Wet Weather Deters Downtown Shoppers as End-of-Year Sales Continue
As sales marking the end of 2020 continue at shops on Main Street, wet weather and cool temperatures created a raw day to shop - detering the usual Sunday afternoon crowds.
Looking Back: 2020 in Photos | May
In celebration of the new year, The Westport Local Press is looking back at the past 12 months in Westport. Throughout the day, viewers can follow the year through published photographs representing the community.
In a year filled with so much sadness, not all things were bad as the community grew together during what will forever be known as the year of the pandemic.
Happy New Year.
Joey Romeo and Betsy Kravitz open Joey’s By the Shore featuring Elvira Mae’s Coffee Bar at the famous Old Mill beach institution.
Photo taken on May 1st. This is when businesses slowly began to re-open and understand the two main rules that were being introduced: wear a mask, and remain 6 feet apart. Joey’s by the Shore at the former Elvira’s re-opened this year new, starting off as a contactless, socially distant establishment. The local coffee and food stop would prove essential for the many community members who lived in the surrounding neighborhoods, not wanting to enter local grocery stores, as it would offer essential food and cleaning items as supplies were available. Photos by Jaime Bairaktaris
Lines Return to Trader Joes
With a possible holiday rush of customers planning to remain home this New Year - the outdoor, socially distant queues that became a symbol of life during the pandemic returned to Trader Joe’s today as the maximum indoor capacity for the grocery store had been reached.
Weston’s Cobb’s Mill Inn Opens Once More for Estate Sale
Laura Pappalo Friedman, Owner, sits in what used to be the historic Cobbs Mill Inn upper dining room as a sale of her and her late husband Drew Friedman’s estate takes place.
For the past few weeks, and through Saturday, the historic Cobbs Mill Inn on the Saugatuck River in Weston has opened its doors once again to the community - bringing life back into the shuttered Weston local business. Although the famous restaurant has taken the form of a large private estate sale, many former customers and community members could be found perusing the several floors of items as memories of dinners, weddings, and other occasions in the riverside institution flooded back.
The main floor dining room.
The Inn was purchased by the late Drew Friedman, a Westporter, in 2011 while in foreclosure. After renovations and updates, Friedman re-opened the Cobbs Mill Inn restaurant with live music throughout the week, as well as educational series, forums, and other community based events. The Inn closed down in 2016 after the death of Friedman, and has remained mostly quiet since.
“He loved conversation and education” Laura Friedman said of her late husband, whom she had married in 2013. Laura walked the restaurant dining rooms while talking with customers, listening to stories of anniversary dinners or weddings that they had attended in the space decades earlier over the sound of the waterfall that cascades along the building.
The property has had dozens of owners over the past 200+ years, but began truly as a restaurant in 1934 under the leadership of Alice DeLamar and Jacques DeWolfe. DeLamar’s father was in the salvage business, which allowed her to procure the original pewter bars from the sunken French passenger ship The Normandie, two of which still remain in the restaurant today. The property’s namesake, Frank Cobb (Editor of the former New York World Newspaper), acquired the property in 1912 as a summer retreat.
The waterfall-viewing bar on the lower level of the Cobbs Mill Inn. The bar was salvaged from the sunken ship The Normandie in 1942, and is one of the three surviving Parisian made pewter bars moved to Weston by Alice DeLamar in 1946.
Even with its vast history, the future is unknown for the property. “There’s been a lot of interest in the property the past few weeks” Laura Friedman said when asked about what may happen to the property, although there’s no word on whether the interest is in continuing with its food & hospitality tradition, or using the space for other ventures.
The entrance to the main dining room at The Cobbs Mill Inn.
The Friedman family estate sale, organized by Westport-based Deering Rose Organizers, will continue Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM at 12 Old Mill Road, Weston, or online. After Saturday, it’s unknown when the historic Cobbs Mill Inn may open its doors again.