Hillsdale/River Vale Memories

Hillsdale and River Vale, then, now and in between

For those folks who have not stayed in touch with what has happened in Hillsdale and River Vale, I will bring you up to speed so you don't have to waste time asking questions if you are coming to the reunion. I will throw in a little history here and there being somewhat of a local historian.

First thing to know, for safety reasons, there have been some changes to downtown Hillsdale since 1975. You will need to pay attention to the fact that coming out of some parking lots allow you to only go one way. Hillsdale has become sort of a mouse maze in that you have to go around in circles to get where you are going. Believe me, if the cops see an out of state license plate, they are going to nail you.

You also need to know that the bridge behind the post office has been relocated further east than where it was. Also, you can no longer cut through the neighbor- hood behind the post office to get to Yesler Way as that is also one way and a former outlet to Yesler way has been closed off. There are also speed bumps by the library on Yesler, so be aware of that.

The road across the reservoir (Church Road) is being worked on as they strengthen the dam and is also closed until next year. There are a couple of other minor changes but not important enough to list.

Another thing to be aware of is that there are many deer in the area now. It is more likely if you see one on a front lawn, it is a live deer and not a lawn ornament. While there have been few collisions with cars, it is something to be aware of. You can literally hunt from your front porch in some areas. Most of us never saw a deer growing up unless we went to a zoo. There are also quite a few wild turkeys around. There are even a few bald eagles in the area.

Now we can start our journey. We will start with Hillsdale and what better place than the high school. It remained the same until about seven years ago when a fourteen million dollar addition was made which reconfigured the front, added a new auditorium and another addition to the gym area. Mrs. Sapienza, our former typing instructor who became the principal, oversaw the construction and refused to have needed double knee replacement surgery until it was done. Once it was, she had the surgery but unfortunately developed a blood clot and passed away at age 63. A garden was built in her memory at the base of St. Nicholas Avenue back in the woods which connect to the high school. It is called "Sapienza Gardens".

The high school recently has had new tennis courts built way in the back beyond the football field. There are no longer basketball hoops by the old tennis courts as it has been made into a parking lot to handle all the kids who drive to school. The baseball field has new scoreboards and the football stands were long ago redone as the original stands had been used in Eisenhower's inauguration ceremony. There are speed bumps to keep drivers from speeding and basically everything else is the same as when you left 40 years ago. The only teacher left is Mr. Jasper, who is now 70.

We leave the high school and go left. On the immediate right, the Pascack Bible church there had an additional building added behind it some 10 to 15 years ago. We go around the bend and kids still paint stuff on the concrete wall on the left. Pascack Hills used it to taunt us after they beat us senior year, 46-0.

Further along on the left, the old farmhouse from the 1800s is still there, pleasantly unchanged. One can imagine how it looked in the 1800s when it was the only home in that area. It was built there, no doubt, to access the little brook that flows by it.

A little bit further we come to Meadowbrook School which opened in 1963. I recall my dad and I driving by it in 1962 and he told me that is where I would be going to school. Seems like yesterday. It has had a one story addition added on to the rear of both sides of the school some years ago. It also has had a one story addition added on the the east side of the school. Where we once played softball in the back is now an asphalt covered basketball court. There had been trailers installed in the front years ago to handle an influx of kids but when the additions were made, they were sold off. The numbers of students has leveled off and is less than 40 years ago though the number of residents in town remains about the same.

Just past Meadowbrook school is a senior citizen apartment complex on the same side which I believe was built in the 1980s. I think it is for Hillsdale residents only. Behind it is the little pond we used to see when playing on the school grounds. There had been an old house there where the senior complex is but is no longer there.

Across from Meadowbrook School and the senior complex is Stonybrook Swim Club. It had been owned by an uncle of classmate Jordan Deflora who bought it in 1959 or so. It was closed by the mid 1970s and was run down. The town of Hillsdale bought it with the understanding that it would be self sufficent and no tax dollars used to support it. It was remade, the clubhouse and cabanas torn down (about 1978). Since then, the club ran into financial trouble once and had to sell off the area that contained the tennis courts and pitch and putt course which were made into town houses. It then made improvements to the club by adding pools. It now has an olympic size pool, a heated adult pool, two kiddie pools and a dive pool as well as a new entrance building that houses the office, bathrooms and snack bar. A road leading into the townhouse area is named after iconic 5th grade teacher, Miss Drake, who passed away some time ago.

We go up Cedar Lane now by Stonybrook and on the immediate left, where once was a gas station, a new home stands with plans to build another. Further up Cedar Lane on the left and on River Vale' s side, we find a new senior housing complex being built on the former Kevin Kirk property. It is half finished. (July 23)

As we go up Cedar Lane to where it meets Demarest Avenue, the little gas station is still there but no longer sells gas. It is strictly a car repair shop. This area of town has remained basically the same except for remakes of individual houses here and there but not that many. We find Beechwood Park still as it was in 1975. Concerts are held in the summer by the band shell. One famous concert was by the late Pete Seeger about 5 years ago. It likely set a record for attendance. He played with his grandson. Kids from the high school park their cars along Hillsdale Avenue at Beechwood as so many of them have cars now. They have to walk half a mile to the school.

We go further up Hillsdale Avenue and come upon the little league field and Memorial field. Many years ago, Memorial Field was the site of sandlot baseball games between Hillsdale and other towns. There were stands in right field on the hill by Washington Avenue and a large entrance stood behind home plate where tickets were sold. It also saw Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play there when they stopped there to play exhibitions during their off season. Rumor has it that the Babe stopped at Lou's Tavern in town to wet his whistle. I don't know about Lou as he was a straight arrow. Today, there are no stands or entrance way and the fields remain the same as we recall them. One recent change this past Memorial Day has been to rename both in honor of fallen soldiers from the Vietnam War. It may take a while before folks call the fields by their current names. Other fields in town were also renamed, a total of five altogether.

