Bruno's Cafe & Restaurant

Bruno’s Cafe & Restaurant, which stood on the corner of Mt. Ephraim Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, was a popular eating spot in Camden for over 55 years, benefiting greatly from its location across the street from West Jersey Hospital. The business was founded in January of 1925 by Bronislaw “Bruno” Bubnoski and his wife, the former Anna Kazula, and later run by their son Zenon Bubnoski, who was born on the premises.

According to City Directories, 1426 Mt. Ephraim Avenue operated as a bar as far back as 1899, when Charles Ihlenfeld was listed as the proprietor. He was licensed at that location in 1899 and 1900. Beginning in 1903 and through 1910, Samuel T. Wimley, who had previously had a saloon on Ferry Avenue at Broadway, operated the establishment. William Laskowski was the next to trade out of this address, from 1911 to 1915. The 1916 City Directory shows William Papiernik in business there; he remained through 1922 and was succeeded by Charles S. Urban, who operated the business as Farmer’s Hotel. Papiernik died on January 13, 1924.

Bruno and Anna Bubnoski began operating at Mt. Ephraim Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in January of 1925, acquiring the property from the John F. Betz & Son, Inc. brewery of Philadelphia. According to City Directories, the Bubnoskis operated the business as the Atlantic Hotel through at least 1931, before adopting the Bruno’s Cafe name.

Bruno Bubnoski passed away on August 11, 1961. In the 1940s, daughter Henrietta Bubnoski worked as a bookkeeper for the Camden County Beverage Company, which brewed Camden Beer at the brewery at South 6th Street and Bulson Street.

Bruno’s Cafe and Restaurant closed in June of 1979. By 1985 the bar was known as City Lights. The building and all other structures on the east side of Mt. Ephraim Avenue from Atlantic Avenue through Lansdowne Avenue were razed around 2000 to make room for a Rite-Aid Drug Store.