Some stores stick a pumpkin out front. Others hang a skeleton by the door.
Terrain’s Halloween decorations are a bit more creative.
True to their brand, the home-and-garden shop on Post Road East goes all out with decorations.
Last week’s Photo Challenge showed the exterior wall. (Click here to see.)
In a slow day for responses, only Lynn Untermeyer Miller, Beth Berkowitz, Erica Caldwell and Jonathan McClure answered. All were correct.
Everyone else must have been out, picking pumpkins.
Today’s challenge is a little bit spooky too, in a weird way. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/Susan Garment)
(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!)
Upgrades to a pair of well-known Westport properties are on the agenda for next Tuesday’s Architectural Review Board Meeting (April 23, 7:30 p.m., Zoom).
Members will review a proposed façade modification and use of existing ancillary building for a floral studio and storage at 561 Post Road East.
That’s the small, gray 1900-era building — one of the last examples of a single-family house on the Post Road — owned by Terrain, at the corner of Crescent Road.
In 2011 — as part of its application process to open in town — Terrain agreed to preserve the house. They also promised not to use it for storage. That way, it would not count toward the number of parking spots needed.
In 2013, Terrain tried to gain 8 spaces by knocking down the house. The Planning & Zoning Commission denied their request.
For years, the house has been used for storage. Recently, Terrain replaced the roof.
The plan they’ll present to the ARB shows 642 square feet, where florists will build large custom planters for customers. The remaining 1,147 square feet would be used for storage.
The Terrain auxiliary building today (top), and the proposed renovation (bottom).
Renovations to the Inn at Longshore — long awaited, and much needed — are also on the ARB docket.
Interior work includes a new HVAC system, replacement of windows and doors, more guest rooms (and renovation of current rooms), updated ballroom and drawing rooms, updated lobby, completely remodeled kitchen, plumbing and electrical upgrades, and ADA compliance updates.
Architect Ken Nadler has proposed a new entrance with a porte cochère.
Other exterior renovations include a series of patios extending across the length of the building with access to the lawn and shoreline, new landscaping, upgraded exterior lighting and signage, and replacement of siding and roofing.
Site improvements also include a new drive entrance, enhanced parking, and a robust landscaping plan.
The current Inn at Longshore … (Photo/Amy Rizzuto Photography)
… and the proposed new look.
Enhanced patio behind La Plage restaurant.
A new terrace off the ballroom.
A third agenda item involves a much less visible property.
Greens Farms Academy plans an addition to an existing athletic facility, to include a fitness center, locker rooms and offices. The existing maintenance facility behind it would be demolished, with those offices relocated in the new building.
Artist’s rendering of Greens Farms Academy’s new athletic addition (right). The existing building is on the left.
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Who you gonna believe: the comments section of “06880,” or your own ears?
With local elections looming, Westport’s League of Women Voters has scheduled 3 important debates. All take place in the Town Hall auditorium.
Planning & Zoning Commission candidates take the stage October 11 (7 p.m.). They’re followed by a double-header October 12: the Board of Education at 7 p.m., Board of Finance at 8:15.
This is your chance to hear — and assess — the men and women vying to lead our town. Come to Town Hall; then make an informed decision.
Yesterday, with the help of the Waterbury Police Department, Westport detectives took 22-year-old Garrett Gibbs of Waterbury into custody for his involvement in the September 17th carjacking incident.
The arrest followed an intense investigation. Gibbs was charged with the following crimes:
Home Invasion
Burglary 1st degree
Robbery by carjacking
Assault 3rd degree
Larceny 1st degree
Conspiracy to commit larceny 1st degree
Robbery 1st degree
he is being held at the Westport Police Department on a $500,000.00 bond. He will appear in Stamford Superior Court on October 16.
Westport Police detectives are still working this case, and anticipate additional arrests.
Yesterday was a busy one for the WPD. They also arrested a 17-year-old juvenile from Stratford for an incident on July 11, when shots fired in Saugatuck.
The youth is currently incarcerated at Manson Youth Institute, following a previous arrest by another agency. The arrest came after a lengthy investigation by the Detective Bureau, involving multiple interviews and search warrants.
