WESTWOOD—Congratulations and thanks to The Iron Horse, where the party continues, its owners and many, many friends kicking off a year of revels to mark this local institution’s 50th glorious anniversary.
Boasting now more than 7,000 employees since launching on March 21, 1972 — providing the setting for uncountably many seatings, parties, 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 you’re 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 that’s not counting all the local color earned and already displayed on virtually every square inch of wall space.
Lee Tremble, who recently passed the reins to his son Sean, says “It’ll be fun. We’re closed on Mondays now because we don’t have enough staff, so you can’t get a beer, can’t get a hamburger or anything like that — so we won’t burden everybody on a Monday — but we will have cake and coffee and we may even open that night around 4 o’clock, we’ll have to see.”
Every month for the rest of the year will bring “a different featured burger, contests constantly, write me your favorite memory of the Iron Horse in 50 words or less, it goes on,” Tremble told Pascack Press on March 16.
And he shared the restaurant’s “Sneak Peek” secret, which will come to patrons in sealed white envelopes, with instructions. We won’t spoil the surprise(s).
The building, just off the tracks, started out as Meyer’s Park Hotel, dating to the 1870s.
It evolved into the Park Tavern, then made its way to the care of Marion and Dudley Tremble, Bill Noonan, and Lee Tremble. The Iron Horse picked up power and earned its chops on stuffed burgers and demonstrable love for its clientele.
In 2006, on the occasion of his accepting Northern New Jersey Business Volunteer Council’s (BVC) Business Volunteer of the Year, he spoke with Pascack Press writer Kristin Beuscher, who observed, “There is nary a segment of the borough in which Tremble hasn’t lent and helping hand. Among the many organizations, boards and committees that’s he’s either helped to found, lead, been a member of or donated his time: Westwood Heritage Society; the Thomas J. Riley Riley Senior Center at Westwood House; Westwood Baseball Association; Westwood Athletic Alliance, Westwood and Township of Washington Education Foundation; Westwood Rotary; Pascack Valley Hospital’s Board of Directors, Silver Open and Community Services and Community Relations boards; the borough’s Borough Hall Building, Centennial, Home for the Holidays and 9/11 committees; Spectrum for Living, the Board of Health; David Goldberg Child Care Center; the American Heart Association; the Bergen County Special Services Board of Education and the Westwood Substance Abuse Committee.”
(We’ll add to that Bergen Habitat for Humanity and Meals on Wheels North Jersey.)
Tremble said then, “I need to have very little parameters around what I do. I don’t need triplicate forms and approvals to do what I do, because I move too fast. I’m a lot like Don Quixote in the fact that I will attack a windmill, and then once I’ve attacked it, I need the people behind me to finish the job because I’ve already found another windmill and I’m on my way.”
Sean has been at the restaurant since he was 16, starting as a busboy and working his way up.
He says the crush of keeping quality up while staffing fell off a cliff is taking a toll on him physically, but he still loves showing off the brass bell on the roof, overlooking Veterans Memorial Park.
Lee took this reporter on a tour of the restaurant and the former residential areas upstairs on March 15 and inundated him with stories the likes of which proved the venue has a life of its own. The place has absorbed decades of energy in its ample woodwork and railroad memorabilia, and it and Lee seemed made for each other. A good thing.
The most resonant stories were those that featured happy coincidences, many of which Lee deftly orchestrated.
In the original restaurant space, its former gift shop “caboose,” and “new room,” for those counting from the 1980s, he annotates most of his tales by table number.
Four years ago, Tremble noted, the restaurant served more than 100,000 customers a year, many of whom are regulars. He said, “We were ranked ‘Best Fries’ in Bergen County by the Bergen Record, and ‘Best Burger’ several times by (201) Magazine and others.”
Of awards, he said, “We’ve got milk crates and milk crates and milk crates” of them.
Both he and Sean described the cut of the pandemic, the difficulties it wrought in supplies and staffing.
Lee falls quieter in recalling the many patrons he’s known over the years — these decades — who are no longer with the family.
