Of course, it will take time to clean up all that snow. (Schools are closed tomorrow — c’mon kids, get out there and shovel!)
The town was as quiet as it’s ever been today. Nearly everyone heeded pleas to stay off the roads. Public and private crews worked long and hard, plowing roads and driveways. (C’mon, residents — lend a hand with the sidewalks and fire hydrants!)
Things will start edging closer to normal tomorrow. But for now, here’s another look at what the snow and wind wrought.
Lila, on Wilton Road (Photo copyright/Ted Horowitz)
Post Road, 3 pm (Photo/Michael Chait)
Main Street (Photo/David Martin)
Snowbound on Violet Lane (Photo/Morley Boyd)
The wind wrecked this door, at the Bridge Square Dunkin’ Donuts (Photo/Whitmal Cooper)
(Photo/Tom Lowrie)
(Photo/Jay Petrow)
(Photo/Richard Jaffe)
(Photo/Jeff Ruden)
(Photo/Carl McNair)
(Photo/Mary Sikorski)
(Photo/Yulee Aronson)
Mobile on a porch, in a whiteout (Photo/Pamela Kesselman)
We look back 50 years ago this holiday season — by reposting one of our most commented-on Friday Flashbacks. This one originally ran in 2020. Ho ho ho — enjoy!
When Fred Cantor graduated from Yale University in May of 1975, his parents gave him a 35mm Nikkormat camera. He’d always enjoyed taking photos, with an inexpensive Kodak.
In December he returned to Westport for break, from the University of Connecticut School of Law.
There was a beautiful snowfall. On Christmas Day, Fred knew that downtown would be empty. He’d always enjoyed the “Norman Rockwell-esque” feeling there. He hoped to capture it, without interference.
After 50 years — almost to the day — parts of downtown look very different. Parts look much the same.
After 50 years too, the photos have faded.
But the memories have not.
Gorham Island. The Victorian house has been replaced by a large office building.
Main Street, without any holiday decorations. Gene Hallowell’s Mobil station is now the site of Vineyard Vines.
Further up (undecorated) Main Street, we see Achorn’s Pharmacy on the left (now in Playhouse Square); Oscar’s across the street on the right (soon to be Luya restaurant), and the large furniture store (now, after burning down a couple of years later), The Gap.
The much-loved Remarkable Book Shop has been reimagined as Eleish Van Breems.
Westport Bank & Trust was most recently Patagonia. Soon it will be home to Compass Real Estate. The YMCA building on the left is now Anthropologie.
Ice on the Saugatuck River still looks the same.
Fairfield Furniture has been transformed into National Hall — the original name for the 1800s building. It’s being repurposed for AIG.
Before the Wright Street building rose up behind it — and, later, an architectural firm took over the space — a popular liquor store occupied the busy Wilton Road/Post Road West corner. A decade ago, David Waldman offered to buy this building and move it, creating a right-turn lane from Wilton Road. The town refused. We live with the consequences every day.
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Grand Central Terminal’s enormous clock is a central meeting place.
So is the clock in New Canaan’s downtown.
Tomorrow, Westport will have its own clock. And its own easy-to-meet-up spot.
The handsome new addition — at the corner of Main and Elm Streets, where one-way Main Street becomes two-way near Gap — is a gift from the Westport Downtown Association. The flower bed at the site will be enhanced too.
Two views of the new clock.
The WDA is paying for the purchase, installation, insurance, maintenance and repairs.
The clock arrived recently. The site is being prepared today. Installation is set for tomorrow.
Just in time for the Westport Downtown Association/”06880″ Holiday Stroll on Saturday, it’s one more attraction for the 5th annual event (4 to 7 p.m.). Besides selfies with Santa and the town’s favorite piglet, visitors can take photos with the newest downtown attraction.
The clock is “a beautiful addition to Westport,” WDA president Maxx Crowley notes. Black with gold trim, and two-sided — saying “Town of Westport” and “1835,” the year of our founding — it fits in with the lampposts currently downtown, and is designed in the same style as the Grand Central clock.
Ready for installation.
“This isn’t just a clock. It is a symbol,” Crowley adds.
