As the Delamar Westport celebrates its first anniversary — popular, modern, and with the very lively Dandelion restaurant — it’s a good time to remember its predecessor.
Not the little-lamented Westport Inn.
But the New Englander “Motor Hotel.” (A fancy name for “motel.”)
When it opened in 1960, it filled an important local need.
“Luxury at Everyday Prices!” the brochure (below) touted.
“Leave the turmoil and confusion of the hectic daily life behind …for a refreshing change of pace,” the marketing material promised.
The New Englander offered so much: a pool, cabana club, sundecks, playground, shuffleboard, picnic area, putting green, cookout grills, station wagon service to beaches and theaters, sightseeing tours — even “free ice” and “24-hour telephone service.”
Plus it was near bowling, a driving range, miniature golf, ice skating, beauty and barber shops, masseurs and masseuses, and — perhaps this would seal the deal — “stockbrokers.”
(The brochure also showed a vague illustration of the view in front of the motel. It was nothing like the reality of the Post Road, and buildings across the street.)
The center pages of the brochure touted “outsize rooms and suites, (all) fully carpeted, soundproofed and equipped with individually controlled heat and air conditioning.”
Diming options included the Gaslite Lounge — for a “congenial, sophisticated rendezvous in turn-of-the-century style” — as well as a “strikingly handsome” restaurant.
A private banquet room offered a “bandstand, public address system, and expert beverage and food service.”
The back of the brochure burbled on.
The New Englander was “minutes from the rich cultural and recreational life of the area.” Attractions included the Westport Country Playhouse, White Barn theater, Shakespeare Festival at Stratford, the “art colony at Silvermine,” museums, art galleries, beaches, boating, golf and picnic areas.
It was “minutes” too from “the industrial heart of the state”: Norwalk, Bridgeport and New Haven.
As if all that was not enough: at the New Englander Motor Hotel, credit cards were “honored.”
The New Englander never delivered on most of those promises. For the next couple of decades, it was just an average, non-descript motel.
The rooms were meh. Air conditioning was not a huge selling point. Restaurants came and went in dizzying succession.
Eventually the motel became an “inn.” Any changes were minor, and cosmetic.
Today we’ve got a legit hotel. There is valet parking. Christian Siriano decorated some interior spaces. The restaurant and bar are hopping.
But it still offers free ice, and 24-hour telephone service.
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