Posted onJune 16, 2024|Comments Off on Roundup: Yankee Doodle, Ham Operators, Compo Crowds …
After a rained-out Friday, the Yankee Doodle Fair was packed all day and night yesterday.
Ava Bierman enjoys the Yankee Doodle Fair. (Photo/Bryan Bierman)
The unofficial kickoff to summer ends today. Hours are 1-5 p.m. at the Westport Woman’s Club on Imperial Avenue. As always, proceeds help fund dozens of grants to local non-profits, and scholarships.
It takes many volunteers to keep Yankee Doodle Fair-goers happy and safe — and not just from the WWC.
The Community Emergency Response Team — which supports first responders in Westport and Weston, and helps out with events like this — has been out in full force.
You may think they were manning (and womanning) a booth. In fact, they were keeping an all on all of us.
As they always do.
Karen Kleine, Westport Woman’s Club Yankee Doodle Fair chair, checks in with CERT president Mike Vincelli and vice president David Kinyon. (Photo/Jo Shields Sherman)
The Westport Astronomical Society’s ham radio club K1WAS hosts ARRL Field Day — an in-person amateur radio event — at their observatory on 182 Bayberry Lane site next weekend. It runs from 2 p.m. Saturday, June 22 until 8 p.m. Sunday, June 23.
Field Day is an annual amateur radio activity with over 40,000 ham radio operators across America. They participate by establishing temporary radio stations in public locations, demonstrating their skills and service.
But you don’t need a radio license to participate. Everyone can get on the air, using radios provided by local radio clubs hosted by the observatory.
Ham operators play a crucial role in emergencies. They may be needed soon, during an active hurricane season.
“Hams have a long history of service when critical communication infrastructure like cell towers are damaged,” says Dan Wright, Westport Astronomical Society board member and amateur radio operator N3DAW.
“Field Day exemplifies the resilience and ingenuity of amateur radio operators, who connect the world, no matter the circumstances.”
For more information on the Field Day event, click here.
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Yesterday was the first legit weekend beach day of the year (school’s out, 80 degrees, summer vibe).
Right on cue, Compo Beach was packed.
The photo below is just a taste of what’s to come. Enjoy!
One other sign of summer: the hot dog grill outside Mitchells of Westport.
They’re known far and wide for their coffee (always) and bagels (weekend). But on select days, you can grab a dog with your suits, shirts, slacks and jewelry.
What started as a mom-and-pop shop has come a long way since 1958. The 4th generation of Mitchells has just joined the ranks.
But they never forget their down-home roots.
Hot dogs al fresco, at Mitchells. (Photo/Ed Simek)
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You’ve probably seen Little Ralphie — the inflatable yellow duck — at various spots around town.
While he’s promoting the Sunrise Rotary Club’s Great Duck Race, human Rotarians are busy sorting Ralphie’s plastic brethren.
They’re getting ready for the family-friendly event on Saturday, June 29 (10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Jesup Green).
Attendance — and fun — is free. Click here to purchase tickets for the raffle.
PS: The top prize is $5,000. And all proceeds go to Sunrise Rotary’s charity efforts.
Sunrise Rotarians, sorting ducks. From left: Joe Scordato, Pete Wolgast, president Liz Wong, president-elect Katie Augustyn, Bruce Fritz, Mazie Zdanowicz.
But there’s no limit to the amount of non-humans that can enjoy the facility. This was the “Westport … Naturally” scene recently, at the Mahackeno Outdoor Center.
(Photo/Johanna Keyser Rossi)
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And finally … Tupac Shakur was born on this day in 1971. The rapper and producer was killed in 1996, age 25.
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Comments Off on Roundup: Yankee Doodle, Ham Operators, Compo Crowds …
The big building in the center of town — at the Post Road/Taylor Place intersection, across from Main Street — has been many things.
It was a pharmacy: first Driscoll, then Colgan’s (below), and later Thompson’s.
(Photo courtesy of Christopher Maroc)
Those were old-fashioned drugstores. In addition to prescriptions, Band-Aids and the like, they sold magazines and paperback books. There was a lunch counter, with a machine to make “malteds” and “floats.”
It was a place where everyone could congregate: mothers, downtown employees, teenagers who walked there after school from Staples High, on nearby Riverside Avenue (now Saugatuck Elementary).
In the 1980s it was a gathering place of a different type: Ships. The restaurant served good, basic food. Ships was where you went to meet old friends, to take a break from shopping, after a movie.
