Jim Green - Realtor

05/20/2026

A vigilante posse out for criminals? Nope, these are just the members of the Westwood Gun Club at their clubhouse in 1903. This crowd of men, who were assuredly upstanding citizens, might have been ready if the local constable needed a posse, but there is no record of such. But there are numerous newspaper references for the club beginning in 1884, but unfortunately the exact location of the clubhouse was not given. (Most locations in Bergen County at that time did not have addresses, but I am sure if you followed the sound of gunfire …) Although in 1904, the club moved its clubhouse west to a new location, which was to “afford a better shooting range.”

The first reference to the club in the ‘Bergen County Democrat’ newspaper was on June 13, 1884, there it was noted that the club would shoot for a $10 gold badge prize on July 4. So, what did the club shoot at? In September 1884 the club had its anniversary shooting match. Thirty-four pigeons were procured and the 14 members present tried to shoot them. But the birds were very tame and had to be frightened by stones thrown at them before they would fly out of the cages. After the pigeons had been dispatched, the club members switched over to the usual clay pigeons.

The Westwood club competed against other clubs. There was the Spring Valley Gun Club (in today’s Paramus), and the Oradell Gun Club. The Boiling Spring Gun Club of Rutherford hosted the Westwood men at their shooting range located in East Rutherford. There was the North River Gun Club of Edgewater, who won the 1906 state championship at Rahway in 1906. And The Pleasure Gun Club, of Englewood, were the guests of the Westwood club in 1904.

The gun clubs at that time were social organizations. And in 1903, the members of the Westwood Gun Club considered a Thanksgiving Day shoot. Although it is unclear if the event happened. Then the Westwood men were invited to a live bird shoot at the Oradell grounds on Christmas morning. The Oradell men also hosted Westwood, and others, for an all-day pigeon shoot on Lincoln’s Birthday in 1903.

The big event for the Westwood Gun Club was their annual shoot and clambake held each August. And various clubs were invited to the occasion. It was reported in 1902, that the “burning of powder on the Gun Club grounds far exceeded that used in celebrating the national holiday” on July 4th. The participating clubs exploded over 5,000 cartridges, and shot at 11 barrels of clay pigeons, with each barrel holding 500 clay birds. The shooting started at 10:30 am and lasted until 5:30 pm.

At the end of the shooting that day, the Westwood club and its guests formed in line four abreast, and preceded by the Westwood Cornet Band, marched about a mile over the rough roads to a grove where the clam bake was prepared. The over 200 men had a grand time seated at the long tables set up in the glen. Torches were lit to dispel the darkness, and eventually the visiting teams left for home.

It is unclear when the Westwood Gun Club disbanded, or maybe they morphed into the Westwood Rod-Gun Club, which existed into the 1960s. Or maybe the club just ran out of ammunition. Maybe the wives put their feet down saying no more Christmas morning shooting. Then again, maybe the development of Bergen County stopped the clubs from shooting all over the place. Nevertheless, gone are the days with crowds of armed men traversing the county – at least many hope so! – Tim Adriance (Photo credit: Pascack Historical Society.)

05/17/2026

Who remembers Barnum’s Animal Crackers made by Nabisco? Here is a picture of two ladies working at the Nabisco factory in Fair Lawn. The iconic circus wagon box was long a popular design for the packaging. Notice the boxes in the foreground; there you can see the circus “ring master” that was on the top of the box (they had instructions on the box to cut out the figure “for your own circus”). If you look closely at the boxes that the lady, Dorothea Barberra, is holding, you can just see the string that acted as a handle. The string was originally put on the box so one could hang the box on a Christmas tree (“presents on the tree,” as the song ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ says). Note the bottom of the box; there is a UPC code printed there, as this photo is from 1977.

Animal crackers aren’t the kind of cracker we usually think of, as they are more like cookies. But they are true crackers due to their layered dough that creates its crunchy, delicate texture. They also have less sugar and shortening than cookies. Animal crackers are more like British biscuits, and actually animal-shaped cookies were first made in England in the mid-1800s and imported here. In 1871, the D.F. Stauffer Biscuit Company in York, Pennsylvania, started producing them. The Stauffer brand of animal cracker is still made, but the company is owned by the Japanese Meiji Group. Although Stauffer’s was the first, the most well-known are the Nabisco brand Barnum’s Animals Crackers. The National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) started making animal crackers in 1902.

