As Westporters snuggled inside today, photographer Lynn U. Miller was outdoors.
She found the Library riverwalk looking lovely:
The old library looked pretty good too:
Around the corner, downtown was cozily timeless:
Main Street seemed deserted near dusk.
Well — not quite…
Click on or hover over to enlarge. (Photos/Lynn U. Miller)
Tonight — without fanfare — the new downtown street lights were turned on.
Just as importantly, the old cobra-style highway lights were shut off.
The new lamps — lower, warmer, nicer — are far kinder to Main Street. They also complement the lighting displays in many nearby stores.
A soft glow on the west side of Main Street…
…and the east. Note the new, user-friendly pedestrian crossing in front of Banana Republic too.
Soon, the holiday decorations will be up. They will be far lovelier than last year’s sad zip-line effort.
Now all that’s left is for Eversource to remove the old lights. Let’s hope they move more quickly than the contractors on the Merritt Parkway North Avenue bridge.
Meanwhile, further north, a lone snowflake glistens near a new light by Oscar’s…
…while Tavern on Main boasts its traditional lamp, and a gorgeous wreath.
Posted in Downtown, Local business, Restaurants
Tagged Christmas lights, Main Street, Oscar's Delicatessen, Tavern on Main
Steve Edwards — Westport’s public works director — offers this comment on today’s “06880” story, about the new Main Street sidewalk:
Your reader’s observation that in places on Main Street the curb placement has changed is correct.
This is a positive curb re-alignment based on survey measurement and engineering design. As the new granite curbing is being installed, the town is taking the opportunity to “straighten out the curb line” on Main Street that historically had significant variation.
For example, in front of Chase Bank a belly in the curb line was removed to create a more visually attractive uniform curb. In a number of places along the roadway the curb line has been corrected. In some cases the roadway got slightly wider, and others slightly more narrow.
At some points, the new curb on Main Street is wider than before.
The sidewalk/lamppost renovation of Main Street is proceeding nicely. Downtown is looking up.
Unlike 2 women in a photo below, who apparently think the project includes a new pedestrian mall.
Workers were finishing the left-side sidewalk yesterday. But that was not why traffic was snarled.
The cause of the holdup was 2 women — one pushing a stroller — walking side by side. All. The. Way. Down. The. Middle. Of. Main. Street.
There was a perfectly good sidewalk on the right, so maybe the ladies were meandering toward a shop on the left?
Nah.
They continued north, oblivious to the scrum of cars behind.
The (very patient) driver who inched her way up Main Street behind these 2 Very Special People turned right on Elm. So we don’t know how far they kept walking, smack in the middle of the road.
To be fair, perhaps they were reenacting the British march to Danbury 238 years ago.
If so — and you’re driving on Route 7 today — watch out!
Posted in Downtown, Transportation, Westport life
Tagged entitled Westporters, Main Street
One of the most remarkable downtown photos of all time:
The bad news: You can’t drive down Main Street today.
The good news: The merchants get a bit more time to shovel their sidewalk.
An alert — and very concerned — “06880” reader sent this photo. It shows Main Street, as of an hour or so ago:
The reader says:
More than a few retailers routinely fail to remove snow from the sidewalk in front of their stores. With another snowstorm (or two) on the way, this creates a public safety hazard. Personally, it bugs me more than when certain retailers keep their doors open during hot summer weather!
The reader is not just bitching and moaning. Here’s the town policy:
SIDEWALKS – Per town ordinance, businesses are responsible for keeping all sidewalks along their property clear of snow and ice.
There are 2 reasons our cops shouldn’t have to enforce sidewalk clearing regulations.
As Mel Mioli and I chatted yesterday afternoon about the imminent relocation of Westport Pizzeria to 143 Post Road East, we remembered the many Main Street businesses that his narrow restaurant outlasted.
We didn’t chat about chain stores. Our trip down memory lane was all about the “real” stores that — once upon a time — defined downtown.
Back in the 1970s, a Mobil station sat opposite Westport Pizzeria. Today, it”s Vineyard Vines.