“It’s a symbol of our past, our progress, and our promise to future generations.
A symbol of the timeless charm that makes Westport more than a destination, it makes it home.”
Crowley — a lifelong Westporter — calls the clock “one of the greatest honors of my service” as Downtown Association president.
“It represents the elegance of old New England town centers, the character that defines our community, and the pride we feel every time we walk through our downtown.
“It will stand as a daily reminder that Westport’s story is still being written — and we are all a part of it.
The clock aligns with the WDA’s mission to beautify and enliven the town. They string the holiday lights and season greenery, and sponsor major events like the Fine Arts Festival, Westoberfest — and Saturday’s Stroll.
The clock will be installed here tomorrow.
Crowley says, “a project of this significance is never accomplished alone. Our thanks go to former selectwomen Jen Tooker, Andrea Moore and Candice Savin; and Public Works director Pete Ratkiewich and assistant town attorney Eileen Lavigne, whose leadership, support, and enthusiasm helped make this vision a reality.
“Enormous gratitude also goes to Jimmy Izzo of Izzo Electric and Marc Bolduc of Guinta Bolduc Masonry, whose craftsmanship and dedication brought the clock to life with extraordinary care.”
Crowley also thanks “the remarkable WDA board and team. Your passion for Westport is visible in every detail of this project.
“As Westport comes together this weekend, strolling, celebrating and sharing in the joy of the season, a new symbol of community pride will take its place. With every moment spent beneath it, this clock will remind us why Westport is such a special place to gather, shop, celebrate, and call home.”
As Westport prepares for the holiday season, merchants urge: “Please shop local! Choose us over the internet!”
it’s not the first time they’ve made that request.
Nearly 80 years ago — in 1947 — illustrator Howard Munce drew this map of Main Street and State Street (Post Road) retailers.
It was headlined: “Shop Westport First.”
It’s hard to see all the stores. I’m not sure if any of them are still here.
But you get the idea. They’ll last a lot longer if we give them our business.
(Image courtesy of Christopher Maroc)
(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!)
Last week’s Photo Challenge showed the base of a Main Street lamppost.
Andrew Colabella, Jacqui Bidgood, Ed Simek, Seth Schachter, Micheal Simso, Scott Brodie, Sal Liccione and Wendy Schaefer all correctly identified it: in front of the Lux Bond & Green shopping plaza, near Brandy Melville.
I’m not surprised our readers identified it quickly: It’s big, visible, and in a very prominent location. (Click here to see.)
But I expected at least one complaint about all the stickers stuck to it. Westporters seldom miss a chance to comment on visual pollution. For whatever reason, this one got a pass.
Fun fact: The lamppost sits in front of what used to be called Brooks Corner. It was named not for the Brooks Brothers store there, but for Brooks Community Newspaper’s Westport News, which used to have its offices there. The Brooks family owned the small shopping/office plaza.
Now it’s called something like “Main & Elm” or “Elm & Main” — so forgettable, I forgot it.
This week’s Photo Challenge is below. If you know where in Westport you’d see it, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/copyright DinkinESH Fotografix)
(Every Sunday, “06880” hosts this Photo Challenge. We challenge you too to support your hyper-local blog. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
Last week’s Photo Challenge showed a familiar scene.
But it was also very challenging.
Jerry Kuyper’s image of the edge of a gray building, with a lower one next to it, reminded many readers of the Post Road East/Imperial Avenue corner, dominated by Harding Funeral Home (ground floor) and the Masonic temple (above). (You can see it here.)
I would have said that too. But I’d be as wrong as most readers.
Jerry took the shot from the second floor of Clarendon Fine Art. It shows the Pottery Barn building across Main Street, and next to it West Elm (whose arched windows are the giveaway).
Andrew Colabella, Lynn Untermeyer Miller, Morley Boyd and Matt McGrath are the 4 readers who did not take the funeral home/Masons bait. Well done!
Meanwhile, “who” knows where this week’s Photo Challenge is?
If you know where in Westport you’d spot this owl, click “Comments” below.
150 people met at the Westport Country Playhouse parking lot yesterday, for a special RunForTheirLives walk.