The tables — and bar — were always packed.
(Painting by Al Willmot)
In between it was the site of Eddie Bauer, and a couple of other retail stores. Briefly, it housed a pop-up shop selling Halloween and Christmas gifts, and a 2-week sales outlet for Orvis.
Today it’s Tiffany.
That’s not a place to just hang out. And the prices are far higher than Colgan’s, Thompson’s, or even Eddie Bauer.
But this is the 20th anniversary for Tiffany in town. Their run rivals the drugstores that preceded it.
What that says about the Westport of yesterday and today, I’ll leave up to you.
(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!)
For over a year, Westporters have hotly contested the future of Parker Harding Plaza.
A plan to add more greenery to the riverside parking lot behind Main Street — while making it ADA-compliant and safer for emergency vehicles, causing the loss of 40-plus spaces — has enraged some merchants and shoppers.
Reaction to the plan — which also called for a reconfiguration of the Taylor lot across the Post Road near Jesup Green, and the possible addition of more parking at the Imperial Avenue lot — has led to renewed interest in a parking deck over the existing Baldwin lot, on Elm Street.
Those ideas are considered a radical rethinking of downtown.
The nationally renowned urban planner — whose books include “Walkable City: How Downtown Saves America, One Step at a Time” — has some ideas on how Westport can really transform itself.
Our town can be much more walkable and bikeable, he says.
And it all starts by looking at downtown in an entirely new way.
Speck spoke earlier this month at Bedford Middle School, sponsored by Sustainable Westport. He was competing with several other events — including Doris Kearns Goodwin at the Library, and Startup Westport at Longshore — but a crowd of nearly 200 listened intently.
Drawn in part by the idea of walkability and bikeability, they seemed intrigued by concepts like a 2-line bike lane from downtown to the beach, via Imperial Avenue, Bridge Street and Compo Road South.
Speck noted that parking, vehicle size, speed limits, the environment, the number of lanes and the width of roads impact walkability and safety.
But that was just an appetizer. The entrée was Speck’s red-meat version of a very different Main Street and environs.
His vision of Parker Harding is “a waterfront worthy of Westport.” It places a “second Main Street,” with parallel parking, between the shops and the water.
The rest of the space is reserved for playgrounds, plazas and other amenities.
Jeff Speck sketched out this plan for Parker Harding. The Saugatuck River is at bottom; the redesigned parking lot would include playgrounds, trees and other amenities.
It is based on a larger plan of centralizing downtown parking in a structure — multi-story, but hidden from view by apartments — on the Baldwin lot.
“Changing all your lightbulbs to energy savers saves as much energy in a year as moving to a walkable neighborhood saves in a week,” he says, citing “location efficiency” as a major factor in reducing a town’s carbon footprint.
On-street parking would be priced “properly,” which Speck says would allow merchants to “truly thrive.”
In his “Walkable City” book, Speck argues that a downtown becomes a “much more vital place” once merchants “are willing to learn (from best practices nationally) that parking right in front of one’s destination is a second-class solution.”
It is inferior, Speck argues, “to what happens in the best shopping districts, where people walk a short distance from centralized parking to their destinations, creating street life.”
Jeff Speck’s presentation included this aerial view of downtown Westport. The Baldwin parking lot and environs are outlined in red.
Pricing parking “properly” will also reduce the tremendous amount of “hunting-for-parking circulation,” which Speck says slows and frustrates downtown traffic.
He also advocates 2-way traffic on all of Main Street. (It was in effect from the advent of automobiles, through he 1970s.)
Two-way traffic “improves safety, street life, traffic circulation, access to shops, and revenues to merchants,” Speck says. (Click here for a story on 2-way traffic.)
Two-way Main Street traffic, in the 1970s. (Photo/Steve Baldwin)
Speck has one other suggestion: Remove the Athleta building, to create more of a path from Main Street to Parker Harding, and the river.
“A significant gap in that 925-foot long block is needed for its economic and social success,” Speck says. “It’s best located at the bottom of Elm Street.”
But how willing is a property owner to tear down a structure?
“If the owner of the Athleta building owns the adjacent properties, or a significant amount downtown, they will benefit financially from a plan that removes some or all of that building (or another one nearby), and then places doors and windows on the corridor created by its removal,” Speck says.
“The whole downtown will be more successful when that gigantic block no longer forms an interminable Great Wall of China between Main Street and the waterfront.
CGR — the owner, part of Empire State Realty — does own adjacent Main Street property.
