(rshsdepot) Tenafly, NJ

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

From today's Record.

Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newslettter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/

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Nostalgia Depot ; Old Train Station Now Serving Coffee, Tea, History

TENAFLY - Time zips by or stands perfectly still, depending on how you look 
at the Victorian-style Tenafly railroad station.
The lovingly preserved 1872 landmark will embark on its fourth incarnation 
today as Cafe Angelique.

Vestiges of the original railroad station remain, however.

The ticket counter window is intact - the crosshatched wire that once 
protected ticket brokers and their coffers now overlooks baristas brewing 
coffee.

The Gothic windows, complete with the original small diamond- shaped stained 
glass inserts, are original. Ditto for the radiators.

The only thing missing: the trains.

The last of the passenger lines pulled out in 1966, just two years after the 
town bought the station from the Erie Railroad Co.

Since then, the building has housed a clothing store and a beauty salon, 
which lasted for 20 years.

The coffee shop is modern with a strong French influence, and is a world 
away from the station's former life.

A plasma-screen TV will play old films. Gilded flowers and vines on the 
walls carry a vague French feel. There's also an original humorous French 
painted advertisement with a man cutting wine bottles from grapevines.

Isaac Ben-Avraham, owner of Cafe Angelique, owns two other cafes in 
Manhattan, where he wanted to create a chain.

"But I always said I would go to New Jersey if I can have this space," he 
said.

The train station wasn't equipped to serve iced chai latte or a soymilk 
mocha, which drew initial resistance from historical preservationists.

"We're not opening a train station," said Ben-Avraham, describing how he and 
the town Historic Preservation Commission navigated historic preservation 
requirements.

A renovation boom could follow. Representatives from the commission plan to 
approach the borough tonight about putting half the rental income 
Ben-Avraham pays to lease the space aside to pursue other historic 
renovation projects.

Though there are no trains in sight, tributes to the rails abound.

An 1850s map along the back wall was restored by Albert Cafiero, a train 
buff, Tenafly resident and transportation adviser to state Sen. Gerald 
Cardinale.

"There's a lot of things wrong," said Cafiero, who rode the train from 
Northvale to Tenafly High School in the 1930s.

Tracing the map with his finger, he points to the Tenafly railroad station.

"It's on the wrong side, and it's too far south," he said slyly. "But the 
map was drawn before the railroad came up here."

Recreating the railroad station has been a field trip in time for him, and 
for the others involved.

Cafiero and Ben-Avraham found stacks of old telegrams in the attic.

"They sort of resemble IM [instant messaging] in a way," said Kevin Tremble, 
secretary of the preservation commission. "There are a lot of shorthand 
confirmations of arrival."

The renovation began in 1980 when the borough replaced an asphalt roof with 
slate. It continued in the early 1990s with a $275,000 outdoor renovation, 
half of which came from state aid.

Of the stations on the Northern Erie line, the only ones standing are in 
Englewood, which is now a recording studio; Demarest, which is being 
restored; Closter, which is now a private home; and Piermont, N.Y., which 
that town is trying to restore.

Tenafly's station is one of the more ornate.

"Well, the president of the railroad lived in Tenafly," he explained.

Even if the railroad is serving a new purpose, it is still the center of 
town.

"Historically, towns grew up around railroads and the railroad stations," 
said Mayor Peter Rustin. "The oldest buildings in downtown are near to 
this."

***

E-mail: sangha_@_northjersey.com

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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