All of these places existed during the 45 years Westport Pizzeria has been a Main Street mainstay:
And that’s just off the top of our heads.
Mel and I came up with the name of just one Main Street non-chain business that was there in 1968, and still remains. In fact, it started out a few doors down, a couple of decades before Mel and Joe Mioli opened their pizzeria.
Congratulations, Oscar’s! You’re the last of a great bunch left on Main Street.
Oscar’s Delicatessen (Photo/Videler Photography)
Posted in Downtown, Local business, Restaurants
In the early- and mid-1800s, Saugatuck was the commercial and financial center of town. Then Horace Staples opened a bank upriver, built a couple of wharves and National Hall, and the area around what is now called “downtown” flourished.
In the 1950s Saugatuck — by then an Italian-American community — was ripped apart (physically and emotionally) by the construction of I-95. Main Street got its mojo; Riverside Avenue became an afterthought.
Now — with a renovation project bringing new restaurants, retail, apartments and street life to the area — Saugatuck is hot. Downtown is firing back, with a renovated Church Lane and $500,000 Main Street initiative on tap.
So this seems as good a time as any to revisit the New York Times of December 2, 1923.
“Urge That Westport Be Saugatuck Again,” the headline read.
And the subhead: “Many Citizens of Connecticut Town Think the Old Indian Name More Distinctive.”
In the 1920s, Esposito’s gas station and taxi company stood on Charles Street. Today it’s Tarry Lodge…
The story described a drive by “leading citizens here in another attempt to restore to this village its original name.”
The major selling point: There were 18 other Westports in the US, and 4 more around the world. That led to “confusion of the mails and the long-distance telephone calls.”
There was only 1 other Saugatuck, however — a Michigan town that took its name from ours.
With Westport, Connecticut growing — the Times called the town of nearly 5,000 “the largest and most noted art colony” in the country, home to “a dozen different industrial plants” and a brand-new, $300,000 YMCA — there was “agitation for the restoration of the town’s old name of Saugatuck.” The drive was led by John Adams Thayer, with support from state legislator Harry M. Ayres and “many other prominent citizens.”
…while a couple of miles north, the Saugatuck River lapped up against the back of Main Street stores.
The Times reported that the name Saugatuck came from the Indian “Sauki-tuk,” meaning “outlet from a tidal river.” The town of Saugatuck was founded in 1640, and called itself that until the incorporation of “Westport” in 1835.
That was the Times’ 1st — and only — report of the proposed name change. There is no word on when, how or why the idea sank to the bottom of the river.
(Hat tip to Fred Cantor for unearthing this New York Times story.)
Posted in Downtown, History, Looking back, Saugatuck
Tagged Main Street, New York Times, Saugatuck
Not to get all Grinchy here — especially after Jose Feliciano’s beautiful guitar playing post this morning — but alert “06880” reader David Meth is not exactly in the holiday spirit.
He writes:
What has happened to Westport? A cold, colorless Main Street, and the chill of a blue tree in front of Town Hall that is uninviting in the yellow shadow of a street light.
At least Millman and Aarons added colorful flickering lights to their tree, diverting attention from the awful skeletons of white lighting on the little green across from Town Hall.
But Main Street did have white lightning bolts zigzagging from the tops of poles. Is it any wonder why Main Street has been dying a slow death and the town is like a graveyard at night?
No imagination. No color. No spirit.
No trees, but zigzagging lights.
Thank God no one vandalized the Minuteman statue today. (Photo by Katherine Hooper)
The Post Road looked positively serene earlier this afternoon. (Photo by Katherine Hooper)
There were no white sales on Main Street today. (Photo by Katherine Hooper)
Charlotte Frank is the standard against which the Blizzard of 2013 will be measured.
Ethan and Molly Frank find fun in a snow fort.
The Old Mill parking lot was filled with sand after Hurricane Sandy. Nemo dealt it a different blow. (Photo by Matt Murray)
Little kids weren’t the only ones putting the Blizzard of 2013 to good use. Party on, Westport!
Posted in Beach, Downtown, People, Places, Weather, Westport life
Tagged Blizzard of 2013, Main Street, Post Road
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