Westporters have “grown accustomed to a tawdry waterfront that makes folks from out of town scratch their heads and wonder ‘but … how?'” he notes.
“It is so out of keeping with the upscale, attractive image that the town wishes to portray, and not worthy of your collective status and history.
“The plan to repave it is also unsustainable, barely reducing the amount of impervious area.”
Jeff Speck’s vision for Westport is big, bold — and bound to be controversial.
Exactly like Parker Harding Plaza was, when it was first announced 7 decades ago.
(Hat tip: Rob Feakins)
Click below to watch Jeff Speck’s full presentation.
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The morning after the presentation, a group of local officials including 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker and members of the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee met with Speck and Sustainable Westport to discuss some of his ideas.
Speck reiterated the importance of a comprehensive master plan that addresses parking policy and strategy, alongside riverfront redesign and other development efforts.
Following Speck’s visit, Sustainable Westport urges residents to continue the conversation by contributing to the vision of a walkable Westport. The organization says.
(“06880” covers the Westport waterfront — and riverfront, and downtown, and everything else in town. We also provide a forum for discussion about it all. Please click here to support our work!)
Not Westport. At least, not MoCA Westport anymore.
The gallery/performing arts center — whose official name was the Museum of Contemporary Art Westport — is now MoCA CT.
MoCA’s entrance is on Newtown Turnpike in Westport. But the bulk of the property — which includes Martha Stewart’s former TV studio, and was once a ball bearing factory — is in Norwalk.
MoCA explains the name change:
While our roots are in Westport, our impact and reach extend across the entire state of Connecticut.
The new name, MoCA CT, better represents our commitment to serving and engaging with communities throughout Connecticut. The name MoCA CT emphasizes our dedication to inclusivity and accessibility. It signals that we welcome artists, visitors, and participants from all corners of the state, fostering a sense of belonging and community.
Our mission is to celebrate contemporary art and foster a creative, engaging environment for all.
The new name aligns more closely with this mission by removing geographic limitations and highlighting our statewide aspirations.
MoCA was previously known as the Westport Arts Center. Its name was changed in 2019, when it moved to its present location from Riverside Avenue.
As of yesterday, a new logo had not been posted on the website (which is still mocawestport.org).
Tomorrow’s Board of Education meeting (Thursday, June 13, 7 p.m., Staples High School cafeteria) begins with a recognition of 15 retiring staff members: Susan Bambach, Peter Barcello, Anitha Bolar, Barbara Burns, Catherine Carlson, Karen DeFelice-During, David DuBois, Denise Emmerthal, Agustin Feliciano, Joyce Horne, Ann Neary Adalberto Orozco Jr., Jane Sandri, Bruce Smith, Mary Sue Welch.
The 2 Staples students on the Board — Calum Madigan and Anya Nair — will also be recognized, along with PTA co-presidents.
After a brief reception, agenda items include a teacher evaluation plan, and a second reading of Board polices on assignment of students to classes, ages of attendance and graduation requirements.
Staples High School English teacher Ann Neary is one of 15 retiring staff members.
The Levitt Pavilion’s popular Wednesday Children’s Series launches tonight (June 12, 7 p.m.).
Grammy winners Lucy Kalantari & the Jazz Cats headline the family-friendly show. They promise “an elegantly silly time, loaded with bilingual and swingin’ sounds of jazz and beyond.”
Click here to reserve free tickets. Click here for more information on the Levitt Pavilion’s 50-plus free shows — and ticket sales for others.
Flag Day is this Friday (June 14). It celebrates the day in 1777 when our nation officially adopted its 13-stars, 13-stripes banner.
Carl Addison Swanson says, “on all such occasions, flags line Pleasant Valley Lane in honor of patriotism. It is a regular flag fest. And it is a fine time, in our divided country, that we remember we are all Americans.”
(Photo/Tom Cook)
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Speaking of patriotism: VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399’s 31st annual golf tournament, held Monday at Longshore, was a huge success.
Thanks to 96 golfers, plus friends, sponsors, auxiliaries and volunteers, it will help the organization and American Legion Post 63 offer support veterans throughout Fairfield County — and give them a welcoming place to gather.
VFW Post 399 (465 Riverside Avenue) is open to the public. and serves the community in many ways.
