Bill Miller's Riviera: America's Showplace in Fort Lee, New Jersey [Paperback]

Where did Frank Sinatra, Mickey Mantle, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joan Crawford and hundreds of other A-listers along with mobsters like Meyer Lansky eat, drink and dance? It wasn't in Hollywood or at the Copacabana but at Bill Miller's Riviera in Fort Lee. The Riviera's breathtaking views of New York, its stunning showgirls and its gambling hall drew the famous and infamous to its tables. After it was originally run as a speakeasy by Ben Marden during the 1920s, Bill Miller, a Russian Jewish immigrant, attracted the most sought-after performers and turned it into one of the most popular nightclubs during the 1940s and 1950s. Relive Bill Miller's Riviera and experience the excitement of his lucky patrons. Fort Lee's famed Riviera nightclub, which closed in the early 1950s to make way for the Palisades Interstate Parkway, is given its due in a new book by the son of a police officer who once worked there.

'Bill Miller's Riviera: America's Showplace in Fort Lee, New Jersey, co-authored by Tom Austin of Ramsey, is a tribute to the nightspot and to his late father, Al, who was a backstage special police officer there. The book...was co-authored by Ron Kase of Ramsey, associate vice president for sponsored programs at Ramapo College.

Austin, a Realtor, artist and musician, says he hopes to capture a bygone era. The nightclub on the Palisades employed many of the last century's greatest entertainers, including Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Tony Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Joey Bishop, Sophie Tucker, Eddie Fisher, Vic Damone and Jackie Gleason. --The Recorder

Austin's book covers great ground in presenting the personalities of the two Rivieras. The original Riviera was located on Hudson Terrace just across from Myrtle Ave. and was operated by Ben Marden, who operated nightclubs in New York, Florida and Cuba. It was an old hotel and restaurant built in 1901 called Villa Richard, and the beautiful stone el*