We now meander towards downtown Hillsdale and come upon the former home of old Dr. George Dolan. He was an old time doctor who tended to the families in town for a long time. He was loved by his patients for his friendly demeanor. He was followed by a Dr. Dornich who was a very good and concerned doctor. His trouble was he was cheating on his wife and she found out about it in a most scandalous way. She got even by reporting him for income tax fraud and he went to prison for a spell. He resumed his practice after he got out but he was a broken man and died not long after mainly due to the effects of smoking. The home has been the office of a Dr. Stewart for many years now.

We now come to George White School and the Methodist and Episcopalian churches. They pretty much look the same as 1975 save for a new roof on the Methodist church. Of course, there are no teachers left that we knew at George White. I see a couple every now and then such as Mrs. Hanlon, now 85 and Mr. Sherman who lives in Westwood with his wife who was a fellow teacher named Miss Rhoades. He is involved with the Pascack Historical Society and every summer, they have a program for kids, letting them go on a make believe archealogical dig in a sandbox they have on site at their building in Park Ridge.

Of course, many of the teachers have long since passed away, the most recent being Mr. Atchison (Aug. 28, 2015 at age 89) and Mrs. Cavallo. Susy Hering told me she used to admire her wedding ring and smooth hands. Susy is quite observant:) I hear the principal, Mr. Perry, is still kicking. Mr. Maietta had become the principal years ago and Mr. Atchison was the vice principal both at George White and Ann Blanche Smith. Others gone include Mr. Bogert, Mr. Corey ("you got to learn your fundamentals"), Mrs. Hall, Mr. Horsey (he had a park named after him in Haworth for being community spirited), the librarian whose name escapes me, Miss Drake, who has a street named after her and no doubt many others. Miss Seidenschwarz (sp)?, my kindergarten teacher at George White and then Meadowbrook after it opened in April 1963, married the former post master in Westwood and though he died a few years ago, she is still living and is about 83. Egads! My mom used to run into her in the local stores (for the comics, I can hear them saying that must have hurt!)

Across the street from George White are the softball fields which also have been named for a fallen soldier from Vietnam. We still play our softball games there each summer. From the days of 1975 there are only two players still active and I am one of them.

Across from the Methodist Church and the southerly softball field is the parking lot of the Methodist church. Once, the original Methodist church, built about 1875, sat here but was burned down by a fire bug in 1961. That firebug later started Ken's Deli in town. He also started several other fires.

Further along Hillsdale Avenue we come to the fire department whose building has been changed to allow trucks to exit on both sides of the building to allow quicker response times in case traffic is blocking one of the exits. The police department building, built in 1973, remains the same and 7/11 still operates across the street.

We now get to the iconic corner of Hillsdale Avenue and Broadway and the Riley building, which was built in 1906, not once but twice, as a hurricane that year blew the building down in mid construction. This building used to be home to Hillsdale bakery. We all can recall the delicious smell as we walked by the bakery back in the day. We also recall Bill the baker in his white apron, usually smoking a cigar while at work (he could not do that today) and sometimes racing out to the nearby inter-section to direct traffic during a fire call. The bakery has long since closed, Bill has long since died and the place is now a flooring business. His wife is in an alzheimer home in town and his son still lives on Hillsdale Avenue. He used to coach us in 8th grade church basketball.

The look of the stores in the downtown area has not changed at all in 40 years and for a lot longer than that. I have a photo of a Memorial day parade in 1938 and downtown looks exactly the same today save for the names of the stores there. Marsala's was there then and now, having started up in 1929. Johnny Marsala ran the place for decades, having taken over for his dad. He was hard of hearing due to having fallen off the back of a firetruck when he was young. John died about 20 years ago and now his daughter, grandson and great grandson run the place. Kathy Blinn also still works there, doing the same job her dad, Bob Blinn, did for years. Bob died tragically one day of a heart attack on his front lawn about 25 years ago. I think he was 57. There is a fireman's memorial in the park across from Marsala's which names all the deceased firemen and is named after Bob Blinn.

There have been a few changes to the area near downtown. What was once the "Talk of the Town" for years has undergone several new owners and name changes and is now called "Cornerstone" but remains basically the same except that it added a room next door that used to house a barbershop last owned by Louis Pirchio who we will mention later. The road that used to run in front of the train station has been eliminated and you have to go to the light to turn right. A little park was made in front of the train station which recently has become a memorial to Joan D'allesandro who was murdered by her neighbor in 1973. I recall that night and the effort to find her. What used to be Rustler's restaurant later became a Sizzler's restaurant and for more than two decades now has been a Wendy's. What used to be a Stop and Shop in the shopping center has long since been a King's. George Lipshitz' Park Wine Liquor store has been a "Starbucks" for some years now and the little diner in the middle of town is now a "Cinco De Mayo" diner. John Travolta used to hang out in this place in his youth as his father ran the tire exchange store on Broadway. Durie Motors, on the corner of Piermont and Broadway is no longer there, the place being knocked down about 8-10 years ago and replaced by, what else, a bank called Pascack Community Bank. The safe from Durie Motors was saved and placed in the lobby of the bank. This bank was recently sold to another bank.

You will recall the following stores in town that remain the same: Marsala's, Pascack Pharmacy (one owner still there), Chicken Delight (the owners recently retired after 40 years and their sons have taken over- YIKES!), Ken's Deli under new owners though they have been there for over 30 years and the Bergen County Garden Center is there under new owners. I think all the other stores have changed completely both owners and type of business along Broadway. There is no longer a stationary store by the bakery, there is a Ronnie's Bagel Store between Pharmacy and Marsala's and a video game store next to where the bakery was. Karl Ehmers is still next to the Pharmacy and has been there a long time but I can't say if it was there in 1975.