They host a weekly Jazz Night every Thursday; conduct monthly Red Cross Blood Drives (47 consecutive months so far), and organize open houses and ceremonies on Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
The VFW partners with community institutions like PAL, the Fire Department, Westport Weston Family Y, Senior Center and Chamber of Commerce. They are also involved in youth activities in schools, Scouts, boating and sports teams.
For more information about Westport’s VFW Post 399/American Legion Post 63 and their community initiatives, click here.
Patty Kondub, VFW/American Auxiliary, is flanked by Honda of Westport sponsor representatives Evan Perkins and Steve Perkins.
“To his students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Fordham University, Manhattanville College, Fairfield University, and the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, and patients at his clinical and forensic psychology practice in Westport, he was known as Dr. Norman Klein.
“To the thousands of Westporters he coached in the mid-1990s and then umpired behind the plate at Kowalsky Field, he was simply ‘Norm!’”
On Monday, young and old honored Norm for his nearly 30 years of service to Westport Little League.
Extolling Norm’s “flair for the dramatic, and his youthful exuberance,” longtime umpire-in-chief Brian Kurtz noted, “Your work was always your play. Which is the way it should be.”
Westport Baseball president Jeff Brill added, “His spirited and emphatic umpire calls on Saturday mornings of Majors games were hallmarks of better spring weather and Little League baseball fun. He will be sorely missed.”
In his bellowing umpire voice Norm said, “I am forever grateful, and just know: I loved every single inning.”
Westport Little League will permanently honor Norm with a plaque on the backstop at Kowalsky Field.
Norm Klein (right) and Little Leaguers, at Kowalsky Field.
The Hillspoint Road sidewalk project is making good progress.
Yesterday, workers were busy in front of Old Mill Grocery & Deli.
Unfortunately, if they wanted a cold brew after work, they had to go elsewhere.
Though the Planning & Zoning Commission voted 5-2 earlier this month to amend zoning regulations, to allow retail food establishments with seating inside for up to 10 people to serve alcoholic beverages, OMG’s application is not yet finalized.
For a couple of weeks, Westporters brought new and slightly used shoes to Town Hall and the Senior Center.
This week, town officials helped Souls4Soles organizers Ken Bernhard and Ted Freedman transport 35 boxes — filled with 450 pairs — to the UPS store for delivery to Tennessee.
This is the 5th time the town has rallied to provide footwear for people around the world who need them.
From left: Officer Greg Gunther, Ken Bernhard, Detective James Baker, Ted Freedman, Sgt. Sean Kelley and Sgt. Sharon Russo, with Soles4Soles boxes.
The volunteer organization — which collects, curates and distributes artwork for schools and municipal buildings — sold 30 paintings. The $16,000 raised will go a long way to ensuring that the arts are alive and well, all around town.
“Dream Town” by Lisa Daugherty was one of WestPAC’s auctioned items.
Another successful event: The “Evening of Mental Fitness,” sponsored by Rhone. 125 guests gathered at the Westport Woman’s Club to raise awareness and funds for Positive Directions’ prevention and counseling programs.
The non-profit collected nearly $30,000 through tickets, donations, a silent auction and 10% of Rhone’s Westport sales over the weekend.
At the mental health fundraiser (from left): Vanessa Wilson of Positive Directions, Zac Clark of Release Recovery, Kate Sweeney and Nate Checketts of Rhone, Staples High School boys basketball coach Dave Goldshore, and Westport 1st selectwoman Jen Tooker.
“This was Toscanini: The Maestro, My Father, and Me” has just been released as an audiobook, on all digital platforms.
There are 2 local angles. It was written by Westporter Lucy Antek Johnson, with her late father Samuel Antek. He was NBC Symphony’s first violinist.
And it was produced at the Westport Library’s Verso Studios. Johnson and actor David Garrison did all the narration, while Verso director Travis Bell handled the music editing.
Excerpts from the famed conductor’s original NBC Symphony performances replace the iconic photos, in the hardcover edition.
For example, when Toscanini bellows “Brahms!” at the first rehearsal, listeners hear the opening of his First Symphony.
The release is particularly noteworthy now. June is Audibook Appreciation Month.
Coming attraction: Shonda Rhimes — and her film “Black Barbie” — at the Westport Library.
The award-winning producer, Shondaland visionary and Westport resident brings her latest project to the Trefz Forum next Monday (June 17), for a special screening.
The documentary will be shown at 6 p.m. A Q-and-A with Rhimes follows.
“Black Barbie” debuts on Netflix on Juneteenth. It tells the story of the 3 Black women at Mattel who were determined to create a doll that looked like them, and the impact that had on the Barbie brand.
