Tag Archives: Westport Bank & Trust

Photo Challenge #474

Posted on January 28, 2024 | 14 comments

Two weeks ago, our Photo Challenge bamboozled nearly every reader. Most thought it showed an American flag flying atop the former Patagonia (and even more former Westport Bank & Trust) building, where the Post Road and Church Lane converge.

Nope. It was the original Westport Library on the Post Road near Main Street, a few yards west.

But this past Sunday, those erroneous answers were correct. Our most recent Photo Challenge featured the alarm box from the old bank. It’s still there, on the back side, near what is now Pink Sumo restaurant. (Click here to see.)

Fred Cantor, Morley Boyd, Lynn Untermeyer Miller, Andrew Colabella and Jack Backiel all answered correctly.

Here is this week’s Photo Challenge. Click “Comments” below if you know where in Westport you would see Fran Decker’s memorial plaque.

(Photo/Jay Dirnberger)

HINT: It’s not Patagonia/Westport Bank & Trust.

(If you enjoy this regular Sunday feature — or anything else on “06880” — please support our work, with a tax-deductible contribution. Just click here. Thank you!)

 

14 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Local business, Photo Challenge

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Photo Challenge #473

Posted on January 21, 2024 | 12 comments

Here’s how tough last week’s Photo Challenge was: Even Andrew Colabella was wrong.

The RTM member and native Westporter — who is almost always the first reader to respond to even the most obscure weekly image — was one of the 11 folks who very quickly and quite assuredly said that the flag flying high above a building with concrete molding was the site (until a couple of weeks ago) of Patagonia.

Many of those 11 also referred to it by its original business: Westport Bank & Trust.

Close — geographically — but nope.

Ed Simek’s photo showed the flag atop the original Westport Library, on the corner of the Post Road and Main Street (now part vacant, part Bond Vet, part Starbucks). Click here to see.

Those first readers were so sure of themselves, I had to call Ed to confirm that it really was the old Library, and not the (now old) Patagonia.

Eventually, Mary Ann Batsell and Seth Braunstein checked in with the right answer.

Phew!

Today, we’ll give you a break. This week’s Photo Challenge should be much easier. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.

And if you don’t know, just ask Andrew Colabella.

(Photo/Seth Schachter)

(Thanks for playing our weekly game. If you enjoy this feature — or anything else on this hyper-local blog — please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

12 Comments

Posted in Library, Photo Challenge

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Friday Flashback #224

Posted on December 25, 2020 | 35 comments

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 45 years — to the day — parts of downtown look very different. Parts look much the same.

After 45 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.

The Remarkable Book Shop. For over a decade, it’s been the “vacant Talbots store.”

Westport Bank & Trust is now Patagonia.

Ice on the Saugatuck River still looks the same.

Fairfield Furniture has been transformed into National Hall — the original name for the 1800s building.

The Corner Spirit Shop at the Post Road West/Wilton Road intersection is now the rebuilt home to an architectural firm.

35 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Friday Flashback

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Roundup: Olivia de Havilland; Patagonia; More

Posted on July 27, 2020 | 6 comments

Olivia de Havilland — who died Saturday at 104 — is best known for her many film roles (including “Gone With the Wind”).

But in 1946 — 5 years before her Broadway debut in “Romeo and Juliet” — the already legendary actress appeared in the Westport Country Playhouse production of “What Every Woman Knows.”

As noted on “06880” last year, on the same day she was set to open the show, she married novelist and journalist Marcus Goodrich. The 12:30 p.m. wedding ceremony took place at the Weston home of Armina and Lawrence Langner, Playhouse founders.

For some reason, the poster that week clarified that the star of the show would appear “in person.” (Hat tip: Joey Kaempfer)

Every year, the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects runs a “Connecticut Treasures” contest. Each county is represented by one building; the public votes on its favorite.

This year’s theme is banks — either still functioning or repurposed.

The Fairfield County representative is the former Westport Bank & Trust, smack (and handsome) in the middle of downtown. Today we know it as Patagonia.

The flatiron-type Charles Cutler building dates to 1924. In 2005 it was restored as mixed-use retail space. David Adam Realty saved and refurbished the original exterior, terrazzo flooring, murals, and 4 of the 5 bank vaults.

To see this and the other 7 county entrants (and vote for your favorite), click here. (Hat tip: Jack Franzen)

Patagonia — formerly Westport Bank & Trust.

And finally … we missed Mick Jagger’s 77th birthday yesterday. So here’s belated best wishes. Fun fact: Olivia de Havilland was old enough to be his mother.

6 Comments

Posted in Arts, Downtown, Local business

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Friday Flashback #191

Posted on May 1, 2020 | 3 comments

Over 100 years ago, the world was embroiled in war. Still — like us, 4 months ago in December — no one had any idea what lay ahead.

Seth VanBeever is a 4th-generation Westporter. In 1916 and ’17, his great-grandfather was diligently making payments to his Christmas Club account.

What’s a Christmas Club? It’s an account customers pay into weekly, to have enough money in December for presents. They’re still around, amazingly.)

Also in 1916, Seth’s great-grandfather plunked down $5 for a summer bathhouse at Compo Beach.