Along Hillsdale Avenue across from Wendy's (the former Rustler's) the buildings remain the same and you find there a paint store on the corner which moved there after the infamous string of fires in Westwood in 1982 which were first set by a firebug but the last couple were intentionally set incidents and sadly, someone I knew was one of them and was arrested but died before his trial. You also have West Hills Deli owned by the friendly Frieda, her son Costa and her husband Jimmy for over 25 years (Yikes again!), Andrew's Clock Shop- (the owner's grandfather had the original store in Westwood), a nail salon which is now a cell phone store, a barber shop formerly owned by Joe Vinci's late dad which was called Da Vinci's Barber Shop which is about to be under new owners, and a jewelry store. The owner of the clock shop saved a patron or employee of the former nail salon a few years back when she caught fire due to a chemical fire and ran out of the store ablaze. He ran after her and threw her to the ground and smothered the flames before they could do serious harm. He was hailed as a hero but insisted he was not and only did what anyone would do. The above named nail salon now cell phone store is located where Mr. McDevitt and his wife ran a bicycle shop for decades in an old run down home. It was torn down and a new building built back in the 1980s most likely.

We come to the corner of Hillsdale Avenue and Patterson Street. Patterson Street was named after the so called father of Hillsdale, David Patterson Jr. He was the driving force behind the railroad being built from South Hackensack to Hillsdale. He had grand plans and envisioned Magnolia Avenue as sort of the Champs Elssyss (have to check spelling) in France. That is why it is so wide from Washington Avenue to Knickerbocker.

Patterson's plans took a detour once the railroad reached Hillsdale in 1869. The Grant administration which was as corrupt as any in history, led the nation into recession not once but twice and that stopped railroad construction throughout the nation. Patterson and his friends in town had plans to extend the railroad to Suffern but the recession foiled them. They had sold shares in their company's stock to friends, relatives and neighbors. With the recession and I assume devalued shares, Patterson and friends were in a pickle. Patterson even went to Europe to search for investors but came back empty handed. He and his cohorts returned as much money to investors as they could but their reputations were somewhat tattered though most folks knew they had taken a chance investing in the railroad and took the loss in stride. Patterson, who was on the boards of several railroad concerns in New Jersey and New York, was eventually relieved of duty and investigated. He died in 1879 from TB at his estate in Hillsdale where St. John's parking lot is now at the age of 39. His rein over Hillsdale ended, his widow remained in town for a bit but sold her estate to the Riley family before 1900 and moved to her parents home in Hackensack. I wonder if our classmate Mary Riley is any relation? The railroad did continue on to Suffern in 1870 but under different ownership by about 1873.

We find at the corner of Patterson and Hillsdale Avenue, Friendly's Restaurant. Though the inside has been changed since 1975, it is still the same type of menu and of course, ice cream. There used to be four victorian homes between where Friendly's and Wendy's are. They were knocked down in the late 1960s. Many local kids have worked at Friendly's over the years and for most it was their first job. I recall one visit there with a group of friends. One kid loosened the salt or sugar jar and when another kid went to use it, it spilled out all over and the perp, who was drinking a chocolate ice cream soda through a straw at the time, laughed so hard the drink shot out his nose. His initials are D.S.

Across the street from Friendly's is a bank on the northside of Hillsdale Avenue where once there was a gas station. On the other side of Patterson Street from Friendly's is the same post office and across from the post office is another bank (TD).

We covered the area behind the post office before. It has been flooded many times over the years and right now the dam is being worked on to hopefully prevent flooding in the future. We had some unbelievable flooding in that area after Hurricanes Floyd and Sandy and a few others too. People had to be rescued by bull dozers. In Floyd, it was bad because a dam in Rockland County burst and no one knew the flood waters were coming. A man in Rockland County was walking along the road with his back to the water and was swept away. When the waters hit Hillsdale, folks downtown could not believe what they were seeing as the waters rushed through town. A fellow working at Durie Lawn Mower Company by the brook in Westwood was standing in front of the store and was blown right through the front window. He was OK. A couple of guys drinking beer by the bridge behind the post office managed to cling to trees until rescued. The water came into the cellars of the stores along Broadway up to Hillsdale Avenue. It did not reach Marsala's.

We now reach St. John's on Hillsdale Avenue. It formerly was housed in the wooden structure by the post office. That building was bought by an interior designer who transformed the outside of the building into stone but kept the shape of the building somewhat for historical reasons. It is now something else.

The "new" St. John's Church is still the same. The only difference is that they knocked down the convent, which was the original home of David Patterson in the 1870s. This happened about 5-8 years ago or so and parking places were added, what else. So much for history.

Along Patterson Road, behind where the convent was, is now a condo/apartment complex. There is still a little barber shop a few homes down from there that may have been where Patsy and Gabe Marra cut hair for decades. Further along Patterson Street we run into the now defunct Franco Sanitation complex which sits empty after it moved its' operation out of town. Hillsdale had received a host payment some years back for putting up with all the traffic the complex created and the smell. The town used the money to pay for things and to keep taxes down. However, once the payments stopped, the taxes took off.

Behind the Franco complex sits the empty lot of the Scholastic bus company which also moved its' operations out of town but to where I do not know. This area flooded badly when we had hurricanes pass through in the recent past. There is a plan now to raise the power plant on Patterson Street and build a wall around it to keep flood waters out. One would think they would have thought it was a bad idea to put a power plant by a brook. Just sayin :)

At the end of Patterson street, if you made a left it would lead you to the crossing across the reservoir by the dam. This road is under construction for two years to strengthen the dam and will be open next year. This is supposed to also prevent flooding in downtown Hillsdale behind the post office.

If you made a right at the end of Patterson Street it would lead you across the tracks and on the right is a mini mall which was not there in 1975. It was built in the mid to late 1980s. This area is where the Manor Train Station stood until 1954. Later, kids would play sandlot ball in the empty lot there. By the 1970s, landscapers, mailmen and others used to sit in back of this lot by the tracks at lunchtime as by then it had a lot of trees which provided shade and privacy

Across the street from the mall is a stone building that once housed a butcher shop in the 1920s and 1930s. It was also a speakeasy during prohibition and had a secret tunnel in the cellar which led to the Lake View Hotel behind it on Loretta Street. In the 1960s and 1970s it was a barbershop run by brothers Frank and Lou Pirchio. They used to give you a stick of bazooka bubblegum with a cartoon when you were done. That reminds me, I have got to get a haircut soon :)

Lou Pirchio, who we used to just call, "Lou, the barber", used to regale his customers with war stories from World War II. Two stories stand out. First, he was in the third wave or so in the Normandy Invasion. He was given orders not to look under the massive piles on the beach which were covered with tarps. He did not listen and went for a look. To his horror, he found hundreds of dead soldiers whom had been bull dozed into piles to clear the beach.

