Hudson Tavern

The Hudson Tavern was located at 12 Hudson Street. Hudson Street is, or rather was, a short street that ran just west of and parallel to Broadway running south from Federal Street. Number 12 Hudson Street was built prior to 1887, and was originally a private residence. It does not appear to have been used as a bar prior to Prohibition.

12 Hudson Street was operating as a restaurant as early as 1931, and possibly also as a bar, on a “soft drink,” i.e. low alcohol-content beer, permit. It is very possible that the business was opened up to take advantage of traffic from the then newly-built Camden City Hall. The bar was known then as the Cafe Hudson. Fully licensed shortly after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the bar was known as Hudson Cafe by 1934. The bar changed hands in 1938, acquired by Joe and Kate Feinstein, who had it only for a brief period of time. Joe Feinstein later worked at several bars in Camden County, including Emil’s and Schillig’s, and was a popular figure before relocating to Detroit in the late 1940s.

12 Hudson Street next appears in the 1940 Camden City Directory, as Carley & Humes. No listings were made in the 1943 and 1947 Directories, but apparently the building was open for business. In 1956, the Hudson Tavern begins to appear in the New Jersey Bell Telephone Directories. Sam Lennox was running the bar in the late 1950s.

Sam Lennox was born in Camden in 1897 to James and Catherine Lennox. His father was a railroad laborer. His older brother, J. Edgar “Eggie” Lennox, played major league baseball for four different teams between 1906 and 1915, compiling a .274 batting average. Sam Lennox played professional basketball, and was a member of the Camden Alphas team that won the Eastern Basketball League championship in 1919. Among his teammates were Neil Deighan, Roy Steele, and Joe Hyde, all of whom also went on to successful careers as bar owners in Camden. Sam Lennox had retired by 1970 and was living at the Westfield Towers senior citizen’s high-rise. He passed away in August of 1976, aged 79.

In June of 1967, Michael Miraglia applied for the renewal of the Hudson Tavern’s liquor license. The Hudson Tavern would remain in business into the 1990s. Mae Miraglia worked at the Hudson as a chef for many years until her retirement. The Hudson Tavern fell victim to the wrecker’s ball in the spring of 2002. Mae Miraglia passed away in April of 2008.