Category Archives: Photo Challenge

Photo Challenge #338

Posted on June 20, 2021 | 7 comments

Terrain is a joy to look at.

The garden store/home decor shop/cafe/restaurant (and much much more) is a verdant spot on the Post Road, a lush counterpart to the strip malls next door and across the street.

(Their neglect of the old wooden building between Terrain and the fire station is another story entirely.)

But there’s more to Terrain than meets the eye. Or, more exactly, there’s more when you look up at the exterior of the former car dealership.

The wall is filled with flower pots. They form quite a pattern. JC Martin captured them for last week’s Photo Challenge. (Click here to see.)

Elaine Marino, Paloma Bima, Susan Iseman, Andrew Colabella, Jonathan McClure, Shirlee Gordon, Molly Alger, Joelle Malec, Nancy Axthelm, Patricia McMahon, Seth Braunstein, Julie Shapiro and Martha Spiegel all correctly identified the spot.

(It was obviously not, as one readerthought, a mausoleum wall at Willowbrook cemetery.)

This week’s Photo Challenge comes from Seth Schachter. Most Westporters have passed by this at least occasionally — sometimes daily. Yet how many of us really see it?

If you know were in Westport you’d find this, click “Comments” below.

(Photo/Seth Schachter)

 

 

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Photo Challenge #337

Posted on June 13, 2021 | 17 comments

One reader called it “another fabulous crown jewel.” Another said it was a “fabulous spot for a nice party.”

“It” is the small clubhouse at Ned Dimes Marina. Separating scores of boats from the parking lot by the softball field, the low wooden building can be lost in Compo Beach’s beauty.

But it really is a gem. It’s a spot to sit, rest and people-watch. It’s shaded and breezy.

And — though many Westporters don’t know this — the clubhouse is also available to rent, for a modest-compared-to-most-places fee.

Fred Cantor, Lee Ann Bollert, Diane Silfen, Andrew Colabella, Rich Stein, Louis Weinberg, Thomas Siebrasse, Marc Isaacs, Michael Calise, Jonathan McClure and Sue Kane all identified last week’s Photo Challenge, a reflective-type shot by Dinkin Fotografix. (Click here to see.)

So who was Ned Dimes?

He was a former All-New England soccer player at Wesleyan University, B-24 World War II pilot, and Yale Law graduate who practiced his entire career in Westport.

In his 55 years here he was elected to the Board of Finance (18 years, 14 as chair); served as president of the Westport Pension Board; was on the Representative Town Meeting, Recreation Commission, Public Site & Building Committee and Planning and Zoning Commission (alternate), and was a YMCA trustee.

Dimes also chaired Saugatuck Congregational Church’s board of trustees, and was a deacon. He spent 50 years as a Saugatuck Hose Company #4 member (as well as their attorney and trustee).

He also belonged to the Minuteman and South Norwalk Boat Clubs — more reasons (among many) that our “crown jewel” marina is named for Ned Dimes. He died in 2005, age 82.

Meanwhile — away from the beach — if you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.

(Photo/JC Martin)

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Posted in Beach, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #336

Posted on June 6, 2021 | 15 comments

You’d think a plaque honoring all of Westport’s veterans — “living or dead” — would be located in a prominent spot. Veterans Green, probably. The VFW, perhaps.

You’d also think that because it was dedicated in 1975, plenty of people would remember where it was.

You’d be wrong.

Wendy Crowther, Joyce Barnhart and Michael Calise were the only “06880” readers who knew where last week’s photo challenge can be found. (Click here to see.)

It’s not what our veterans deserve. The plaque is where Long Lots Road feeds into Post Road East, just west of Shearwater Coffee and One River Art (before that, Bertucci’s/Tanglewoods/Clam Box). A memorial flagpole once stood nearby. I can’t imagine many people ever see the plaque now.

Yet there’s a reason it’s there. For several decades, a Doughboy statue graced the median, between the restaurant and the hardware store across the way.

It was relocated 25 or 30 years ago to Veterans Green (though it was not called that then). It’s certainly a more appropriate — and accessible — spot.

Last week’s challenge was fitting: It was the day before Memorial Day. (And today is D-Day.)

This week’s photo has no tie-in to anything — except it’s somewhere in Westport. If you think you know where it is, click “Comments” below.

(Photo/Dinkin Fotografix)

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Posted in History, Looking back, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #335

Posted on May 30, 2021 | 6 comments

Who knew there were so many culverts in Westport?

A couple of weeks ago, John Kantor took “06880” readers on a tour of the secret — well, well-hidden — passages that allow kayakers and canoeists to travel from Sherwood Mill Pond to beyond Burying Hill Beach without even a portage.

Susan Iseman’s Photo Challenge last Sunday showed 2 more culverts. (Which raises the question: Why are they always side by side?)

Wrong guesses included Nash’s Pond, Sasco Creek, Deadman Brook and Otter Trail.

The correct answer: Willowbrook Cemetery. The culverts are on the south end of the graveyard, at Carriage Lane. You can see them from Main Street, (You can also see them by clicking here.)

Andrew Colabella and Alfred Herman correctly identified the site of the culverts. They’re one more reason — beside the beautiful Daffodil Mile every spring — to slow down as you pass by this beautiful, and historic, cemetery.

This week’s Photo Challenge also brings to mind Westporters who have passed — those who gave their lives for our country.

They’ll be honored tomorrow, after the Memorial Day parade, at Veterans Green. It’s well worth watching.

Meanwhile, where in Westport would you find this memorial?

NOTE: It is not at Veterans Green.

(Photo/Scott Bennewitz)

 

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Photo Challenge #334

Posted on May 23, 2021 | 7 comments

To many folks, it was an abstract image. Some may have realized it was a stone wall.