The other story Lou told regularly was of a fellow soldier who refused to dig a foxhole for himself one night. That night there was a bombardment and when morning came, Lou and his fellow soldiers could not find even a piece of the guy who did not dig in as he had been blown to bits by a direct hit.

We now go north along Broadway and come to what has been "Sports Expert", a sporting goods store since the late 1970s. The original owner, Mr. Chen, died many years ago and the store is under new owners who have been there for some time. I recall a classmate of ours, who will remain nameless, went to the store to visit a friend of his who worked there. He stole two pairs of hockey skates and then had the gall to return a pair the next week and ask for a refund. The store manager was no dummy and he could not find a record of the skates having been sold and furthermore, the store only had two pairs of skates for sale and he could find no record of either pair being sold. He knew something was up and asked this fellow to either return both pairs or he would turn him in. He also knew his friend who worked at the store knew what had happened and fired him.

Going north again along Broadway we come to what used to be Valley Fair. It was made into a Shop-Rite at least as far back as the mid 1980s or so. They did not change the outside of the store too much but remade the entire inside. No one who lived here in the 1950s or 1960s does not recall Valley Fair with all its' departments. Do you recall Santa Claus being flown in by helicopter? How about the pet store in back where many of us bought goldfish or turtles? I am sure we all can recall the layout of the store.

Previous to Valley Fair being there, there was a pre revolutionary sandstone home there from before 1776 to about 1850 or 1860. The land entailed the northern portion of the Blauvelt farm. About 1850-1860 a man named Isaac Cole bought the property and knocked the existing structure down and built himself a Victorian mansion with stables that stood on the most northern part of the land near where Hillsdale Glass is today. This building stood there until the 1950s when Valley Fair was built. Cole also owned the other side of the street up to where ETD is today. Cole's Crossing street is named after him.

Across from Shop-Rite they are building a new structure which will hold a liquor store and other retail shops. Just what Hillsdale does not need, more stores. As if we do not have enough traffic around here.

Just south of this new liquor store to be is ETD which I think has been there since at least the 1970s. It is built where an old cemetery used to sit. The cemetery was the Haring/Blauvelt cemetery and held several generations of the family from the 1700s and 1800s up to 1850. When Isaac Cole bought his property he owned half of it and got together with the owners of the other half to dig up the bodies and remove them to the Pascack Reformed Cemetery in Park Ridge. I do not know why he did this as it appears from maps that nothing was ever built there in the 1800s.

Next to ETD is a building that once was home to Bossos Italian restaurant in the 1950s. I think it remained there until the early 1970s. It was a place you could get meatballs in a pan which you returned to the place the next day. Since that time the location has been home to several restaurants, the current one being "Osso Buco" which has been there for about 3 years. Previously, it had been the "Cafe Capri" for about 20 years.

Going north again on Broadway past Shop-Rite we still find Hillsdale glass. Across from there is a little mini mall of 4 or 5 stores that has been there since the 1980s at least. Behind this sits "Dead Man's Pond" which really is no longer a pond but a puddle as silt build up has filled up the pond. No longer can you fish there or catch crayfish as there is not enough water for them to exist. It is where I saw my last (and first) poisonous snake back in the late 1960s. Luckily, he was more afraid of me and detected me coming and slithered into the pond.

Going north again on Broadway we come to Taylor Rental which used to be Richard's Rental and next to that is an Italian restaurant which used to be Garden State Farms where we would go to stock up on all sorts of flavored ice cream. We'd never leave that place without it. The Garden State Farms building was a medical supply store before becoming a restaurant and was run by a crippled Korean native and Korean War veteran and his wife until he died.

Across the street from Taylor rental and the Italian restaurant is where a car repair shop used to be and previous to that was a gas station. It had been owned by classmate Diana Sandberg's father. It is a senior citizen apartment complex now and has been since I would say the 1990s. In between the buildings there is a long driveway which leads to the only home back in the woods near the reservoir and is where our late classmate Mary Shoop lived with her husband Mike Barone before they divorced.

Going further north now on Broadway we come to where Spanky's Restaurant used to be. It was known by several names prior to becoming Spanky's. The location of Spanky's had a building there as far back as the Revolution and I believe a couple of homes/buildings stood there over the interim. Spanky's was knocked down before the last recession as a developer had plans to build a mini mall with apartments. He planned to put in the same type of stores as sits across the street in Woodcliff Lake. There was a swell of opposition to his plan and he was defeated. The lot now sits empty (and I say keep it empty) and I have no idea what plans if any are in store for the lot.

We now are at the border with Woodcliff Lake. Let's turn our attention to the fact that this is the northern border of what once was called the Manor Section of Hillsdale. The borders of the Manor section were Lincoln on the north, Kinderka- mack on the east, Knickerbocker on the south and the brook on the west. In the late 1800s this area was home to folks with money. Most, if not all of the homes, were built with field stone. The ones that remain are easily identifiable. Folks came from NYC in the summer to vacation here. There was a hotel on Loretta Street which over looked what became the reservoir in 1904 and thus was called Lake View Hotel.

The building where the barber shop was, was a butcher shop. There was a Japanese tea garden where the large stone home on Clinton is. There was a restaurant in the woods near the corner of Clinton and Evergreen Street, a community center on the corner of Kinderkamack and Ralph and of course, the building that has housed a Chinese restaurant for decades on Kinderkamack and Clinton and was a hotel when it was built in the late 1800s.

