Memories of Palisades Amusement Park: An Editor in Search of a Crown

A fire may have destroyed an iconic amusement park and the hopes of this editor every being crowned 'Little Miss America'--but the dream lives on.

Seems April skies are in her eyes, A living doll that talks smiling as she walks. May she stay somehow sweet as she is now.  Little Miss America take a bow. -Gladys Shelley I have such fond memories of Palisades Amusement Park—Casper’s Ghostland, the Caterpillar ride, the Fun House, the Archie Hot Rod ride, the French fries with vinegar, the games-of-chance, Cousin Brucie...but there are two moments that stand out most.  The first is Bozo the Clown, my hero, bending down as I sat in my stroller, his soft white-gloved hand tickling my chin. I think I nearly lost consciousness when he told me with his trademark zany laugh that he loved my red hair. Come on--name one man today who surrounds himself with children, has a red nose and big feet …

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From the Archives

Palisades Amusement Park Exhibit: A Book, a Pool and a Centennial

Upcoming Palisades Amusement Park exhibit at the Fort Lee Museum to celebrate the centennial of the world's largest outdoor saltwater pool and the publication of a new book, "Palisades Park."

Palisades has the rides... Palisades has the fun… Come On Over. Shows and dancing are free... so's the parking, so gee... Come On Over. Palisades from coast to coast, where a dime buys the most. Palisades Amusement Park. Swings all day and after dark. (bumm, baa, dumm, bumm, bummmm) Ride the coaster...Get cool...In the waves in the pool. You’ll have fun... so...Come On Over..(dumm de dum da dum... dum) So goes the song Come on Over that was heard over all the New York metropolitan area radio stations and seen on TV commericials in the 1960s. This song, lodged in the recesses of millions of baby boomers’ brains, is an introduction of sorts for all of you readers to come on over to the Fort Lee Museum from March 2 through Sept. 9 this year …

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Tom Meyers

2:38 pm on Sunday, January 13, 2013

Tracy, Yes people in the past have identified themselves in images we have placed on display in the Fort Lee Museum re Palisades Amusement Park - that is always a lot of un - similar situations have happened with, for example, exhibits on Fort Lee's Riviers Nightclub. This has led many to donate or loan some of their own personal collections to the Fort Lee Museum.   more ›

From the Archives

Coney Island Meets Palisades Amusement Park

The Coney Island Sideshow Circus comes to Fort Lee Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Jack Alter Fort Lee Community Center in the final Movies & Music Under the Stars program of the season.

The world famous Coney Island Sideshow Circus leaves Surf Avenue in Brooklyn and comes to the Jack Alter Fort Lee Community Center for a live free show on Saturday, Sept.8, as part of the Fort Lee Film Commission’s final Movies & Music Under the Stars program of the 2012 season. This 10-week, free program has offered wonderful live music and fantastic films to the people of Fort Lee thanks to the support of the borough and our sponsors, including Universal Studios. Our final program is one chosen carefully in that it connects in a real way to our past; that past being the colorful Palisades Amusement Park. This weekly "Archives" column has covered the  history of Palisades Amusement Park upside and down, but in all our columns about the …

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From the Archives

In Search of the Cyclone of Palisades Amusement Park

In search of the Palisades Amusement Park Cyclone roller coaster cars: a missing part of Fort Lee history found in Pennsylvania.

The summer sun has actually peeked through the clouds this week so we can hope, as we progress through the month of June, that we will see more and more summer-like weather, and we can only hope that we also receive cool breezes off the Palisades. Those breezes, if you listen closely enough, whisper in your ear of summers long ago atop the Fort Lee Palisades. Summer in our community, from 1898 through 1971, ran from April through September, as those were the opening and closing dates each season for Palisades Amusement Park. This clifftop park has been written about in past archive columns but this column serves Palisades Amusement Park straight up, if you please, with a twist. Mr. Palisades Amusement Park, author and documentary filmmaker…

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From the Archives

The Winter of Our Discontent: Bye Bye Miss Palisades Amusement Park

It's time to say goodbye to our exhibit at the Fort Lee Museum; "Greetings From Palisades Amusement Park - Our Last Summer in the Sun" exhibit closes Jan. 29.

