Introduction
While the building at 589 Pine Street appears to go back to the 19th century, there was no bar operating there prior to 1891. By 1914 a saloon had been established there, Charles P. Schmidt then the proprietor. Max Roth operated it from 1918 through at least 1921. By 1924 a tailor, Joseph Berlin, had bought the building and was in business at 589 Pine, and he was still at that location as late as April of 1930.
A liquor license was obtained for the premises when Prohibition was repealed in 1933, and the bar was known as the Pine Street Tavern. Michele Barbalace and his brother Fred acquired the business in 1939. They renovated the property shortly thereafter and renamed it Nora's Cafe.
Michele “Mike” Barbalace was born in 1904. He was living in Camden by 1930. The 1947 Camden City Directory shows that while Michele Barbalace and his wife Mary were residing at and running the bar, the business had been renamed, and was then known as Nora's Cafe, after their daughter Nora. Also residing at 589 Pine Street was his partner, brother Fred Barbalace.
589 Pine Street was known as Nora's Cafe until it was sold in 1958. The Barbalace family moved to 206 Hampton Road in Westmont NJ. The bar was known as Steve's Tavern by May of 1961. By 1966 the bar had been renamed Vince & Fred's Tavern. 589 Pine Street was known as Vince & Fred's Tavern as late as 1977.
The bar changed hands again, and was known in the 1980s and early 1990s as Dreamer's Lounge. By the mid 1980s the neighborhood had become very bad, and the bar was shut down in the early 1990s, never to reopen.
589 Pine Street sat boarded up, abandoned, and in need of repair in October of 2003. It was finally razed in the spring of 2012.
Photos
The Pine Street Tavern shortly after being re-named Nora’s Cafe, about 1940.
Mike and Fred Barbalace behind the bar at the Pine Street Tavern, shortly after being re-named Nora’s Cafe, about 1940.
589 Pine Street — October 27, 2003.