The Manor section was a community unto itself and was isolated from downtown Hillsdale. It had its' own train station until 1954. It was heavily wooded, mainly with evergreen trees. It remained a vacation spot likely until the depression hit. The hotel was closed and about 1945 the upper portion of it was moved onto the foundation of a house that is on Legion Place. The well for the hotel is all that exists today in the back yard of the home across the street from where the hotel once stood on Loretta street.

The Manor section remains mostly unchanged from 1975 save for the following changes. The Villa Cesare Restaurant, which opened in 1933, closed in 1993 when the grandson of the original owners decided he did not want to run it anymore nor be married. He was influenced to close it most likely by the fact he could sell its' property to real estate developers and likely retire at a young age. Ugly McMansions were built where it stood and Oakland street was extended to connect St. Nicholas and Lincoln Streets.

Did you know that the NY Yankees used to hang out at the Villa in the 1940s and 1950s? They used to play horse shoes and bocce ball in the garden area and bring their girlfriends and wives, some had both:) It was a quiet place then as not many homes were on the Hillsdale side (none actually) though there were homes across the street in Woodcliff Lake. Several Yankees lived in Hillsdale and Woodcliff Lake including Yogi Berra, Moose Skowron and Eddie Lopat.

After the recent death of Yogi Berra, it was related on facebook that someone's dad saw Yogi at the bar at the Villa Cesare one night and being a prankster, he pretended to be a reporter and with pad and pencil went up to Yogi and asked him if there was any truth to the rumor that the newly formed San Diego Padres were considering him as their manager. Yogi perked up and said, "you heard that?" and the conversation went on at length before the fake reporter confessed who he was. Yogi had a good laugh and bought this fellow and his family drinks.

Another change is the woods that bordered Magnolia, St. Nicholas, and Vincent, owned by a Ms. Pease (sp?) who lived in a little bungalow on Vincent which was surrounded by woods, was sold off in the mid 1980s by her nephew. Ms. Pease was a nature lover and would have never built on that land. She had gone into a nursing or assisted living home and her nephew took her for a ride one day to see what had become of her land which had entailed her home being knocked down and the woods were gone with big homes built in its' place. I am not saying this had anything to do with her death the next day but I am sure it was a shock to see the woods gone and did not help. I wonder who the beneficiary was in her will? :)

The other main change in this section is that the former town dump was transformed into ball fields. It has a soccer field along with two baseball fields. Hard to imagine that in the 1960s with all the crap dumped there. In the interim, the town had used the dumps to dump all its' leaves in the fall. The smell was horrendous and you could smell it a half mile away. They capped the dump with clay and perhaps a plastic liner. The people in charge forgot two things. If you cap the dumps with clay and build playing fields on top, it does not drain well. The other thing was they did not extend the backstop far enough forward to stop foul balls from leaving the main ballfield and rolling down the hill that borders it. You would lose many balls each game and they finally extended the backstop. The complex is called Centennial Field as it opened on the 100th anniversary of the town in 1998. No doubt in my mind that pollutants still leach from that site under ground into the water supply. I'll bet you did not know that the dump site was the site of a silk mill in the early 1900s. It burned to the ground one day and was one of the reasons Hillsdale got its' own fire department as it took too long for the Park Ridge department to get there. Also, the police used to have their firing range down there at the end of St. Mary's street. Dumb idea. It is now located in the basement of the police department.

Talking about ballfields, there had been a plan some years ago to develop the woods behind the high school into county ballfields. That would have allowed anyone from the county to play there. Entrance would have been through St. Nicholas Avenue. You can imagine the uproar that ensued by the locals and rightfully so. The plan was defeated and the woods remain with Sapienza Gardens at the bottom of St. Nicholas and a walking path through the woods which allow you to temporarily escape the madness of the overbuilt area.

Other minor changes in the Manor Section include the following: The Bull and Bear Chinese restaurant is now the Golden Dynasty Chinese restaurant, the change taking place about 20-25 years ago. The building remains as it was. It formerly was a hotel and speakeasy and was a hangout of local mobsters in the earlier part of the twentieth century as was the Library in Woodcliff Lake which was known as "Joe Codone's"

Mr. Spencer Mann's shack on Magnolia was torn down in 2009 after his death in 2008 at age 98. This little home had once sat on what is now Evergreen street until 1918. It was surrounded by Evergreen trees and in 1915, due to a dry summer, the needles outside the home caught fire. His mom rushed out of the home in a panic to save her kids and dropped dead of a heart attack due to the panic at age 28. In 1918, his dad had a disagreement with a neighbor who raised pigs over the smell and decided to move his home over to Magnolia. The Rawson family helped his father move it to where it sat until 2009, unchanged a bit.

Mr. Mann was one of Hillsdale's most interesting citizens as he had nothing, but somehow survived due to an inborn toughness older folks had. He was a descendant of the so called "Jackson Whites" and his family had lived in Hillsdale since the 1800s. He still cut wood for his wood stove into his nineties as he had no other form of heat for his shack and cut lawns until his mid eighties for money. He had a unique accent and way of telling stories. To emphasize each thought he would exclaim, "by golly!" I recall two stories and I recall them exactly as he told them. There was no harm meant by what he said, it was just the way he told a story, so PC police, please hold your tongues. He said he got pnuemonia when he was one and his mother took him to a doctor in Westwood whose name I do not recall but was Jewish. Mr. Mann, upon telling me the name said, "he was a Jew you know" which he likely said due to the fact it was rare for a Jewish person to live here then. The doctor, he said, "told my mother to stick me in a carriage out in the freezing weather which she thought was crazy but it worked and here I am now, 96 years old!, by golly", laughing at the thought. He also used to say when talking about the local police that "the police couldn't catch a cold!". He would know after watching so many years of their antics and knowing so many of them were not qualified to be dog catchers. The politicians in town would, every election year, grab Mr. Mann in a photo op about how they were pro senior citizens. To my knowledge, they didn't do much for Mr. Mann but many volunteers did help him over the years. He survived by his own guile and was the last remnant in Hillsdale of the way life was in the 1800s. He was to me, the most intersting person to talk to. A smaller McMansion home sits where Mr. Mann's shack was. His relatives were slow to help him while alive but quick to sell his property when dead. Not even a headstone did they get him.