Beginning in 1958, all of the animal crackers were made in the Fair Lawn Nabisco factory that stood on Route 208 (originally, they were made in Manhattan). In 1977, a stampede of 12,000 animal-shaped crackers came off the production line every minute. And those animals were herded into the 24,408 circus wagon boxes that rolled off the line every hour. The factory only made the crackers during a single eight-hour shift, unless demand called for a second shift.

Originally the two-ounce box cost a nickel (today it’s $2.69). In 1902 the crackers were made by hand, and in Fair Lawn the process was modernized. The batter was mixed in a gargantuan industrial mixer, and it flowed to a brass cylinder that had impressions of the 17 animals in the menagerie. The spinning cylinder then fed the animal-shaped crackers on a conveyor belt. They then proceeded through a 300-foot-long oven. Transported down one floor, the animals were corralled into the boxes. The whole process took four minutes.

Things change (and not always for the better). The Fair Lawn Nabisco factory has been torn down. Bowing to pressures from an animal rights group, Nabisco in 2018, changed the iconic package, abandoning the circus wagon design. The company thought it was good to let the Barnum’s animals run free. Even the Barnum and Bailey Circus had closed in 2017, but it is now back. Although, the circus today does not have any animals – none! At least you can still get animal-shaped crackers, and if you want, you can pretend to have a circus animal act! – Tim Adriance (Photo credit: Bergen Record Archives / North Jersey Media)

05/08/2026

Congratulations to James C. Green, a Top Producer for April 2026 in the Terrie O'Connor Realtors Ridgewood Office.

Email: [email protected]
Cell: 201.995.3474
Office: 201.445.4554 x42
Website: to.cr/jgreen

04/27/2026

Offer Accepted in Wayne!



Listed by Lizette Brown, Compass NJ - Montclair

04/02/2026

02/19/2026

Shout out to George Mulhauser Woodworking for all his hard work over the years keeping this property what it is. An amazing old red barn that offers a slight glimpse into some of Westwood’s history and charm, all the while sitting right in the middle of an otherwise residential area. Love it. Wouldn’t want it any other way

01/24/2026

You would never recognize this location today! And the building is still there. This is 329 Broadway in Westwood in circa 1909, and today it houses the expanded dining room of The Rolling Pin Café, and Edible Arrangements. As you can see from the photo, when this building was constructed in 1890, it served a much different purpose. Back then, it housed a livery business with boarding stables.

For you, our modern reader, that means it acted like a taxi company and parking garage, only with horses instead of cars. When people arrived in Westwood by train and wanted to go somewhere further than they felt like walking, they could get a horse and carriage with a driver right here. When people came from surrounding areas to take the train elsewhere, they would “park” their horses and carriages here. Horses were kept on the ground level and in the basement.

Tradition states that the business was started by C. J. Blauvelt, but the 1900’s U.S. Census records indicate that Peter W. Demarest was the only livery operator in town. Nine years later, in 1909, Garrett Cronk Jr. became the livery’s owner. He completely renovated the inside of the building and constructed an office storefront addition (visible at the right in the picture). It then featured ground level and underground stables.

In January 1912, one of Cronk’s drivers returning from a trip saved a man who had passed out drunk in the snow. The temperature was only 8 degrees! By 1914, wagon painting became a part of the operation here. About a decade later, Cronk moved his business two blocks away to Center Avenue. This site then became the Westwood Used Car Exchange (and cars were then superseding the horse).

By 1921, the office portion became a boots and shoes store, and an addition was constructed to the south side of the building that was a Chinese laundry, likely operated first by Soo Chin. It changed hands between other Chinese immigrants throughout the 1940s.

Prior to 1953, showroom windows and a new entrance were added to the building. Other occupants of this site included automotive businesses, real estate and furniture companies, an antique shop (which closed in 2014), and the well-known Fabric Discount King. It was a fabric and custom upholstery store that operated in Westwood for almost 40 years. – Tim Adriance

12/16/2025

Westwood is home to an incredibly old Copper Beech Tree believed to possibly be older than the nation itself. Affectionately known in town as the “Kissing Tree”, I shot this video after reading Mayor Ray Arroyo’s recent essay in the Pascack Press. (link in comments).

Maybe I never really fully appreciated it much before, but it really has been as Mayor Arroyo writes a “silent witness” for so many residents. For us, my kids always loved doing snow angels under it on our snowy hikes into town for an evening supper with neighbors.

What are your memories?

Westwood Mayor Ray Arroyo Pascack Press Westwood Shade Tree Advisory Committee Westwood Historic Preservation Commission

11/24/2025

Here’s what used to sit on the Bottle King / King’s Supermarket location in Hillsdale

11/14/2025