If all you know about those bathhouses are the current wooden ones by the pavilion, think again.

Here’s a photo shared on Facebook by Maureen Driscoll of her relatives, circa 1931. The bathhouse — in the background — looks pretty grand.

Here are other views, from other years:

 

The 2020 bathhouses cost a lot more than they did in 1916. Hey — you should put your money in a Bathhouse Club!

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Posted in Beach, Friday Flashback

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Friday Flashback #86

Posted on April 13, 2018 | 5 comments

Two weeks ago, our Friday Flashback showed the unchanging nature of an important downtown crossroads.

A time traveler from decades ago would have no difficulty today recognizing the Westport Bank & Trust building (though some of the fashions at the present tenant, Patagonia, might surprise her).

Across Church Lane, the transformation of the Westport Weston YMCA into Bedford Square has altered — but not radically changed — the streetscape.

Of course, it did not always look that way.

Here’s a view of Main Street, at what was then called “The Square” (note the horse watering trough in the middle). The building on the right was replaced by the Westport Hotel — which itself was replaced in 1923 by E.T. Bedford’s gift to the town, the YMCA.

(Photo courtesy of Westport Historical Society)

Another view — looking west up the Post Road, toward the Saugatuck River — shows the building on the Main Street corner (on the right) from another angle.

(Photo courtesy of Westport Historical Society)

Check out the trolley. It provided great local transportation, with branches running from downtown to Saugatuck and Compo Beach.

And where was the trolley barn?

Somewhere on Church Lane. So — despite its current unchanging look — that area was indeed different, back in the day.

(Photo courtesy of Paul Ehrismann)

5 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Friday Flashback, Transportation

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Friday Flashback #84

Posted on March 30, 2018 | 4 comments

Last weekend, this section of the Post Road was the site of a large rally protesting gun violence.

In years past, big crowds have gathered here for other events: A 1936 campaign speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. An anti-war demonstration in 1969. Welcoming home the Little League World Series heroes of 2013.

Most days though, it’s just the Post Road near Main Street.

(Photo courtesy of Paul Ehrismann)

Besides the cars, traffic light, lampposts on the far right — and the fact that Westport Bank & Trust is now Patagonia — little has changed in the 70 or so years since this photo was taken.

Let’s see what the next 7 decades bring.

4 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Friday Flashback

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Friday Flashback #74

Posted on January 12, 2018 | 8 comments

Once upon a time, (nearly) everyone smoked.

And once upon a time, (nearly) every restaurant and business promoted itself by handing out personalized matches.

Check out Chip Stephens’ vintage collection:

Some of these — Westport Bank & Trust, Three Bears, Manero’s, Sakura (!) — are long-time local institutions.

Some — Beefsteak Charley’s, Tanglewoods, Leong’s Palace, Premier Market — are great mind-joggers.

But Boss Tweed’s?! That must have been here for a New York minute.

8 Comments

Posted in Friday Flashback, Local business, Restaurants

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Friday Flashback #71

Posted on December 22, 2017 | 45 comments

I remember Westport Bank & Trust.

The grand old bank sat at the junction of Church Lane and the Post Road — right between the equally magnificent Tudor-style Westport YMCA , and the very popular Fine Arts Theater.

Today, the Y’s Bedford building is Anthropologie. The Fine Arts is Restoration Hardware.

And Westport Bank & Trust — after crawling through a few incarnations with names like Lafayette and Hudson Banks — has emerged as Patagonia.

(Pink Sumo occupies the lower level, where the safe deposit boxes once stood.)

I even remember many stories about Westport Bank & Trust — including the lengths to which president Einar Andersen would go, making sure that service veterans and other worthy citizens got personal and business loans.

I remember the bank’s tagline: “A hometown bank in a town of homes.”

You can see it (in a slightly briefer version) in Ann Runyon’s photo:

But what I don’t remember is what the image above shows. Apparently, this was a piggy bank.

If you’ve got any Westport Bank & Trust memories, click “Comments” below.

45 Comments

Posted in Friday Flashback, Local business

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Photo Challenge #106

Posted on January 8, 2017 | 19 comments

Sometimes the photo challenge is hidden in plain sight.

Last week’s photo showed a Corinthian pilaster with acanthus leaves, and a brick building — but it wasn’t the original library building. It wasn’t the old Y. It wasn’t one of our first schools, like Bedford Elementary (now Town Hall), Saugatuck Elementary (now elderly housing) or Bedford Junior High (now Saugatuck El).

No. It was the longtime Westport Bank & Trust — now repurposed as Patagonia.

Many of us pass by it, probably every day. But only Nina Skaya, Shirlee Gordon, Sarah Neilly, Ann Friedenberg and Linda Parker (who provided the architectural description I stole above) guessed correctly.

For Lynn U. Miller’s great photo — and all the guesses, right and wrong — click here.

This week’s challenge comes courtesy of Seth Schachter:

(Photo/Seth Schachter)

(Photo/Seth Schachter)

Here’s a hint: It’s not downtown.

That’s all we’re saying. If you think you know where this waterfall is, click “Comments” below.

19 Comments

Posted in Photo Challenge

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