The film explores the history of Black dolls, their impact on civil rights and Black entrepreneurship, and the significant role of imaginative play in shaping children’s identity. It includes celebrity and fan reflections on the impact of the doll.
All tickets have been distributed. Click here to join the waitlist.
The Post Road West coffee-and-more spot — just over the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge, for decades earlier the site of Art’s Deli — opened several years ago.
Owner Breno Donatti tells “06880”: “Thank you to the incredible community in Westport. We hope to be back in the future. We will dearly miss our regulars. We will focus on the other stores in Stamford, New York City and Croton for now.”
The Manhattan locations are on 86th and 72nd Streets.
The day before — Saturday, June 15 (4 to 6 p.m.), Pivot Ministries celebrates “Cool Dads Day” at Green’s Farms Church.
There’s a tank, to dunk your dad (or for him to do the honors on his kids). Plus basketball and cornhole challenges, and burgers and dogs. The Pivot Men’s Choir will sing.
The event is free, and the public is invited. Donations are welcome, to benefit Pivot Ministries. They’ve been returning addicted men to their families in Bridgeport, for 54 years.
Supporting them is a slam dunk. ===============================================
Westport students have won 6 Access Awareness Awards.
The annual contest — sponsored by the Area 9 Cable Council and Altice — recognizes student productions broadcast on Altice’s educational access Channel 78 during the school year.
The winners are:
“KHS Buddy Bench” (1st place, Elementary School PSA). Brayden Levy, Shane Warshaw, Alexander Wilson and Jude Hix’s instructor was Tara Doyle, technology teacher at Kings Highway.
“Women’s History Month: Community Highlight” (1st place, Elementary School General Interest Story). KHS students Harper Bell and Madeline Olsen were also taught by Doyle.
“Stress” (2nd place, High School PSA). Jack Schwartz, Allison Cancro, Pranav Pothukuchi and Sanchit were supported by Nicole Moeller, co-librarian at Staples High School.
“On the Wreckord: Inklings: World Language Week” (2nd place, High School School News Story. Mary Elizabeth Fulco teaches Advanced Journalism, the course that produces Inklings.
“Cheetah Vision Special: Women’s History Community Highlight” (2nd place, Elementary School General Interest Story). Jack Bell and Sable Shurman, KHS students, were also taught by Doyle.
“Inklings On the Wreckord” (3rd place, High School News Show).
Congratulations to all the young media stars, and their teachers.
Jack Schwartz, with his Eddy.
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Westport’s own Melissa Newman headlines this week’s Jazz at the Post (Thursday, June 13; shows at 7:30 and 8:45 p.m.; dinner from 7; VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399; $20 music cover, $15 for veterans and students).
The popular vocalist is joined by guitarist Tony Lombardozzi, bassist Phil Bowler and drummer Bobby Leonard.
Reservations are strongly recommended: JazzatthePost@gmail.com.
And finally … Jacques Cousteau was born on this date, in 1910. The French biologist and author co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) — also called the Aqua-Lung — which he used to make some of the first underwater documentary films.
He died in 1997, age 89.
(“06880” is your hyper-local blog. We rely on support from readers like you. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
The other day, “06880” profiled Ali Dorfman. The “College Concierge” offers everything from admissions consultants, essay coaches and test prep companies to college gifts, swag and dorm décor — plus tips and tricks on how to eat healthfully, and the best places to stay while visiting college campuses.
But before college, another rite of passage cries out for a concierge: summer camp.
That niche too is filled. And like Dorfman, the Camp Concierge is based in Westport.
Actually, the concierge is 2 women: Randi Nazem and Bianca Jonas.
Their first venture began 10 years ago, when they lived in New York. OhSpitBaby sold monogrammed baby gifts.
Since then, Randi and Bianca moved to Westport. They rebranded their business as BRGifts2.
And they pivoted to sleepaway camps.
Randi Nazem (left) and Bianca Jonas help parents pack for camp.
They realized no one was providing one-stop shopping for camp items, tips, custom camp clothing and swag, and everything else campers (and their parents) needed.
The camp concierges meet locally with clients — or virtually, if they’re not in the area.
Randi and Bianca take and fulfill orders, and distribute them locally. They also ship nationwide.
Camp swag for a girl …
In April, an overwhelmed first-time camp mom asked if they would pack for her child, headed to Maine. The concierges quickly added that service to their list.