The “Orange Balloon Memorial March” honored the Bibas family, along with Oded Lifshitz, a founder of Kibbutz Nir Oz. All lived there, before being kidnapped on October 7, 2023.
RunForTheirLives-Westport founder Melinda Wasserman opened the march with moving words about how the Bibas boys had come to feel like “our own children,” followed by similarly grief-imbued comments by Jennifer Wolff.
Gathering in the Westport Country Playhouse parking lot …
Temple Israel’s Rabbi Elena Nemitoff-Bressler led the crowd in the Mourner’s Kaddish.
The group then carried orange balloons, most of them donated by Party Hardy owner Jackie Marshal.
… beginning the march downtown …
The balloons were tied onto both sides of the Ruth Steinkraus Bridge. They blew in the winter wind the rest of the day, a reminder of the flame-haired children Hamas had executed.
Event organizers called it “a stunningly moving event. Our grief-stricken community united in both mourning for those we have lost, and celebration of those who have been returned to their families and loved ones, and, of course, to Israel.”
… and leaving balloons on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge.
And on March 10 (6 to 8 p.m.), 2 weeks before the curtain rises on the Westport Country Playhouse production of the backstage comedy “Theatre People,” the 94-year-old institution salutes itself, its legacy, and the people who bring its shows to life.
“Get Ready for Theatre People! An Evening of Cocktails, Fun Tales and Backstage Tours” features an “alumni panel,” with actors Mia Dillon, Keir Dullea, Joe Delafield and Michael McCormick, former co-artistic director Anne Keefe, and more. Playhouse artistic director Mark Shanahan is the moderator.
The pre-show evening also includes behind-the-scenes tours led by WCP archivist and historian Bruce Miller, and a cocktail party.
Discount ticket offers will be available at the event for performances of “Theatre People.” The comedy is set in 1948 in a Newport mansion populated with characters in love with theater. They try to write a Broadway hit, but create as much drama among themselves as on paper.
Tickets for “Get Ready for Theatre People!” are $25; $15 for Encore Club members; click here to order. Click here for more details on “Theatre People” (March 25 through April 12).
Westport Country Playhouse historian Bruce Miller, with some of the 500 head shots near the dressing rooms underneath the stage. They’ll be part of the “Theatre People” tour.
This year’s 5th annual event is set for this Friday (February 28, 7 p.m., Westport Library). Sponsored by the Westport Downtown Association, it’s a benefit for Homes with Hope.
The show features the latest styles, from the town’s mot sophisticated and fashion-forward retailers.
Models are all local friends and celebrities. The emcee and runway director are neighbors too: Dave Briggs and Carey Price, respectively.
There’s a silent auction too, with categories like art, beauty, business, entertainment, food and wine, health and wellness, sports and travel.
Plus (of course!) fashion.
Bidding begins this Thursday (February 27, 6 p.m.). Click here to see all items.
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We’re 3 weeks away from the 5th anniversary of the week COVID rolled into Westport.
Within 24 hours, downtown was deserted. It took months for life to return.
But even in 2025, Main Street is still quiet early on Sunday mornings. William Weiss captured this “Last Picture Show” (Westport-style) image yesterday:
(Photo/William Weiss)
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Mary Brewster comes from an artistic family.
Her father, Howard Munce, was one of Westport’s most noted and beloved artists. He died in 2016, at 100.
She’s been knitting baby hats for quite a while. Now she has created a business: Hat Cakes. (The design looks like a little cake.)
She staged one on a plate, with miniature animals and fake snow. Images posted on social media have received positive feedback. Mothers (and grandmotherss) especially love them.
Contact marybrewste@gmail.com for more information. We hope Hat Cakes sell like hot cakes.
And finally … Jerry Butler — “The Iceman,” who as the first leader of the Impressions, as a duet with Betty Everett and as a solo artist had a long and successful career — died Thursday in Chicago.
He was 85, and suffered from Parkinson’s.
Among his many hits:
(Welcome to another week — and, each day, another Roundup bringing you news of events, people and sights all around Westport. Please click here to support your hyper-local blog. Thank you!)
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