Two women were forcibly removed from Main Street in Bridgeport. In fact, they were tossed to the ground before being taken away from the city’s downtown corridor.

 

For those thinking that some sort of assault and battery took place, nothing could be further from the actual situation. The women in question weren’t real and their removal is paving the way for the newest business on Bridgeport’s Main Street.

 

G.A.L. Land Company, which is owned by Andy Lang, is moving into the former Embellishments Too building situated at the corner of Main and Center Streets. The company was previously located on State Street.

 

“We’re a commercial and industrial property rental company,” said Lang. “We don’t do residential rentals.”

 

The arrival of Lang’s company may lead one to wonder what it has to do with fake women being removed from Main Street. For those that may remember, the front of the former Embellishments building, which is a structure built just five years ago, had two intricately designed female statutes surrounding the entry way.

 

Lang didn’t choose the building based on the statues and how it would look without them. Instead, when he made the offer to former owner Cathy Goings to purchase the building he was simply thinking about growth.

 

“Visibility for any business is important,” said Lang. “The last (Division of Highways) traffic count I saw for that area on Main Street was that 14,000 cars a day go up and down that street. We want to grow some and that building is perfect for us to position our business for growth.”

 

The growth will take place in the 2,000 square foot building. The building is on one story and has public parking directly beside and a short walk across Simpson Creek behind it.

 

The women statues, which served as columns, will be replaced. Lang said he’s going to put brick columns and repaint the building more in line with his type of business. He emphasized that removing the female statues wasn’t a reflection of anything bad that Goings and her business did.

 

“Those statues fit the theme of her business and it worked for her, but it doesn’t go with the theme of what we’re doing. The building she put in along Main Street is a beautiful addition and she’s to be commended for making that section of the city look much better,” said Lang.

 

For those thinking that removing the statues was an easy process, they would be wrong. In fact, Lang said that due to the quality of the product Goings put in place that the task of removing them was extremely difficult.

 

“They were really tough and glued all the way around. We had to cut the plywood off around them to start the process of getting them down. I can tell you that those were not cheap,” said Lang.

 

Lang said the statues were made of marble that was ground up and mixed with a glue. He said it was primarily a marble material and was extremely heavy. The statues were so heavy that Dan Riggs Towing was brought in to pick the statues up.

 

“We had to use a boom to pick them up. They were 3,000 to 4,000 pounds,” said Lang. “They were of really high quality.”

 

Lang said work is going on currently in the building. He wasn’t sure on an exact time frame, but hopes to have operations in place in “the near future.”

 

Editor's Note: Top two photos show workers preparing Dan Riggs Tow Truck boom to successfully lift the statues during the removal process. Bottom photo shows new building owner Andy Lang looking at the quality of the statues earlier this summer. Top two photos, as well as the cover photo, were provided courtesy of Richard Gifford.