The teen was charged with:
Unlawful discharge of a firearm
Conspiracy to commit unlawful discharge of a firearm
Reckless endangerment 1st degree
Conspiracy to commit reckless endangerment 1s degree
Breach of peace
Conspiracy to commit breach of peace.
He will appear in Bridgeport Juvenile Court on October 13. Police anticipate additional arrests.
A twice-postponed Parks & Recreation Commission meeting has been rescheduled to October 18 (Town Hall Room 201, 7:30 p.m.). The agenda includes discussion of the Longshore Capital Improvement Plan.
The first meeting was interrupted due to a medical emergency. The second — this past Thursday — was planned as a virtual session. It never began, due to technical issues.
Among the concerns of attendees: where on the property to place the planned pickleball courts.
Gaetano’s Deli is a favorite with Staples students.
So it’s a natural location for the high school radio station’s live broadcasts today.
Award-winning WWPT will set up a tent and remote facility outside the Post Road East spot. Everyone is welcome to stop by, and see these great young radio broadcasters in action.
And if you can’t be there, listen in: 90.3 FM, or online.
It’s tough: How can parents talk honestly with their children about drug use, without sounding preachy, unrealistic or clueless?
All this month, the Westport Prevention Coalition is offering free streaming access to a 52-minute documentary, “Don’t Wait.”e.
Substances have changed over the years. Cannabis concentrates can deliver 96% pure THC with no CBD or plant matter. Delivery mechanisms like vapes and pouches are relatively new too.
The film updates parents’ knowledge, and helps them answer tough questions from their kids. Click here to stream the video.
As follow-up for parents who want more information, WPC plans 2 Zoom sessions for parents (October 24 and 26). Click here to register.
PinkLand — the Pink Aid online auction, raising funds to help people with breast cancer — opens Monday. It runs through Thursday.
Over 300 items are available for online bidding. They include:
Brendan Murphy painting (value: $21,000)
Yankees Legends seats for 2024 ($3,000)
2 tickets to “Watch What Happens Live” with Andy Cohen (TBD)
4 VIP wristbands for Governor’s Ball Music Festival 2024 ($3,200)
3 night Oceanview King stay at Mauna Lani, including buffet breakfast ($5,000)
Clase Azul Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Reposado tequila ($4,999)
Keith Urban Guitar ($500)
Courtside Knicks tickets ($2,500)
4 tickets and field passes to Mets-Giants ($150)
Sholeh Janati painting ($5,800)
Tickets are still available for the October 12th luncheon at Mitchells of Westport (11 a.m.). Click here for more information — and to see all auction items, and bid.
Westport celebrates UN Day with a special Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Memorial Lecture.
Kuwait Ambassador to the UN Tareq Albanai will speak on “Identifying Opportunities for Creative Diplomacy to Solve Global Challenges: A View from the Arabian Gulf” (October 24, 7 p.m., Westport Library). He’ll take audience questions afterward.
Ambassador Albanai has long experience dealing with issues of disarmament. A graduate of George Washington University, he is fluent in Arabic, English and Spanish.
Click here to register for in-person participation or streaming. The event is co-sponsored by the Library, and the United Nations Association of Southwestern Connecticut.
Kuwait Ambassador to the United Nations Tareq Albanai.
Rachel Rose is a 2014 Staples High School graduate. She now lives in Fairfield.
The former Orphenian, who studied privately with Cynthia Gibb, is now a professional singer. She calls her style achel calls her style “Jewish soul, contemporary soul and R&B.”
She entered a Jimmy Fallon “Battle of the Instant Songwriters” contest a year ago. On Wednesday, a representative called to see if she wanted to appear on the show.
On Thursday, there she was: on national TV. She and a fellow musician were given an hour to write a song, then perform it.
The title she was provided: “I Think This Airbnb is Haunted.”
Alert “06880” reader Rita Corridon was checking out the New York Times’ “The Morning” feature today.
One piece began:
My hometown has a gardening store so lavish, so over-the-top curated with weather-stained terra-cotta planters the size of vintners’ casks, crumbling concrete birdbaths rescued from Eden and a jungle’s worth of fronds and boughs and leaves that it is a destination.
