Mathnasium: Change on Main Street

Ruby and I are longtime residents of Fort Lee. Our children have spent their entire lives here and we’ve gotten to know the schools through them. We know Fort Lee and the surrounding towns. Ruby has taught in the school districts. It’s the simple reason we decided to invest in Mathnasium of Fort Lee. The schools are very good and we wanted to bring further good and educational assistance to a wonderful community.

I remember settling here in 1980 and the stretch of Lemoine Ave in downtown was lined with rundown bars and sundry stores. I had just immigrated here and only experience America through the movies. With a slight squint and a few imaginary horses hitched out front, that rundown stretch of Lemoine Ave looked straight out of a Western. Perhaps it’s no wonder that loads of Western's were filmed here when Fort Lee was the movie capital of the US; until the film industry relocated West to Hollywood. Look around town and you’ll find many sites commemorating Fort Lee’s movie industry legacy. If you’re a Pokemon Go player, you may visit them as Pokestops.

So, I find it amazing that after viewing 36 years of blight, the new Hudson Light area has finally transformed downtown Fort Lee. We've watched it being developed and it's now open to public. It’s been our busiest Mathnasium Summer ever, and each day we’ve been too tired -- but happily so -- to visit the area. Finally last week we did, when we were invited to experience the new iPic movie theater. What an appropriate addition to the former movie capital of the world! We enjoyed their exemplary mock service; and appropriately watched, “Back to the Future.” I enjoyed it as much as I did on opening night 1985, perhaps more so now with Ruby at my side.

The town has spent years planning the Hudson Light transformation, and has created a special downtown Business District Alliance to assist with that planning. Change has spread up and down Main Street, and it has been considerably spruced up. With the good comes a few disadvantages. Noticeably, we’ve lost all parking directly in front of our Mathnasium store, in favor of much wider, safer, and attractive pedestrian walkways. With some patience, in no time at all, a parking garage will spring up across the street with a covered breezeway leading to Main Street. That will make attending Mathnasium much more convenient, especially in the winter.

Meanwhile, the restaurants around us are starting to take advantage of the wider pavements for Al Fresco dining. We hope that you too enjoy the changes as you drop your children off for some Mathnasium learning; or afterwards to reward them for their good work. Visit the casual dining spots, Parisienne for coffee and pastries, T-Swirl for sweet and savory crepes, Q-Tea for bubble teas and cold treats, and Boom-Boom fried chicken. For more dining, try Soba Noodle for Japanese flavors, Picnic and Setagaya across the street for Korean and Japanese cuisines, and Bing Burgers for American. Half a block further East and there is Aquarius for traditional Cantonese, and then more American, Japanese, and Korean fare.

Other changes are stricter rules regarding signs. We weren't allowed the A+ in our store sign -- it was considered oversized. Now we have to take down our posters flanking our windows. Some stores have followed suit. It makes for barren homogenous looking storefronts. We’re concerned because the storefront is our lowest cost advertising venue. We have parents who finally drop by and ask, “How long have you been opened?” and they’re amazed when we say since 2014. We’re even more amazed when they counter with “... but we’ve been passing by forever and never seen you!”

So without eye level advertising, we’re wondering if anyone will ever notice us. Our greatest success at attracting attention has been Lydia’s hand lettered questions in our storefront window. It's stopped pedestrians in their tracks to solve math problems! Drop by and have a look at “Is Your Child Ready for Math Success” because we’ll have to wash it away. It apparently violates the sign ordinance although the official notifying us could not say why. What a pity because Lydia spent two days hand lettering the entire window from inside, and in reverse! And she did it immediately after a tetanus shot when her entire shoulder was swollen and in pain. It is truly a labor of Love. I call it her Sistine Chapel!

I had Colette carefully examine the town’s extremely lengthy sign ordinance and she found a proviso that no hand lettered signs are allowed. We don’t think that our list of grade school math questions constitutes a "sign" but you can’t fight city hall. So before it's gone, bring your children for a short day trip. Have a crepe from T-swirl or a pastry from Parisienne to fuel their minds, while puzzling away at the questions. We’re also at the nexus of 3 Pokestops if your children get stumped and want a break to catch Pokemons. When you’ve had enough, stop in and ask us for an explanation. We’ll be happy if we can teach some efficient and simple techniques for solving the questions. Then reward yourselves with the latest blockbuster at the brand new movie theater.

Contact:
Ruby Yao and Benedict Zoe
www.mathnasium.com/fortlee
201-969-6284 (WOW-MATH)
fortlee@mathnasium.com
246 Main St. #A
Fort Lee, NJ 07024

Happily serving communities of Cliffside Park, Edgewater, Fort Lee, Leonia, and Palisades Park.