificate of Affordable Housing Completion” from the state Department of Housing. The result was a 4-year moratorium on 8-30g.
The moratorium was granted “based upon the significant progress Westport has made in supplying affordable housing,” 1st Selectman Jim Marpe. Yet the moratorium does not preclude more submissions, like the one Summit Saugatuck is proposing.
Summit Saugatuck and Garden Homes — another developer whose proposal to build on untenable land was denied by the town — tried to get the state to vacate the moratorium. Their petition was denied on Monday by Connecticut’s Department of Housing.
1177 Post Road East helped Westport earn a 4-year moratorium on 8-30g proposals.
The town has received “moratorium points” for these units:
As noted earlier, that does not count any affordable housing built before 1990.
(Hat tip: Carolanne Curry)
Serene Saugatuck River scene, taken from the Parker Harding footbridge near Rye Ridge deli (Photo/Lucy Zeko)
Posted in Downtown, Pic of the Day
Tagged Gorham Island, Parker Harding footbridge, Saugatuck River
Construction continues on Elm Street. Check out this photo of the sidewalk in front of the new parking lot by Bedford Square, and the retail/residential building rising in a corner of the Baldwin parking lot.
But something’s missing.
Hmmmm… let’s see…..
Aha! There are no phone poles or utility wires!
They’ve been buried underground. It’s part of a larger downtown project to bury poles and wires.
Main Street (Photos/Chip Stephens)
Now, if we could only do that by the Minute Man ….
The library Riverwalk, and the Saugatuck River (Photo/Dan Woog)
“Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin” — the wonderful Westport Country Playhouse production running now through August 3 — got me thinking about entertainment options, back in the day.
America’s greatest songwriter lived long enough to see Elvis Presley (whose version of “White Christmas” he loathed) and MTV (it’s unclear what Berlin thought of “Video Killed the Radio Star”).
But in 1919 — when he turned 31, and was already a Tin Pan Alley and Broadway composing star — the main entertainment in many small towns was a motion picture theater.
Westport was no exception. The Fine Arts on the Post Road (today it’s Restoration Hardware) seems like a hopping spot. I posted photos a while ago.
Now — thanks to Kevin Slater — we’ve got a great idea of exactly what Westport movie-goers were watching, exactly 100 years ago.
There were 3 shows a day: a 2:30 matinee, then 7 and 8:45 p.m.
But the Fine Arts was open just on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. (The fact that it was closed Sunday was so obvious, it wasn’t even noted on the poster.)
You had to move fast: Each movie (and accompanying shorts and newsreels) was there for one day only.
So what was Irving Berlin doing in 1919, when long-forgotten names like J. Walter Kerrigan, Vivian Martin and Madge Kennedy were stars?
That’s the year he wrote “A Pretty Girl is Like a melody” for Ziegfeld’s Follies.
And it was a full 8 years before Al Jolson performed Berlin’s “Blue Skies” in “The Jazz Singer” — the first feature sound film ever.
If you had any questions about any of the shows — and you could find a telephone — all you had to do was call.
The phone number was right there at the top corner: 325.
Posted in Downtown, Entertainment, Friday Flashback, Westport Country Playhouse
Tagged Fine Arts Theatre, Irving Berlin
Yesterday’s rainbow, as seen from Bartaco … (Photo/Erik Ostbye)
… and the Levitt Pavilion, for the great concert by Our Native Daughters … (Photo/Claire Bangser)
… and over Cockenoe Island (Photo/Sharon Lipper)
Posted in Beach, Downtown, Entertainment, Pic of the Day, Restaurants
Tagged Bartaco, Cockenoe Island, Levitt Pavilion
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