He laughed warmly in describing the slight scandal he caused by wearing his flowered shirt, and sandals, to a dear friend’s funeral.
He touches the end of the bar to remember a patron, to feel his presence there. That was his spot.
Here, Lee’s mother’s hand has written the prices in their restaurant’s first menu — or bill of fare, appropriate to the “restaurant… cafe… gathering place… down by the railroad tracks!”
And promised right inside the trifold: Enjoy the crocks of coleslaw and pickles served at your table.
He shows off, with pride, the small marker at Josie’s table, Josie having shown up a half-hour early (at 11 a.m.) for opening day and was The Iron Horse’s first customer.
Lee describes onetime frustration with his Budweiser distributor that resolved into a virtuoso performance of customer service: the Oct. 16, 2016 delivery of an order via the company’s famous Clydesdales.
Among the treasures Tremble lingers over longest are the framed collages of former employees. He’s sent kids off to culinary school and says many of his employees have gone on to become chefs, doctors, lawyers, assistant attorneys general, members of rock bands, and successful businesspeople.
The restaurant counts among its most famous patrons Gene “Stick” Michael, Lawrence Taylor, Ed Lopat, Buddy Hassett, Willard Marshall, Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Brigatti, Dean Friedman, Bart Oats, Harry Carson, Billy Sample, Rick Cerone, Mary Higgins Clark, Mary Jane Clark, and the monarch of the Philippines.
Memories from friends
Borough booster Mike Fitzsimmons, owner of Westwood Gallery, told us on March 15, “My appreciation of Lee and the Iron Horse dates to 2008 when we were working on The Taste of Westwood. The culture of mutual support and congeniality among the restaurants was the opposite of the Ray Kroc (McDonald’s) strategy of crushing the competition. If you were out of power or needed freezer space, Lee and The Iron Horse Restaurant were there to help. Their priority remains the community they serve.”
He added, “Lee is often referred to as the unofficial mayor of Westwood. In fact (no offense to Mayor Arroyo) he accomplishes more behind the scenes and under the radar and he could if he held elected office. Between Lee’s cell phone and one or two others, they could solve any problem you might have had.”
Fitzsimmons said, “Ask any Little League coach, senior center, scout troop, or countless other organizations who have been the beneficiaries of The Horse’s generosity.”
Beth Dell, this year’s Borough Council president, told us, “Mention Westwood to an outsider and the first thing they connect to is The Iron Horse. A landmark famous for its coleslaw, pickles, stuffed burgers, fries, wings and proprietor. (The Octoberfest themed menu featuring sauerbraten and potato pancakes is also pretty famous.)”
She said, “This beloved restaurant and the friendly, welcoming greeting that comes from the legendary Lee and Annie Tremble, now son Sean and his wife Nicky, has been a Westwood institution for decades.”
She said, “This is where I introduced new Westwood mainstay Lauren Letizia to Lee Tremble. It was a meeting that could have lasted about 10 minutes but instead, as Lee offered up so much Westwood history to Lauren’s eager and absorbent mind, it lasted hours.”
Dell recalled that after recovering from a major health issue in 2012, then Councilmember Peter Grefrath (now emeritus) hosted the first major event at the Iron Horse upon its reopening from fire repairs.
She said, “Almost anyone can connect a memory to the Iron Horse, whether it’s the Westwood Regional High School Woodington Players, graduation class brunch, fundraisers for so many causes, local groups meeting in the upstairs room, a bite and a beverage before, or after, the Home For The Holidays Parade, sometimes causing one to miss the parade entirely.”
Dell added, “Because Lee Tremble has been so generous over the years, the Horse’s impact reaches well beyond the doors of 20 Washington Avenue. Limitless school feasts, such as International Day, were granted wares for consumption. Tricky tray prizes were provided for countless fundraisers. Requested food, ice, paper products or whatever could be offered for any other circumstance, event or gathering, including fellow Westwood restaurants in a pinch, was. Lee never said no.”
For menu, gallery, and much more, visit theironhorse.com.