Previous archive pieces noted that in 2011 we would celebrate, if that’s the right word, the 40th anniversary of the closing of Palisades Amusement Park. We did just that on September 12, 2011, the exact date it closed 40 years prior in 1971.  We had an Irish wake for the park that night at the Fort Lee Museum, and lots of stories and memories were shared with people who worked and played at the park in our own backyard. Now it's time to say goodbye to our exhibit at the Fort Lee Museum, Greetings From Palisades Amusement Park - Our Last Summer in the Sun. The exhibit commemorated the 40th anniversary of the closing of our park. For those of you who haven’t yet seen it or would like to see it once again before it closes, come by the Fort …

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From the Archives

Fort Lee Historical Society Honors Past President Past President

Robert Boylan was president of the Fort Lee Historical Society for decades and is the man responsible for putting together its archive

Each week, this column highlights Fort Lee’s history. This week we highlight a person most responsible for collecting this history for the archive of the Fort Lee Historical Society for more than 40 years – Robert Boylan.  Bob was president of the Fort Lee Historical Society for decades until illness forced him to retire a few years ago. During this period, Bob maintained an archive of thousands of photos originally housed in the Fort Lee Borough Hall and then moved into the Fort Lee Museum, which has housed the Fort Lee Historical Society archive since 1999.  Among the collection of archival photos assembled by Bob are hundreds of photos of Palisades Amusement Park. In addition to his duties as a Fort Lee Police Officer, Bob worked at the…

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Palisades Amusement Park the Setting for New Historical Novel

Accomplished television screenwriter and novelist Alan Brennert comes home to read from his new novel "Palisades Park"

“Callahan’s or Hiram’s?” “Callahan’s,” he replied confidently and without pause.  And so the interview began.  Meet Alan Brennert local boy made good. Really, really good. Born in Englewood and growing up in Cliffside Park, Palisades Park, Edgewater and Haledon, Brennert has made his mark in both television and literature.  “I can’t recall a time when I didn’t want to be a writer,” Brennert remarked.  Brennert sold his first commercial short story at the age of 18 for $35. “I was so excited that it might as well have been $3,500,” he laughed. After attending William Paterson College for a year, Brennert moved west to attend California State University at Long Beach, where he received his degree in English Literature and went on to do …

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About Town

Excitement by Design: Palisades Amusement Park

Palisades Amusement Park historian, Vince Garguilo, gives illustrated talk

“In the beginning, Palisades Amusement Park was often confused with the other Palisade Park--the Palisade Interstate Park,” Historical Interpreter Eric Nelsen of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission said as he introduced Palisades Amusement Park historian, Vince Garguilo, Friday evening to a standing-room-only crowd at the Fort Lee Historic Center. To illustrate this point of confusion, Nelsen read two letters. One letter--dated July 8, 1915--from Assistant Secretary of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, E.W. King, to Mr. Loftus of Scranton, PA, reads:  “Dear Sir: I have your letter of July 7th. This Commission does not operate a park in which exhibitions such as you mention would be appropriate. Possibly you have this …

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From the Archives

From the Archives: A Fistful of French Fries

The day Clint Eastwood came to Fort Lee

Do you hear that iconic Ennio Morricone movie music from those classic Sergio Leone westerns sounding on the streets of Fort Lee? The music gets louder as you approach the Fort Lee Museum on Palisade Avenue and it will continue to sound through January 29th when our exhibit Palisades Amusement Park Our Last Summer in the Sun closes. What is the connection to these films and music to Fort Lee and Palisades Amusement Park? Simply put: The man with no name then but known throughout the world now - Clint Eastwood. In order to understand this story we have to travel back to those pre spaghetti western days when Clint was starring as Rowdy Yates in the CBS Television western Rawhide from 1959 - 1965. For those of you too young to recall Rawhide …

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5 Things You Need to Know

BOE, Council Meet, 40th Anniversary of Closing of Palisades Amusement Park This Week

A quick look at some of what’s going on in Fort Lee this week

Below is a quick look at five things you should know about this week and/or might not want to miss: Number one: The Fort Lee Board of Education will hold its regular business meeting Monday. The meeting is at 8 p.m. in the Fort Lee School No. 1 library. You can download the agenda for the BOE’s regular meeting by clicking here or by visiting the school district’s website. Number two Monday also marks the 40thanniversary of the closing of the Palisades Amusement Park. The Fort Lee Museum at 1588 Palisade Ave. host a special ceremony commemorating the occasion. As part of this ceremony, the Fort Lee Historical Society will present former Palisades Amusement Park vice president and chief of public relations Sol Abrams with the Fort Lee Museum…

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