That is it for the changes in the Manor section. Now for the north east side of town around Ruckman Road. The main change here is the little nursery near Baylor road was sold and torn down to build (yes, you guessed it) ugly McMansions. I think this was either in the late 1980s or very early 1990s. The area, like the rest of town, is totally built up and unless you buy a home and tear it down, there is no room to build a new home. If it was up to me I'd tear them down and leave it at that. The main wooded area along Ruckman surrounds the former home of our late friend Ken Klein's parents, who have long since moved away. It has not changed a bit in 40 years and I am told Ken could walk through the woods by his home right to the high school. A brook runs through this property.

Now for the west side of town beyond St. Johns. We find that the area has not changed much at all. There are indiviual homes that have been reconstructed but for the most part, you won't find many obvious changes. The Wilkes Deli is still there. The original owner of Wilkes, which has three stores and originated in Ridgewood, lived to be 100 years old. They have a picture of him in the Ridgewood store. If you happen to stop in to buy something make sure you have cash as they do not accept credit cards.

The Tandy and Allen pond is still there but there is no longer any ice skating in the winter. Pumps are used in the summer to aerate the water as it becomes a filthy green scum otherwise. Remember ice skating there and playing hockey? No more I am afraid.

Are you old enough to recall Henry Clendenny and his farmhouse on Hillsdale Ave.? I did some research and his family owned that place since 1750. It was the jewel of the area for many years. The family owned the land on the north side of Hillsdale Avenue all the way up to the parkway at one time. However, when Henry became head of the household in the early 1900s, he never really worked much. He was a self admitted alcoholic. Over time he sold off parts of his property to pay the taxes. In 1941 he owed $1500 to the town. He sold off all his property except five acres around his home to two brothers named Quinn. They made an agreement that they would pay his taxes for two years and then he would have to. Well, after two years Henry did not pay his taxes. The Quinns felt sorry for him and continued to pay his taxes.

The Quinn brothers never built a home on the property they bought/stole from Henry as World War II broke out just as they had purchased the land. In 1948 they sold their land to Tandy and Allen. They made them accept the deal they had with Henry about paying his taxes for two years. They recouped what they had paid out since 1943 by forcing Henry to sell three acres of his five remaining acres. Tandy and Allen accepted this deal. After two years Henry did not pay his taxes again but the Quinns paid it once more and continued to do so until 1967 by which time they had died. That was when Henry was in the news as Tandy and Allen wanted him out of his home. The uproar made news across the country as kids in town rallied to his aid even though he was not a willing participant as he was a surly curmudgeon and anti social. The kids saved him for one year by raising $1500 to pay his taxes but by 1969 he was old, had broken a hip falling off his horse drawn wagon and finally accepted the Fitzpatrick or Fitzgerald family's offer to come live with them. He did so and his home was knocked down and about 6 homes took its' place in 1970. Henry later went to live with the Higgins family in Upper Saddle River where he spent his days out by the barn smoking his cigars, drinking some beer and talking to his horses. When he turned 90 he was interviewed by the Bergen Record and said he drank beer three meals a day and it had not hurt him yet. He died in 1979 at age 93 and is buried with his family in the front of Westwood Cemetery by the Kinderkamack side.

Further along Hillsdale Avenue past Pascack Road is still an open woods on the right. There was discussion about moving the library there but it was defeated for two reasons. The folks in town like it where it is and they also want to keep that area open as open land since it is the last placein town that is open. Thankfully they kept it open for now anyway. It is the last piece of land owned by Tandy and Allen's family and it appears it will remain open space.

Further west on Hillsdale Ave. you come to Ann Blanche Smith School which remains exactly as it was when you left PV. At the end of Hillsdale Ave. we turn north and hit Demarest Farm. It used to have a little stand on the left side from which the produce was sold. While that stand is still there, a new modern complex was built across the street in the 1990s I believe. It gets very crowded there in the fall as folks come for pumpkin and apple picking, taking hay rides to the back of the farm. The locals do not like it and have petitioned the town to pass ordinances that you cannot park on the nearby streets. Too bad they did not pass ordinances years ago to prevent the homes being built there in the first place. Families have nowhere to go locally for pumpkin picking as Van Riper and Tice farms went out of business in the 1990s and now many stores have taken their place.

The area up on the"hill" behind Demarest Farm remains basically unchanged as it was fairly built up by 1975. You can see the NY skyline from up there and locals raced up there on 9/11 to see the smoldering twin towers and were shocked to see them fall.

That about does it for changes to Hillsdale in the last 40 years. The main change of course, is the people in town. I could stand on any corner downtown for a considerable amount of time and not see anyone I know. Many have moved or died. There used to be a time where I would know most of the folks walking about downtown or at Shop-Rite. I have a favorite saying: I have not moved away from my hometown but I have become the stranger.

Next up is River Vale. Though Hillsdale did not change drastically, River Vale changed less and what did change is not visible to most folks. Lets start with the most obvious changes. First is the horse stables along Piermont Ave. This site was the site of a horse track early in the 20th century. It later became a horse stable where owners stabled their horses. I think there was a riding area but not sure. The stables burned down in 1969 with the horses in them under mysterious and likely criminal circumstances. You see, a fire broke out one day in the stables and was put out. A fire broke out again soon after. Unless the horses one upped Mr. Ed and could light a match, it seems like it may have been set. There were alot of negotiations between the owner and the town over building something at the site. It dragged on for years. This site was used for a base for a wagon train that toured the country in 1976 for the bi-centennial. Around this time, the apartments and town homes that are there now were built. It is called Holiday Farms after the stables. How nice of them.

The next major change is out of sight to most folks. On the north east part of town, near the reservoir, many McMansions have been built some years ago. Also, if you follow the road off River Vale Road to go to the reservoir, there are townhouses where the log cabins/campsite used to be near the pond on the left side.