Two packers will travel to clients’ homes in the tri-state area, to pack trunks. They bring their own labels, bubble wrap, tape, and personalized packing cubes. It takes around 4 hours per camper.
A grateful parent said, “I had all the stuff, but nothing was organized. I needed help editing down. Randi and Bianca came all the way from Westport to the city. They took care of everything my 9-year-old will need, for the best summer of her life.”
… and boy.
It may be too late to use Randi and Bianca’s packing service this year. But you can still book the camp concierges.
They are happy to fill candy treat custom boxes for the long bus ride to camp, along with boxes that parents can bring on visiting day.
Who knows what’s next? Hey — maybe they can write a letter a day to your kid from you!
(To learn more, email brgifts2@gmail.com. Their Instagram is @brgifts2.)
(As soon as your kid heads off to camp — with help from the Camp Concierge — you’ll have some free time. You can fill a minute of it by clicking here, to support “06880.” Then you can really smile!)
Ron Rudzin — founder and CEO of Saatva, the luxury mattress company whose made-to-order products are hand-delivered by white-glove teams — had one sitting at the Sherwood Diner.
Ron Rudzin
He’d already added 18 “viewing rooms” — places where customers can experience Saatva comfort in a relaxed, pressure-free environment before beginning a 365-night home trial — in upscale locations like San Francisco’s Union Square, Washington’s Logan Circle and Boston’s Back Bay.
Now he was looking at Greenwich, for a site to serve all of Connecticut.
But that Saturday morning, having his traditional breakfast in his favorite diner seat, he saw the empty former Citibank building across the Post Road, next to Walgreens.
Rudzin did not sleep on it. He made the decision: Saatva’s newest location will be Westport, where he has lived for nearly 30 years.
It opens this summer.
Saatva’s new Westport location. (Photo courtesy of Google Maps)
That’s great news for anyone looking for a great mattress (and accessories); who wants excellent, no-hassle service; who does not want to pay premium prices — and who prefers not to shop totally online, where Saatva’s business began in 2007.
Rudzin’s story began much earlier. At 16 the Queens native got a job with Jennifer Furniture. The company evolved from 1 location, into a 218-store national chain selling convertible sofas and furniture.
Over 20 years Rudzin worked his way up from sales representative to store manager, then vice president of national sales.
When he left in 2007 he was fascinated by internet businesses like Zappos, the online shoe retailer. Focusing on mattresses, he bought some of the most popular ones, paying between $2,200 and $2,500.
Taking them apart, he realized he could sell them direct to consumers for $1,500 less.
And because he knew all about home delivery, he realized he could do a better job of that too.
Amassing a team of industry veterans and bright young people — combining business acumen with tech savviness — he started Saatva.
The word comes from the Sanskrit “sattva,” which means “goodness” or “purity.”
Saatva sells mattresses in every category …
The idea was to counter the pervasive reputation of the mattress industry. The “S” also positioned it right up with leading companies like Sealy, Serta and Simmons.
Rudzin has overseen tremendous growth. The company owns its factories. It works with 150 companies, who deliver products anywhere in the US, 7 to 15 days after an order is placed.
They make mattresses in every category, with an emphasis on sustainability.
In 2019, Saatva opened their first viewing room on Manhattan’s 3rd Avenue, between 57th and 58th Streets. It’s most likely the lcountry’s argest grossing mattress store per square foot.
But it’s not a traditional one. “We don’t scream ‘50% off!'” Rudzin says.
“I always say, ‘sleep is an activity. You have to prepare for it.’ We don’t rush people.”
… and related products too.
He likens his midtown location — and other viewing rooms — to what Restoration Hardware would be like, if they sold mattresses.
“There’s a lot of energy, when people come to our showroom,” says Rudzin. “Beautiful music, great aroma, 7 or 8 people ready to help.”
That help extends beyond the brick-and-mortar locations, and the online presence.
Very quietly, Saatva supports the communities it is in.
Locally, they’ve provided mattresses to Homes with Hope and A Better Chance of Westport.
In New York, Rudzin sits on the board of Pencil. The non-profit connects business partners and educators, to help mentor students and help them succeed on their paths to college.
During COVID, Saatva produced 75,000 masks a week, and provided them free to first responders around the country.
The supply chain was less of an issue than for many other companies. Saatva owns its own factories, on the East and West Coasts and in the Midwest.
Rudzin is grateful for the success he’s had. Saatva is a $500 million company. It employs 300 men and women directly; 200 more in its factories, and 2,000 truck drivers, deliverers and riggers.