Out-of-towners come to gaze at its tableaux of mosses, hand-forged shears and fairy lights, to dine on seasonal produce at its in-house café. I think there might be an actual waterfall back by the table linens.
I love going to this store, wandering its aisles and imagining how different my life would be if I could inhabit its forever-green promise, like Keats gazing on the Grecian urn.
“That must be Terrain!” Rita thought.
She looked up the author, Melissa Kirsch.
Sure enough, the “hometown” she talks about is Westport.
Another teardown: Tom Lowrie reports: “A week ago, the house at 148 Old Road was demolished.
148 Old Road then … (Photo/courtesy of Google Maps)
“The site was covered with large trees and brush. The following week all but the best trees were cut down. A mountain of wood chips, logs and house materials were carted away.
“Then the CAT machines went to work, digging out stumps and and piling all the topsoil for future leveling of the site.”
Just another day in the world of Westport real estate.
Westporter Howard Matson — a past international president of the Circumnavigators Club — hosted a dinner last nigh at New York’s Union League Club honoring Tony and Maureen Wheeler, writers and publishers of the Lonely Planet guidebook empire. The couple received the club’s highest recognition: the Order of Magellan.
Matson, who now serves on the club’s Board of Governors, has hosted in past years Jacques Cousteau, Walter Cronkite and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Howard Matson (center) with Maureen and Tony Wheeler.
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“Westport … Naturally” features our town’s natural wonders. Horseshoe crabs — which have been around for 440 million years — certainly qualify.
But these guys didn’t climb on the (man-made) Burying Hill Beach pier by themselves.
They needed help from humans. Our species is about 300,000 years old.
And finally … speaking of the candidates’ debates next week (story above):
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Most Photo Challenge answers are at least a couple of sentences long. Readers often add context to their guesses.
Not last week. Nearly every correct guess was one word: “Terrain.”
Seth Schachter’s image (click here to see) showed a few wooden blocks, in a table-top design.
At Terrain. Like our readers, we’ll leave it at that.
Congratulations to Andrew Colabella, Scott Brodie, Matt Dombrow, Vanessa Bradford, Jennifer Barnes, Tom Feeley, Seth Braunstein, Clyde Wauchope and Linda Vita Velez.
This week’s Photo Challenge is a sign you don’t see every day.
Unless, of course, you do.
If you know where in Westport you would see this, click “Comments” below.
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.
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.
In 2011 — as part of its application process to open in town — Terrain agreed to preserve the small house at the corner of Crescent Road.
The Historic District Commission and Planning and Zoning Commission liked what they heard. The small, gray 1900-era building — one of the last examples of a single-family house on the Post Road — stood proudly across from the fire station.
In 2013, this was the condition of the house on Terrain’s Post Road property, at the corner of Crescent Road.
But parking is tight. So in 2013, Terrain tried to gain 8 spaces by knocking down the house. They put in requests to the Planning & Zoning Commission and Historic District Commission (which was involved because the structure was more than 50 years old).
Matthew Mandell was not pleased. The RTM District 1 representative made a video. In it he explained the back story of Terrain’s dealings with the town.
Also in the video, the HDC’s Randy Henkels noted their early support of Terrain, based on promises the store made. Town planning director Larry Bradley described his department’s role.
And RTM member Cathy Talmadge suggested a boycott of Terrain, if they pressed ahead with demolition plans.
They did not. The next day, the company withdrew its request. “0688o” reported, “Terrain is believed to be working with the Planning and Zoning Commission on a parking plan that would preserve the century-old structure.”
It still stands. But — as many Westporters have noticed — it’s looking a bit grotty.
One view of the Terrain house yesterday …
The P&Z is among those paying attention.
Part of the previous deal was that Terrain would not use the house for storage — that way, it would not count toward the number of parking spots needed.
Another part of the deal was that Terrain would maintain it in good condition.
… and another.
Well, it is being used for storage. In fact, the interior has been torn out to allow more space.
And it is most definitely not being maintained.
Storage inside the building.
On Wednesday, the P&Z promised enforcement action.
Will it come in time to save the rapidly deteriorating, yet still somewhat handsome, building?
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