It’s an anomaly: a Post Road house that has withstood decades of growth all around it.
On one side, there’s Westport’s central fire station. On the other, Terrain replaced a car dealership. The lifestyle brand tried to get rid of the wooden structure — for parking, so they wouldn’t have to maintain it, and probably other reasons — but it still stands there, at the corner of Crescent Road.
It’s dilapidated. It’s forlorn. It was also last week’s Photo Challenge. (Click here to see.)
Elaine Marino, Andrew Colabella and Clark Thiemann all knew where and what it was.
It’s easy to overlook. But it’s still — after all these years — an important part of the Westport streetscape.
It’s “time” now for this week’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
If you’ve been to Hudson Malone, you knew the answer to last Sunday’s Photo Challenge.
If you haven’t, you didn’t. (Which leads to: Why not?)
Doug Quinn’s popular restaurant at the corner of Main and Canal Streets has plenty of artwork. Much of it relates to Westport (including Paul Newman, who would have loved the place).
Then there’s a woman reclining on a wine bottle, underneath a cow’s head. (Click here to see.)
Jacqui Bidgood, James Weisz, Rachel Halperin-Zibelman, Robert Mitchell, Andrew Colabella, Phil Kann and Deirdre O’Farrelly all knew that both could be found on Hudson Malone’s outdoor patio.
This week’s Photo Challenge is semi-artistic — and semi-grungy. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
Downtown is Westport’s commercial hub. It’s filled with stores and restaurants, plus parking lots and office buildings of all sizes.
But a beautiful river, dotted with wildlife, runs right through downtown too. And even though we seldom take the time the look, there’s a culvert just like the one in a pond or tidal marsh.
Some readers thought that last week’s Photo Challenge was near the shore. But Tracy Porosoff’s image was taken in the heart of downtown. It’s near the office complex at Gorham Island, not far from GG & Joe’s. (Click here to see.)
Sylvia Robinson Corrigan and Ivy Gosseen knew exactly where it was. So did Robert Giunta. Then again, he should. Thirty years ago, he built that riprap and stone wall.
Today’s Photo Challenge is a bit more whimsical. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
There are few things more iconic in Westport than the Black Duck.
So when last week’s Photo Challenge showed hand-painted directional signs to 2 islands (Cockenoe and Long), and equally watery Key West, many “06880” knew where they can be found: the right side of our favorite dive bar. (Hey, that’s not me: Back in 2009, the Duck was a star attraction on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives“).
Elaine Marino, Derek Fuchs, Michael Calise, Robert Mitchell, Werner Liepolt, Tony Sousa, Andrew Colabella, Bobbie Herman, Lynn Untermeyer Miller, Juliana Sloane Fulbright and Seth Braunstein are all (presumably) regulars, who nailed Seth Schachter’s photo as easily as they navigate the old barge’s sloping floor. (Click here for the image.)
This week’s Photo Challenge is also water-related. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
Our “06880” Photo Challenge is fun. The images are sometimes challenging, sometimes easy. I can’t recall any that were controversial.
Until last Sunday.
Jay Walshon’s shot showed an old car, covered in underbrush near a body of water.
Andrew Colabella was the first reader to answer correctly. He said: “Longshore, Lot F. Donated to the Fire Department for practicing on a submerged vehicle.”
Claire Elliot added that it was located near an osprey nest.
That did not sit well with a number of readers. They chastised local officials. “Is open land now a synonym for junk yard and toxic dump?” asked Werner Liepolt.
“So much for all that official talk about the environment and sustainability,” added Morley Boyd.
Fred Roberts wondered about liability.
But not everyone dumped on the town.
Wendy Cusick wrote: “I believe the fire department has the fluids (transmission fluid, motor oil, A/C freon, antifreeze, windshield wiper fluid) drained out of the training vehicles before having them toss in weeds and high tide.
“Westport lives in a flood zone between the shoreline, Deadman Brook, Muddy Brook, Saugatuck River and all the other little streams that became raging rivers in crazy weather. You’re going to want the rescuers to know how to get people out of their flooded vehicles.”
