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Health & Fitness

From the Archives: Save Our History–Rambo's

The next chapter in the saving of Fort Lee History

This archives piece is a continuation of recent articles about our efforts within the Fort Lee Film Commission, the Fort Lee Historic Sites Committee, the Fort Lee Historical Society and the community at large to save the historic Rambo's Saloon/Hotel building which dates to 1867.  

Currently, as you have read in past articles, the property is before the Fort Lee Board of Adjustment and the next hearing is April 23rd at 7:30 PM in the Fort Lee Borough Hall. The developer who purchased the property plans to demolish this structure and replace it with a two-family duplex.

Fort Lee Historical Society President Donna Brennan started an online petition where we have gathered well over 600 signatures as of April 4th. Please visit www.fortleefilm.org or www.thefortleehistoricalsociety.org to sign the petition and pass it along to others who you think might support the saving of this piece of history.

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As we have discussed, this is the last building left in Fort Lee with deep ties to the days when Fort Lee gave birth to the American film industry and was truly America's first film town. The signatures and comments on our petition stretch from the Coytesville, Palisade and West Fort Lee within our borough, across the country and to various locations in Europe and Asia.

Here are but a few:

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Mr. Frank Kessler of the Netherlands "This is a historical monument that should be protected by the Mayor & Council."

Mary DeMercurio "My father was a part of the film industry in Fort Lee and I would very much like to see what little of this history is left preserved."

Dennis Doros of Milestone Video "This is an incredibly historic building in terms of motion picture history. It must be saved!"

Lori Doidge "I have lived in Fort Lee my whole life, and have sadly watched it transformed into a city rather than the town it always was. We need to preserve its history and protect its landmarks before it's too late.”

Marie Chiappane “It is important that we preserve a part of our heritage, Joe Bailey, my grandfather, worked at Paragon Studio on John Street which has been demolished and condos built. Our children will never see anything left of the beginning of Fort Lee.”

Rutgers University Professor of Film and noted film historian Richard Koszarski “Everyone from Lionel Barrymore to Mrs. D.W. Griffith remembered with great affection the time they spent at Rambo’s, preparing for the day’s work and comparing notes with rival filmmakers over sandwiches and beer (although Barrymore, just back from Paris, remembered it as “Rambeau’s). Let’s not lose the wonderful link to the moment when the American cinema blossomed.”

This coming Tuesday, April 9th, the Fort Lee Museum will host a reading/book signing with the author of the new book Palisades Park, Alan Brennert. This wonderful book is about a fictional family who operated a stand at the park from the 1920s through the park’s closure in 1971. The book is populated with real life characters and sites from Fort Lee, researched by Alan at the Fort Lee Historical Society archive in our museum. One portion of the book I will quote from is relevant to the discussion at hand:

It was Adele’s turn to hesitate. “He’s…retired. He used to direct movies here in Fort Lee. Worth While Pictures, his company was called.” And you starred in some of those pictures?”  Her face lit up.  “My first was called “Babes in Arms”, I was just six months old. I don’t remember a thing about that, but I’ll never forget the ones we shot at Rambo’s Hotel in Coytesville – at lunch we’d all sit outside under a grape arbor, eating the same meal every day: ham and eggs, biscuits and fresh apple pie. I even sat in Douglas Fairbanks’s lap on one shoot.”

So even in a new book the history of Rambo’s shines brightly. And I am happy to report that at the April 4th Mayor & Council work session that the governing body decided to have Rambo’s looked at in terms of the condition of the building.  This may be a first small step towards the hopeful preservation of this historic site.  But as they say on TV, be sure to keep passing along our petitions and let your voices be heard in support of this the last standing building from our days as the first American film town.

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