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 26 ISSUE 1
Final call
MARCH 21, 2022
IRON HORSE CELEBRATES 50TH Birthday cake, coffee, and a year of gifts
WESTWOOD
HUB KMART SOON TO BE STATE’S LAST Eyes on Westwood Plaza as anchor tenant wavers
BY MICHAEL OLOHAN OF PASCACK PRESS
Ourpouring of love and admiration for James Mawdsley Sr., an ex-fire chief of Westwood. SEE PAGE 28
PASCACK VALLEY
BROADWAY PROJECTS IN FOCUS
Westwood, Woodcliff Lake fielding applications
BY JOHN SNYDER OF PASCACK PRESS
A proposal for a three-story, seven-unit apartment building at 561–565 Broadway is set for its first public hearing on March 21 at 8 p.m. before the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The applicant, seeking preliminary and final site plan approval, is aiming for three use variances and eight additional variances. Based on sources familiar with the matter, a similar 12-unit proposal was made early last year but was withdrawn after questions arose and documents required had not been submitted. The applicant, KLR 565 LLC, represented by Matthew G. Capizzi, Tenafly, filed for its LLC on June 11, 2021. Its filing status is
See BROADWAY on page 24
Lee Tremble shows off a photo of the former Park Tavern received as a gift 10 years ago, and signed, “To Lee, Anne, and Sean — Thank you for preserving part of Westwood’s past… Love, George, Christine, and Mary Kate Mulhauser.” The Iron Horse, turning 50 on March 21, invites the community for coffee, cake, and a museum-quality tour. (John Snyder, inset photo.)
C
BY JOHN SNYDER OF PASCACK PRESS
to The Iron Horse, where the party continues, its owners and many, many friends kicking off a year of revels to mark this local institutionʼs 50th glorious anniversary. Boasting now more than 7,000 employees since launching on March 21, 1972 — providing the setting for uncountably many seatings, parties, ONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS
IRON HORSE EXTERIOR COURTESY PHOTO
life milestones, and glad toasts along the way — The Iron Horse is that happiest of staples, here in Westwood, the Hub of the Valley. This Monday, March 21 from 11 a.m. to noon youʼre invited for birthday cake and coffee, and a tour of the establishment — complete with newly excavated photos, old menus, correspondence, souvenirs, resolutions, newspaper clippings, awards, and other ephemera. And thatʼs not counting all the local color
Continued on page 39
It might be called an infamous claim to fame: the self-described Hub of the Pascack Valley may soon host the Garden Stateʼs sole surviving Kmart discount store, in Westwood Plaza at 700 Broadway. The only other Kmart store now open in New Jersey is in Avenel, in Middlesex County; itʼs being liquidated, scheduled to close April 17, said company officials, of Transform Holdco LLC, based in Hoffman Estates, Ill. And when it closes, Westwoodʼs Kmart, open for business six days per week (closed Sundays), 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., will be one of only three remaining in the continental United States, along with stores at Bridgehampton on Long Island, N.Y., and Miami, Fla. Thereʼs one Kmart in Guam, one in Puerto Rico, and four in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Itʼs not clear how long Westwoodʼs will hang on, or what will follow in the plaza. “The Borough has had no correspondence from the Kmart property owners regarding their current or future intentions,” Mayor Ray Arroyo told us March 14. He said that to the best of his knowledge the plazaʼs propertyʼs manager, Hekemian & Co. Inc. of Hackensack, had not filed any use variance applications for the proper-
See KMART on page 334
STUDENT-ATHLETES
B ck in time...
PHHS Girls Cross Country and Girls Tennis programs dazzled in fall 2021, and were commended at the Feb. 28 school board meeting.
Spring in Park Ridge’s Depot Square is timeless and pretty as a postcard, as Kristin Beuscher proves with a view from long ago. SEE PAGE 4
SEE PAGE 13