But he never forgets his roots.
“I grew up in Queens,” he says. “Now I see rigs, trucks, mattresses — all from an idea I had years ago.”
Soon, he’ll see it all in the town he has called home for 28 years.
Right across the street from his favorite booth, in his hometown diner.
(“06880” never sleeps. If you enjoy and appreciate our 24/7/365 coverage of Westport, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Lyman — Westport’s Ukrainian sister city — was struck by Russian missiles recently.
A video from Ukraine Aid International — the non-profit formed by Westporters Brian and Marshall Mayer, which has delivered over $300,000 donated by Westporters to our friends in that town — shows some of the horrific destruction. Click here to see.
To donate to Ukraine Aid International by credit card, click here; click the “I want to support” box; then select “Westport — Lyman Sister City.” Scroll down on the Donate page for other options: mail, wire transfer and Venmo.
A resident of Lyman — Westport’s sister city — after a Russian air strike.
Meanwhile, Lyman’s police chief asked his counterpart, Westport Chief Foti Koskinas, for help. The town needs 2 EcoFlow batteries to power up their charging stations for the Starlink (provided by Westport), their computers and other important devices.
Ukraine Aid International is providing the funds, using money from last summer’s LymanAID fundraiser.
Wednesday’s Roundup included an email from a reader who slammed me for reckless driving on Thomas Road, in “my” BMW with “06880” plates.
I noted that I don’t have a BMW, and that just because I publish “06880,” it doesn’t mean that’s my license plate.
Yesterday, I heard from Gary Shelton, who has some skin in this game. He wrote:
“I’m the driver of the blue BMW ‘06880,’ and a very aware and careful driver.
“The man who wrote you should learn how to properly walk a dog between himself and the side of the road. He had the dog on a long leash between himself and the middle of the road on a blind corner.
“The ‘heads up display’ in my car says the speed limit on Thomas is 25. I was going 20 mph up the hill approaching that blind curve. He gave me a choice of slamming on my brakes and hitting his dog, or accelerating and going quickly around him.
“Fortunately I have extensive evasive maneuver driver training. I would much rather have hit the other car than his dog. He should have been appreciative of that, but clearly is not a good dog parent.
“The other car simply went on the small shoulder as I was around him and back in my lane before he was at any impact point. Cars can be fixed; lives cannot.
“I hope you add this to your blog as a response. I have been a longtime Westporter, and that has been a longstanding family license plate.”
The Staples High School baseball team plays for the state “LL” (extra large schools) state championship tomorrow (Saturday, June 8, 12 p.m., Palmer Field, Middletown).
The #19th-ranked Wreckers face #4 Amity.
Fans are invited to gather at the Staples fieldhouse at 9:15 a.m., to give them a great send-off.
Tickets must be purchased through GoFan. The game will be live-streamed here on game day.
Club 203 celebrated the end of another great year on Wednesday.
Westport’s social club for adults with disabilities hosted a party at Ned Dimes Marina. It was their biggest turnout ever: 175 guests.
The Super Duper Weenie truck served delicious treats, with kind service. Guests enjoyed games, MoCA art projects like message-in-a-bottle and decorate-your-own kites, and cookies from Big G.
Club 203 volunteers were joined by others from the Westport Rotary Club. Special thanks go to the town’s Department of Human Services and the Commission on People with Disabilities. Selectwomen Jen Tooker and Andrea Moore stopped by to enjoy the event.
Staples High School students respect and admire Cathy Dancz Schager.
Now the Contemporary World Studies teacher has been recognized as a “US Presidential Scholars Most Influential Teacher,” and through the University of Connecticut Office of Early College Experience Teacher Appreciation Campaign.
Leigh Foran, a senior — also the Class of 2024 valedictorian and a US Presidential Scholar honoree — chose Schager as the teacher who inspired her, and contributed the most to her success as part of the Scholar process.
“I’m so thankful to have had a teacher like Ms. Schager who teaches her students to apply what we learn in the classroom to the real world,” Foran says. “She’s truly encouraged us to become global citizens, which I deeply admire.”
In addition, students participating in UConn’s ECE program nominated Schager for her dedication, passion and commitment to supporting students and creating an incredible UConn course experience.
Cathy Schager
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As the LGBTQ community celebrates Pride Month, many look back at a time when they were less certain of their place in the world.
