Emerson • Hillsdale • Montvale • Park Ridge • River Vale • Township of Washington • Westwood • Woodcliff Lake
PA S C AC K VA L L E Y ’ S H O M E TO W N N E W S PA P E R
VOLUME 29 ISSUE 41
Holiday Shopping Guide Page 8
DECEMBER 22, 2025
LOOK TO OUR HELPERS
PASCACK VALLEY
Pascack Valley well represented in latest Fifth District Hometown Heroes awards
TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON
AMBULANCE RESPONSE DELAY IN FOCUS
BY MICHAEL OLOHAN AND JOHN SNYDER OF PASCACK PRESS
See RESPONSE on page 104
INVITED TO DO A BIT OF DAMAGE Smash House Rage Room & Splatter Zone brings chaos, catharsis to Broadway
BY JOHN SNYDER OF PASCACK PRESS
Event hit as ʻperfect stormʼ; WTVAC urges volunteers step up Mayor Peter Calamari said he recently met with local volunteers and county officials to review what happened when it took an ambulance nearly a half-hour to reach a residentʼs home during a medical emergency involving a 3-year-old township child. Calamari said the delay stemmed from a lack of available units at the time — both Washington Township Volunteer Ambulance Corps and mutual aid ambulances were out of service. “Itʼs a matter of resources, where theyʼre placed and if you happen to call at a busy time,” Calamari said at the Dec. 15 council meeting. “Itʼs very unfortunate, what happened it seems, but thatʼs all I can say about it. Iʼm not here to place blame or anything — it was just fact-finding.” In a statement read at the meeting, the mayor — whose brother, Police Chief John Calamari,
YOU’RE
U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer with the Fifth District’s latest “Hometown Heroes” honorees at the district’s Hometown Heroes Ceremony, held Monday, Dec. 15 at the Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee — among them Westwood student leader Jordan Schwartz, Woodcliff Lake resident Jennifer Errity, and Montvale honorees Valerie Kimel and Chief Geoffrey Gibbons. Via Haradan Bottomley of Joshh Gottheimer’s office.
U
BY JOHN SNYDER OF PASCACK PRESS
.S. REP. Josh Gottheimer honored 20 Fifth District residents as Hometown Heroes during a ceremony held Monday, Dec.
15, at the Barrymore Film Center, recognizing “life-saving first responders, veterans, volunteers, community leaders and residents whose service has improved the lives of their neighbors.” The always eagerly antici-
pated event was staged on the first full day of Hanukkah, which Gottheimer referenced in remarks framing the ceremony as a public “thank you” to people who serve quietly, often
Continued on page 7
“Leave 2025 where it belongs — in pieces. Join us on New Yearʼs Eve or Jan. 1 for a cathartic, loud, unforgettable sendoff. Break bottles, shatter platers, and let every swing clear room for a better year ahead…” Thatʼs the immediate offer from a unique new business on Broadway built around a simple premise: sometimes the body wants quiet, and sometimes it wants to run absolutely amok. Smash House Rage Room & Splatter Zone, open at 701 Broadway, offers two bookable experiences under one roof — a supervised rage room built for controlled destruction, and The Splatter Zone, a glow-in-the-dark paint-splatter studio where guests are encouraged to make art by making a mess. In a town arguably better known for ice cream runs, dinner reservations, and now a microbrewery than deliberate mayhem, the new venue is pitching itself as equal parts release and ritual: an experience you can book with
See SMASH on page 234
FIRST CLASS
B ck in time...
Hillsdale students are helping send holiday cards and letters to U.S. servicemembers on active duty through an annual outreach effort coordinated by American Legion Post 162. PAGE 18
Hillsdale’s iconic police booth — the first police headquarters in the borough — was a Christmas gift from the Board of Trade, an organization of local businessmen, in 1925. PAGE 4