Where the Haring Farm and cemetery used to be off River Vale Road are now huge homes. The town allowed the homes to be built after an archealogical dig of the Haring cemetery there. There were only a few bodies buried there. At the time they were also investigating whether there were soldiers from the Baylor massacre buired there as there was a mound nearby the other burials that looked suspicious. Volunteers were allowed to help in the dig but only for one day at a time. I wonder why that was? Were the authorities afraid someone would see something and thus halt the development from being built? I recall the main find was of a skeleton of a boy of about ten who appeared to have died from a gunshot to the head. The road leading to this development is called Haring Farm road. Big whoop for history!

The restaurant at the corner of River Vale Road and Prospect is there but has undergone numerous owner changes since 1975. The golf course further north is still there but I hear a small development is being planned after much negotiations to save the main part of the course. A Revolutionary building on the course by River Vale road was taken apart piece by piece in the 1970s or so and stored away by the county with plans to rebuild it on a new site. It still has not happened. In its' place is a putting green.

The little neigborhood store on River Vale Road, near Blue Hill Road, is still there as is Forcellati's Nursery and Garden Center. Down Blue Hill Road aways was Blue Hill Pizza which went out of business in the late 1970s or so. In its' place of course are new homes. I never went there but heard they had great pizza. Along Prospect there used to be Peterson's Farm and locals recall riding dirt bikes on the property. It was sold about 10 years or so ago and of course, more ugly McMansions took its' place. But they did name the street Peterson Farm Place. How nice of them.

In the downtown area of River Vale you will notice the most obvious changes. There is no longer an A&P in the shopping center (and there will be no more A&P's anywhere by Thanksgiving as they went belly up). That location is now a CVS. There is a Dunkin Donuts, gym, Italian restaurant, pizza place, barber shop, bank and massage place in the shopping center now.

Across the street from the shopping center is a bank. At the four corners there used to be Joe and Joe's gas station which is now a 7/11. Joe is still around and has a station in Westwood on Broadway across from K-Mart. Stop in to see him if you knew him.

Walt Mockus and his lawn mower shop and home on the corner across from Joe and Joe's Texaco is gone. Walt was a local icon for decades as he fixed and sold lawn mowers. I got my first mower as a graduation gift. It cost $100. That same type of mower now costs about $1000 and is why landscapers started using mowers like Snappers and Toros. Walt was one of a kind. He was from Michigan and served in WWII. He came to River Vale in the 1950s I believe and opened his shop. He was a quiet guy who only opened up if he knew you well and every time you went there he gave you a look like he saw you for the first time. He was a good storyteller and source of information. He said he liked to drink when he was younger and once, he was so lit he laid down on his front lawn and held onto the ground for dear life as the world was spinning and he thought he would fall off. He had a good chuckle at the thought. But that was way in the past. He was of German descent and had the bluest eyes you ever saw. He knew where to find a part you might need in his cluttered work shop. He was a very agreeable and honest fellow. He worked until the end as it was very convenient with his home and shop next to each other. He developed heart trouble late in life. I recall he went to Dr. Ferraro? (sp) on River Vale Road one day as he was not feeling well. She sent him home without any apparent concern despite the fact his lips were turning blue. His wife came in the shop, took one look at him and rushed him the the hospital where they inserted stents. I recall he used to have "helpers", folks who were unemployed and needed a little money so they helped him. One fellow, who was a real charactor, wound up falling in the pond at the County Park due to drinking and drowned. Walt worked to the very end though he was getting forgetful which caused some problems. He died in late December 1999 at age 81. His wife sold the home and shop and Valley National Bank is now located there.

There is still the little mini mall across from where Joe and Joe's Texaco was. But there have been additions to the building I think. It now houses Sugar Flake Bakery which used to be in Westwood, a deli, restaurant and Chinese restaurant.

Further along Westwood Avenue to the east is the row of stores that were there in 1975. Among them is Mike Franson's florist shop, a dentist, wig/hair salon and a few other places. The owners have been having trouble renting out the stores. The post office satellite is still there. The former dentist in this spot was named Mark Lafelt and I am sure he took some kidding whenthe iudenty of "Deep Throat" was revealed.

Further along Westwood Ave. we come to the the Jewish Home and Rehabilitation center. It was completely torn down and rebuilt about 5-8 years or so ago and it is much larger now and I am sure better. It has entrance and exits on Westwood Avenue and River Vale Road and much discussion was had about traffic concerns about the latter exit and entrance but it has been no real problem.

Across from the Jewish Home on Westwood Ave. is a new mall complex which was built in the last ten years. It houses an Italian restaurant (Armandos), exercise gym, ice cream store and a few others I do not recall right now.

Cousin's Pizza is still around and has not changed a bit except for the owners. It could use a makeover as it looks like it is still the 1950s there. Across the street from there is the row of stores that I think were there in 1975. There is a convenience store and children's nursery located there.

The Florentine Gardens, which is further along River Vale Road to the south and which used to be a restaurant and catering place, is now strictly for big events like weddings and corporate affairs. It was reconstructed. Years ago a historic building was on that site but burned down I think in the 1960s or so. I have seen photos in the local paper of that fire.

Further along River Vale Road on the same side as Florentine Gardens is now the site of a Spectrum group home for the handicapped and has been for some years.

Going north on River Vale road from the center of town are new stores on the left which were built where the Goodell family used to live. The liquor store which once was at the four corners mini mall moved a few years back into a brand new building here and further along yet is another mini mall that seems to have trouble keeping tenants. Across from these stores, nearer the center of town is a small apartment complex whose tenants I think are handicapped but I do not think it is a Spectrum site. Further along River Vale road going north you will still find the little church on the right, then the fire department and police department and across the road is the ambulance corps building. The fire department building was enlarged some years ago but the rest pretty much look the same.

I wonder how many folks know that the brook past the police department used to be dammed up and there was a large pond there where folks used to fish. There used to be a Victorian mansion up on the hill on the right that over looked this pond. But of course, so called progress took care of the pond and folks had one less thing to enjoy. But the local deer are happy to roam there now.

