Gangs of Fort Lee, Meetings and More, This Week in Fort Lee

Take a look at what's going on in Fort Lee this week.

The Fort Lee Board of Education will be meeting Monday in a Private Work Session from 6:30 pm to 8 pm at the Fort Lee High School Library/Media Center on the second floor. No action will be taken at the Private Work Session. The regular business meeting will begin at 8 pm in the High School Library/Media Center on the second floor. Official Action will be taken. On Wednesday, the Fort Lee Film Commission and the Palisades Interstate Park Commission is presenting a one-night film festival "Gangs in Fort Lee" at the Fort Lee Historic Park. This festival celebrates the origins of the gangster film genre that began in Fort Lee with D.W. Griffiths "Muskateers of Pig Alley." Fort Lee Film Commissioner, Tom Meyers, and Palisades Interstate Park …

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From the Archives

LIfe Atop the Bluffs, Cliffs of Fort Lee

From the Archives: A brief history of the Palisades cliffs in Fort Lee.

The Palisades cliffs of Fort Lee are referenced in many of these archive pieces.  Often I use as a point of reference the fact that we denizens of Fort Lee reside perched atop these very cliffs. These ancient cliffs define us as a borough. Carol Ortlip, a Fort Lee native and a member of the famed Ortlip family of artists of Fort Lee, wrote a book some years ago titled We Became Like A Hand: A Story of Five Sisters.  Carol brought a new meaning to growing up on these cliffs, as she wrote about her family life atop the cliffs near Old Palisades Road, the present day site of several high-rises, including The Century.  She captured life as a child here in Fort Lee on these very cliffs and though she and her sisters fanned out across America as…

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Tom Meyers

12:47 pm on Sunday, December 2, 2012

Thanks Baba!   more ›

Revolutionary War Re-enactors March in Washington’s Historic Footsteps

Fort Lee's annual "Retreat to Victory" festivities took place at Fort Lee Historic Park and Monument Park on Saturday and Sunday.

The Fort Lee Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs sponsored Fort Lee’s annual “Retreat to Victory” event Saturday and Sunday, celebrating the 236th anniversary of Washington’s 1776 retreat from Fort Lee. The event, which took place mostly at Fort Lee Historic Park, included a parade to Monument Park; music, infantry and artillery demonstrations; a battle reenactment and more. Photographer Donna Brennan provided these images of what has become a Fort Lee tradition.

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Arya F. Jenkins

9:45 pm on Monday, November 19, 2012

Nice to see you get the kudos you deserve, Donna!   more ›

From the Archives

A Walk With Washington in Modern Day Fort Lee

The 236th anniversary celebration of General Washington's Retreat to Victory in Fort Lee is Saturday, Nov. 17, with events continuing throughout the weekend.

As Thanksgiving approaches next week, this is a time to reflect on many things in our lives as Americans, from the most recent visit of a superstorm named Sandy and the ensuing havoc, to those things we all have to be grateful for in our Fort Lee of 2012.  Each November, our borough takes on the look of the town depicted in the Ray Bradbury story, Something Wicked This Way Comes. The book and the film based on this story evoke all the darkness and mystery of autumn, and, in a way, if you look from our perch on the Palisades, Fort Lee too takes on a very Gothic look, as the grayness of the days gives way to long crisp nights. This is the climate that is just right for a step back in time, that time being 1776. Fort Lee has changed markedly …

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William Mays

6:24 pm on Monday, November 19, 2012

Boo hoo, I think that 20 minutes of our history is worth businesses being inconvenienced for 20 minutes.   more ›

Democratic Lawmakers Call on Port Authority to Suspend Toll Hikes

In Fort Lee Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman and legislators from New Jersey’s 37th and 38th districts said the agency should delay further toll increases until it gets its finances in order and reforms its management.

U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) joined New Jersey Democratic lawmakers Wednesday at Fort Lee Historic Park just south of the George Washington Bridge to call on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to suspend its scheduled toll hikes until an audit can be completed and reforms implemented.  The event, which was held under a park pavilion instead of against the backdrop of the GWB because of rain, took place just days after Lautenberg, Rothman, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-NJ) and U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ) sent a letter to Port Authority Chairman David Samson requesting a delay in the next round of toll hikes scheduled to go into effect in December. In Fort Lee Wednesday, Lautenberg …

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Space Shuttle Enterprise Leaves Spectators in Awe After Flying Over Fort Lee and GWB

Local and regional residents, young and young at heart, gathered at Fort Lee Historic Park to witness Space Shuttle Enterprise's historic visit before its retirement at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

Duncan Browne was just a child when his late mother, Judy Browne awakened him at 2:00a.m. on July 20, 1969 to witness Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk off Apollo 11 and take the first human steps onto the moon's surface.   For Browne, a Mahopac, New York resident, watching NASA’s Space Shuttle Enterprise fly over the George Washington Bridge (GWB) from Fort Lee Historic Park on Friday morning was simply unforgettable. “This is the closest I’ve been and it’s just,” said Browne as he paused to sigh. He then made a connection between his love for space exploration and his country. “That a country can build, not just one, but a fleet of these just makes me very proud,” he added. “You see people here, young and old people, some with …

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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 …

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Washington's Retreat to Victory Reenactment

Revolutionary War reenactors marched in Gen. George Washington’s historic footsteps Saturday in Fort Lee; photographer Donna Brennan captured these images

The annual procession from Fort Lee Historic Park to Monument Park marked the anniversary of Washington’s retreat from the British.

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Revolutionary War Re-enactors to March in Washington’s Historic Footsteps

The procession from Fort Lee Historic Park to Monument Park Saturday marks the anniversary of George Washington’s retreat from the British

Revolutionary War re-enactors will march from Fort Lee Historic Park to Monument Park Saturday, following the same path Gen. George Washington and his troops followed in November, 1776, in what later became known as the “Retreat to Victory.” “Washington’s troops” will march up Main St. to Monument Park in commemoration of Washington’s escape from the British on Nov. 20, 1776. The march will culminate in a short ceremony at Monument Park, including a musket firing salute, and hot cider and donuts will be served at the Fort Lee Museum adjacent to the park after the ceremony. To join the march, which starts at 11:45 a.m. Saturday—and everyone is welcome, according to the Fort Lee Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs—join the re-enactors at…

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