Arts & Entertainment

Bill Miller's Riviera The Subject of New Book

Tom Austin spoke about his new book on Fort Lee's famed nightclub and shared some of the many anecdotes in it

For one night, before a standing room only crowd, the Fort Lee Historic Center was cast back in time Saturday and transformed into the "big blue and yellow night club perched at the edge of the Palisades" as Tom Austin spoke about his new book, Bill Miller's Riviera, co-authored with Ron Kase. 

Austin, whose father was the head of security for Bill Miller's Riviera, has vivid memories of the famous entertainers who came to perform at the Riviera--Frank Sinatra, Tony Martin, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Danny Kaye, Jackie Gleason and so many more.

Austin describes Bill Miller's Riviera as a place that most people in Fort Lee could not afford. It was that "restaurant on the hill" that everyone loved to hear stories about, and Austin had a collection to share.

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Bill Miller's Riviera sat 1,200 people per show, and there were three shows. There was only one security guard for 1,200 people, so there was bound to be problems from time to time. 

One night, for example, a professional basketball player who was over seven feet tall came to the entrance wearing a lumberjack coat and carrying a six-pack of beer. The doorman made the decision to deny him entry. Austin's dad, who was all of five-feet-something, came out and got thrown by this man over a car. Austin's dad grabbed a black-jack and knocked the guy over the head, only to have the man respond, "Are you trying to hurt me?"

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Jerry Bakunas, Fort Lee's liqour delivery man, happened to come by at this time and jumped the guy's back. They somehow managed to get him down and he was taken to the Fort Lee Police Station, but he was too big to cuff and too big to fit into a cell. 

Buried within these stories is the story of Fort Lee and its resilience to transform itself from the film capital of the world into the entertainment capital of the world.   

Austin’s book covers great ground in presenting the personalities of the two Rivieras. The original Riviera was located on Hudson Terrace just across from Myrtle Ave. and was operated by Ben Marden, who operated nightclubs in New York, Florida and Cuba. It was an old hotel and restaurant built in 1901 called Villa Richard, and the beautiful stone entrance wall still stands today.   

Austin told the audience that when Myer Lansky and his associates in Florida heard a bridge was to be built that would connect New York City to Fort Lee, they quickly made their way to Fort Lee and convinced the owner of Villa Richard to favorably lease, then sell it, to Ben Marden.

In effect, Austin suggested, “they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”   

A 1936 Thanksgiving Day fire burned the original Riviera down, and rather than rebuild on the rubble, Marden built a new, state-of-the-art nightclub on property he owned on the southern edge of the Palisades beginning an entirely new era for the nightclub.    

In 1946 Bill Miller bought the nightclub, and this is where Austin’s story takes off because this is the Riviera he remembers from his youth. For those readers interested in a first-person narrative of Fort Lee, this book will take you on a journey back in time, as Austin recreates the scenery with memory and photographs and gives you a sense of the celebrities that roamed the streets of Fort Lee.  

Austin thanked Tom Meyers, executive director of the Fort Lee Film Commission, for putting the Riviera back into the local conversation by hosting museum exhibits and lectures.  

“I feel so obligated to Tom Meyers for telling the right story,” Austin said. “Listening to [Meyers], I felt like he was the teacher, and I had to turn the book into him.”

As he signed copies of his book for the audience, Austin remarked, “I’ve read it, and I liked it.” 

Original artifacts from the Riviera are on display at the at 1588 Palisade Ave.  

Bill Miller’s Riviera is available on Amazon.com or from the History Press.


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