Film Commission Receives Grant to Create Walking Tour Map for Film Buffs

The Fort Lee Film Commission and Fort Lee Historic Committee has received a $2,000 Bergen County special projects history grant the group plans to use to create, print and distribute an historical walking tour map of Fort Lee. The map will highlight the many locations around the borough associated with Fort Lee’s days as the birthplace of the American motion picture industry and the original home of Universal Studios (in 1912) and Fox Studios (in 1914).

“You have to have a specific purpose in order to receive a grant that they have to approve,” said Fort Lee Film Commission executive director and historic committee chair. “And our application was to create a walking history map of Fort Lee with regard to film locations. We have obviously a vast reservoir of archival stills, and also we have people on the commission who have helped us a lot in terms of narrative on all our historic markers.”

The grant was the successful result of an application through the county division of cultural and heritage affairs that Fort Lee has been considering applying for several years. And it seems that with the walking tour map they finally found that specific project.

“We’ve been meaning to do this for a long time,” Meyers said. “Money’s been tight. That’s one of the reasons we haven’t done it yet. We’ve been putting money into doing exhibits and other things, but we always thought we should apply for a grant to see if it would be feasible, and this money will go a long way in paying for this.”

The project continues local efforts to “reclaim,” as Meyers puts it, and highlight this unique aspect of the borough’s history for residents, as well as for film scholars around the world.

“Now people will be able to grab a copy of this map if they’d like to do a walking tour of their own and learn about Fort Lee’s great film history,” he said. “We think this will be helpful in many ways to reconnect people to that past.”

Past film commission and historical committee projects have included commemorative street renaming, such as Theda Bara Way on Linwood Ave. and Main St., adjacent to the old Fox Studio location, and John Barrymore Way on Main St. and Central Rd. at the location where Barrymore made his stage debut in 1900. Eight large historic markers have also been placed at such locations such as Constitution Park—another location of several major film studios—and Main St. in West Fort Lee on the former grounds of Universal Studios/Consolidated Republic Studio.

Meyers said the maps will be ready for distribution to the public at the June 5 Fort Lee Arts & Music Festival, when thousands of people are expected to be out on Main St., and will also be handed out at the first of two now annual historic jitney tours—the first one taking place in late-June. The Fort Lee Film Commission will also lead an historic walking tour of the Main Street area in June, where copies of the map will also be distributed. 

Once published, the maps will also be available at the Fort Lee Museum, the public library, at local schools and borough hall. For more information visit www.fortleefilm.org or call (201) 693-2763.