But to the elite subset of “06880” readers who specialize in figuring out each Sunday’s Photo Challenge, it was child’s play. They quickly identified its location on Beachside Avenue, just past the Greens Farms Academy entrance on the left heading toward Southport. (Click here to see.)

Don’t ask me how they do it. But kudos to Chris Swan, Andrew Colabella, John Richers, Seth Schachter, Judy Reid and Seth Braunstein, who once again rose to the challenge.

And surpassed it.

This week’s Challenge shows 2 culverts. Hint: They’re not the ones featured in a recent story about the culverts linking Sherwood Mill Pond to Burying Hill Beach.

If you know where in Westport you’d see this pair, click “Comments” below. Bonus points for identifying the body of water.

(Photo/Susan Iseman)

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Photo Challenge #333

Posted on May 16, 2021 | 10 comments

I was sure that no one would know the answer to last week’s Photo Challenge.

I was sure wrong.

By now I should know not to underestimate “06880” readers’ powers of observation.

Or their knowledge of esoterica.

Andrew Colabella, Rich Stein, David Warburg, Celia Campbell-Mohn and Abby Tolan all knew that David Squires’ image showed the siren horn on the front of a fire truck. (Click here to see.)

John McCarthy knew that the truck belongs to the Greens Farms fire station.

Tomas Curwen, Brandon Malin and Wendy Cusick knew that too — and they identified it as a “Federal Q2B mechanical siren.”

Tomas — a Staples High School senior who hopes to become a firefighter — went one step further that that, and said it was “mounted on the bumper of Engine 5 at Greens Farms Station 5.”

Who knew?!

“0688o” readers, that’s who. You never cease to amaze me. My (figurative firefighter’s) hat is off to you.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep trying to stump you.

If you know where in Westport you’d see the photo below, click “Comments.”

I dare you.

(Photo/Craig Gerard)

 

 

 

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Photo Challenge #332

Posted on May 9, 2021 | 15 comments

In the past decade, most newspapers have moved online. Whether it’s the New York Times or the Westport News, many folks find what they’re looking for with a click of the mouse, not the rustle of a page.

That’s particularly true for USA Today, which I always think of as given out exclusively to hotel guests and airline passengers (back in the day when both businesses handed out freebies).

But apparently, once upon a time, people bought USA Today from machines. Those machines are still around, even if it’s been years since they were used.

Apparently too — judging by last week’s Photo Challenge — at least 2 of those dinosaur relics are still around. (Click here to see.)

My photo was not taken at the Westport train station. Several readers thought it showed the kiosk on the New York-bound side.

Nope. My shot was of the one next to the post office, in Playhouse Square. As much as I’ve used the post office — and I live in the condos right behind it — I’d never actually “seen” that USA Today machine until a couple of weeks ago.

Nancy Engel and Doug Weber did, though. They were the only readers to answer correctly. They win a year’s subscription to USA Today.

Just kidding. They’ll have to stay in a hotel, or fly, to get that.

This week’s Photo Challenge comes from David Squires. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.

(Photo/David Squires)

 

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Posted in Media, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #331

Posted on May 2, 2021 | 16 comments

Longshore is one of Westport’s crown jewels.

The golf course looks great. The Inn sits handsomely — if under-utilizedly — on a prime piece of Sound-side property.

But plopped in between the 1st tee and the Inn sits a forlorn little traffic island.

That was last week’s Photo Challenge. Al Fiore, Andrew Colabella, Brandon Malin and John Richers all recognized it. Click here for Bob Weingarten’s photo — unless you’d prefer not to be depressed.

This week’s challenge is even more neglected. I can’t imagine the last time anyone bought a paper from this rusted-out kiosk.

As for the $1 price: USA Today raised it to $2.

In 2013.

If you know where in Westport you’d see this sorry sight, click Comments below.

(Photo/Dan Woog)

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Photo Challenge #330

Posted on April 25, 2021 | 8 comments

The answer to last week’s Photo Challenge was easy.

Mark Mathias’ shot of a sign — “NOTICE No Skateboarding Etc.” — was taken in the rear parking of Compo Shopping Center. It hangs near CVS, and East Main Street. (Click here to see.)

Molly Alger, John McCarthy, Andrew Colabella and Michael Calise nailed it.

But do they — or anyone — know what “etc.” refers to? Usually it follows at least a few other items. This sign leaves a lot to the imagination.

This week’s Photo Challenge is, well, sad. If you know where in Westport you’d see this forlorn sight, click Comments below.

(Photo/Bob Weingarten)

 

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Posted in Local business, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #329

Posted on April 18, 2021 | 9 comments

There’s always a back story.

Last week’s Photo Challenge showed trees reflected in the windows of a building.

It was not, as some readers thought, Staples High School, or “the ugly building” on Gorham Island.

It was, in fact, the side of the Wells Fargo Wealth Management building across from Compo Shopping Center, overlooking Trader Joe’s. (Click here to see.)

John Greenspan, Andrew Colabella, Rob Hauck, Jonathan McClure, Martha Witte, Clark Thiemann and Bruce Salvo were all on the money.

So was Michael Calise, who provided this historical perspective:

The original building design approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission included architecturally interesting forms which broke up the exterior façade, and contained the window openings currently in place.

In a show of hubris, the developers omitted the architectural forms and put in the windows on a flat ugly building wall.

Unfortunately, the P & Z was never able to resolve the transgression. Accordingly ordinary folks are and will continue to be burdened with the current lifeless and unattractive façade, until demolition time arrives.

Today’s Photo Challenge comes from Mark Mathias. He parenthetically wonders: doesn’t “etc.” need more than one “data point”?

(Photo/Mark Mathias)

If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.

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