NOTE: I don’t usually run photos of the previous Challenge. But I’m showing this one …
… because, a few days after it was posted last Sunday, it was gone. Here was the same scene on Thursday:
(Photos/Jay Walshon)
Go figure.
This week’s Photo Challenge should be back to normal. In other words: fun.
If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
Kathie Motes Bennewitz was the first reader to identify last week’s Photo Challenge.
That’s no surprise. JC Martin’s image of “Onyx Perpetual” — a sculpture by Sally Mttikow — stands near the Riverwalk downtown. It’s part of the Westport Public Art Collections.
Bennewitz is the town arts curator. She knows this stuff.
But the handsome artwork (click here to see) is one of those hidden-in-plain sight sights.
And not because we walk by it so often, but seldom notice it. It’s hidden because vines and other growth are overtaking it.
Come on! This is public art. Let’s give it the love and attention it deserves.
This week’s Photo Challenge is pretty random. But it’s legit. This is a well-traveled location.
If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments’ below.
And if you’ve got the back story: We’d love to know!
All over town, open space is vanishing. Part of the Belta and Pabst properties on Bayberry Lane will be developed; so, apparently, will the Kowalsky land on Clapboard Hill.
But a relatively large bit of greenery sits undisturbed on the corner of Partrick and Crawford Roads. It’s been there for decades.
The open space — complete with a bench — was last week’s Photo Challenge. Marilyn Heffers, Alex Wennberg, Cathy Barnett and Derek Fuchs all knew exactly where it was. (Click here to see.)
Which raises a couple of interesting questions: It looks like a militia training ground — was that the original use?
How has it remained undisturbed?
And — only slightly off-topic — where does the odd name “Partrick” come from?
Now here is this week’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
You think of stained glass at a church or synagogue. Maybe on display in an art gallery or museum.
Not Goodwill.
But that’s where last week’s Photo Challenge can be found.
Only 2 readers — Jennifer Kobetisch and Madison Malin — identified the Post Road cut-rate store correctly. And neither had any information about why it’s there.
If you know, click “Comments” below. To see the image, click here.
This week’s Photo Challenge seems like it could be anywhere in town. If you know exactly where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
The manmade structure looks like the old telephone switching station on Myrtle Avenue, opposite Sconset Square. Deadman’s Brook flows past it.
But readers who thought that was the answer to last week’s Photo Challenge did not look closely, at the waterfall in the background.
There’s no waterfall near downtown. But there is at one end of Nash’s Pond. Peter Tulupman’s photo showed he spillway near the dam and former icehouse, at Kings Highway North. (Click here to see.)
From there the water flows as Stony Brook, underneath Post Road West. It re-emerges at Sylvan Road and Riverside Avenue, where it empties into the Saugatuck River.
Elaine Marino, Diane Silfen, Jalna Jaeger, Eric Bosch, Bobbie Herman, Wendy Cusick, Dave Brown, Dave Eason, Lynn Untermeyer Miller and Derek Fuchs all knew the Nash’s Pond answer.
So did Kristan M. Nash. Then again, she should!
Can she — or anyone — guess this week’s Photo Challenge? If you know where in Westport it is, click “Comments.”
But … they serve a purposes: storage for chairs, umbrellas and other summer gear.
They’re great for kids to race around in, and play hide-and-seek — as they have for generations.
And the locks that each renter puts on his or her locker are very, very colorful.
Kevin Carroll’s lock collage was last week’s Photo Challenge. It was too easy, complained many of the readers who quickly identified the location: Joyce Barnhart, Dave Lowrie, Elaine Marino, Gloria Smithson, Rich Stein, Seth Braunstein, John Richers, Andrew Colabella, Jo Ann Flaum, Lynn Untermeyer Miller, Arlene Blackman Yolles, Nancy Axthelm and Lawrence Joel Zlatkin.
Sure, it was. But you probably got the answer as you relaxed on the sand, in your beach chair, just after toting it a few yards from your locker.
That’s an “06880” summer Sunday for you.
Here is this week’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport you’d see it, click “Comments” below.
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