On June 27 (6:30 p.m., Westport Library), Dr. Alan Downs discusses his book “The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Men’s World.”
Downs is a clinical psychologist. The vent is sponsored by Westport Pride.
He sends this photo, from Kings Highway North between Main Street and Canal Street …
(Photo/Michael Lonsdale)
… and writes: “Wiring in Westport is a mess. It depresses me to drive around.
“It’s time for the town to come down on independent vendors who are wiring massive amounts of cable with no protocol. Ridiculous. It is out of control!”
He’s right. Wires are always added — never subtracted.
There’s no incentive for cable or utility companies to remove unused or obsolete wires. It’s easier for them to leave it in place, and move on to the next job.
Of course, they have to return when it all comes tumbling down. But hey …
Nearly every Westporter of a certain age has a story about Paul Newman, and his Volvos.
(Mine: He picked me up hitchhiking a few times. “Hop in, son!” he’d say.)
“06880” reader Todd Suchotliff sends along a link to a car website called The Autopian.
The story is about the legendary actor and his souped-up Volvo wagons.
It’s an insanely long story, of interest to auto enthusiasts — but also anyone who knows Ian Warburg and the late Michael Brockman, 2 Westporters who feature prominently in the piece.
The article also mentions a “missing” Volvo wagon, of which Suchotliff says, “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen bit before around town, and parked at a house on Compo Road South close to Soundview. It’s a Volvo wagon, with an ‘RR’ emblem on its grille.”
If you’ve ever had an experience where you found yourself coming together with others whose mindsets, approaches, and/or backgrounds were completely different from your own — yet ended up with surprising or inspiring results — you’ll know what this Sunday will be like at the Westport Library.
In “Unexpected Human Pollination” (June 9, 2 to 4 p.m.), artists will share art and true stories about those times. The storytelling ends with a community conversation on the subject.
It’s the first public event of The Hive — the new project of Frederic Chiu and Jeanine Esposito. The mission is to create opportunities to engage, discover connections and build understanding fueled by the arts, dialogue, ideas and transformation.
The HIVE partners delivers programs in “cross-pollinating community gatherings, arts immersions, and transformation workshops.”
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Art is soothing. So is a sound bath.
On June 20 (6:30 to 8 p.m.), Sorelle Gallery hosts a “Sound Bath Meditation” evening.
The evening begins with a look at Sorelle’s coastal exhibit, Summer Crush. Attendees will then relax on yoga mats for a soothing session led by Hummingbird healing Center founder Lisa Pak.
Tickets are $25 each. There is room for 20 guests. Click here to register, and for more details.
Johanna Keyser Rossi reports that a pair has been hanging around the high tower behind by the police station for a few weeks. Their most recent activity: building a nest.
Dozens of readers responded to Sunday’s “Cool Cohl Katz Contest.”
The Westport stylist to the stars offered her talents — a haircut and makeup application for women, a haircut and style for men — to 3 winners of a contest she and I cooked up.
We asked 3 trivia questions about famous current or past Westport or Weston residents. All of them have been (of course!) Cohl’s clients.
Then we put all the correct answers in a (stylish) hat, and drew 3 lucky winners.
Question #1:This former Westporter started out as a stockbroker. But that’s not where they gained the most fame.
This got the most correct responses: 47. The answer is (of course) Martha Stewart. (The most popular incorrect guess: James Comey).
Congratulations to the winner: Anne Leskow.
Martha Stewart and her former husband Andy, outside their Turkey Hill home.
Question #2: To prepare for his role as an emotionally destroyed soldier in a film that won him an Academy Award, this actor ate only bananas, water and rice for a month.
31 readers knew this was Christopher Walken, in “The Deer Hunter.” (Not Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise, also clients of Cohl’s.)
The winner is: Todd Pines.
Christopher Walken in “The Deer Hunter.”
Question #3: This musician has co-written 14 songs on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
Incorrect guesses were led by Nile Rodgers and Ashford & Simpson. The correct answer — known by 32 readers — is Keith Richards.
I thought that was a giveaway, because I mentioned “Rolling Stone” magazine. Oh well …
The winner of that prize is: Stacey Henske.
Keef
Congratulations to all 3. Cohl will be in touch, to arrange your style session.
Didn’t win, but want to feel like a star anyway? Email cohlita@yahoo.com.
(If you enjoyed this fun contest — or anything else, any day, on “06880′ — please consider a tax-deductible contribution. Just click here, to help us keep publishing “in style.” Thank you!)
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