A little further along River Vale road, where the Grove used to be but has been filled in for decades, you will find the town library in the rear with municipal headquarters out front by the road. There is a tennis court and ball fields in the back, including one where the Grove used to be. It still gets swampy in the outfield. The elementary school still sits across from this. Behind the school is a soccer field which wa snot there in 1975 and which also fronts the Little League Field whose access road is off Piermont. And that brings us back to Holiday Farms where we started.

The golf courses are all still in operation though from time to time over the years there was talk about selling some of them and developing them. The town and county fought hard to defeat that idea as it would ruin the town. Thankfully, it all worked out and they remain as you recall them.

Other than the many home reconstructions around town, I cannot say much else has changed other than the people. The town fathers have tried to modernize downtown and I prefer they go back 100 years and I'd like it better:).

Some things that happened of significance over the years here (Hillsdale and River Vale) and I won't pretend to be able to list even a small sampling other than what comes to mind-

1. The constant debate about taxes which are now among the highest in the country. Our elected officials refuse to consolodate services. This is the only area in the country with all these little dinky towns and thus repetition of services. How did htis happen you ask? In 1894, there were school districts within much larger townships. But the caveat was each district was responsible for the debts of the others. Of course that did not wash with the more fiscally prudent folks and each district was allowed to form its' own town. But yet, 121 years later, we still argue about the taxes. And it will be ever thus. This area is very unaffordable and in an effort to keep taxes in check the towns are being destroyed with over building and over population. You cannot build your way to lower taxes, you have to cut back. Teacher and police salaries are among the highest in the nation and it cannot continue.

2. The reservoir was dredged in 1984 and caused quite a mess and needs to be done again.

3. Mr. Jiggs died... who you say? Well if you don't know, telling you won't matter anyway. He was set free by hs owner before he died but his owner thinks he died of a broken heart as he had become used to his owner. Do you recall him waving to passersby from his swing on his front yard on Pascack Road?

4. Franco Sanitation moves its' headquarters out of Hillsdale and the town fathers are left with egg on their faces because they did not see it coming. Thus a big tax ratable is gone and now plans are being made as to what to put there to replace it.

5. John Gotti and his friends have a sit down meeting in Hillsdale one night at Talk of the Town. All the local garbage company owners were there.

6. Travolta Tire Exchange becomes well known due to John Travolta being in Saturday Night Fever .

7. Additions made to the high school and Meadowbrook.

8. The town of Hillsdale takes over Stonybrook about 1978.

9. The largest parade in town history takes place at the bi-centennial celebration in 1976. It spanned from Meadowbrook to Ann Blanche Smith schools and went through the middle of town. Thousands watched and many folks helped prepare for it.

10. Valley Fair becomes Shop-Rite about mid 1980s.

11. Rash of suicides in 2010. As fast as they started, they stopped. There were at least 12 locally (Hillsdale, Westwood and environs) that I know of.

13. Violent storms/hurricanes in 1999, 2009, 2011, 2012 ripped through the area, the likes of which had not been seen in decades. Thousands of trees fell, power was out for days and folks behind the post office had to abandon their homes.

14. Bill O'Reiily comes to town to investigate a possible murder of a former resident by a hired gun. The hired gun was allegedly hired by the wife but nothing was ever proven.

15. Drug dealer murdered by associate in home across from Bull and Bear restaurant. Perp was captured.

16. Eleanor Blauvelt of the local Blauvelt family since the 1700s, died just short of her 110th birthday. She lived in a Paramus nursing home for years but was mentally fit to the end. Her brother Roy made it to 91 and died during the blizzard of 1983 when he thought since he had shoveled snow all his life he could handle two feet of it but dropped dead as he did so.

17. Henry Clendenny died in 1979 at age 93 ending a years long saga over his fight to stay in his home in the late 1960s. He admitted he had beer for breakfast, lunch and dinner and it did not hurt him a bit:)

18. Dr. Joe Poli, a well liked principal at PV after we left, dropped dead while bicycling with Jeff Jasper one day in the mid to late 1980s.

19. Town dump turned into ball fields in 1998. Now called Centennial Fields.

20. Demarest Farm's remaining land is saved for eternity through state open space funds and will remain a farm and if not a farm, will remain open space forever. (we all know how short that is right?:)

21. The Tandy and Allen land on Hillsdale Avenue will remain open space forever.

22. The town's school children population has gone down since 1975 but taxes have gone up. A typical tax bill for a 100 by 100 property of an average home is somewhere between $10,000 and $13,000. Our parents only paid a little more for their homes in the 1940s and 1950s.

23. 9/11 happens and stuns us all. As it was happening, some of those who heard it first raced to the hill above Demarest Farm where you had a clear view of the towers as they burned and then collasped. It was a day that was like when Kennedy was assassinated. Time seemed to stand still. People did not know what was going on. The streets were deserted as folks watched the events on TV. I personally lost my bowling teammate who was a Fire Captain at the Pride of the Midtown station. It was not his day to work nor time of day but he covered for someone. I did not think about him until the next day when they mentioned firemen lost and I knew something was up. I visited the family and his 4 year old grandson was still looking out the window, waiting for grandpa to return. His daughter, who bowled with us and suffered from panic attacks was about to get married when this happened. She did continue bowling for a few weeks but I think she was so stunned she did not know what to do. She apparently had no one to talk to about this and one night, she turned to me and asked me if I thought her dad had suffered. Talk about being put on the spot and with someone who was like her dad's shadow, I was not sure of what to say. I just said that with the speed of the event, her dad did not suffer, not that it makes it any easier to accept. I knew I would never see her again at bowling as the tears welled in her eyes and I have not.

And that concludes this site. Hope you enjoyed it. I have to stop and let John post it on line so you can see it. Hopefully his censor eraser is not too big:) In conclusion, I have to end by saying both towns are not the towns we grew up in and thank somebody for our memories of how it used to be and will never be again.