CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY
Drinking in Camden
A Look at the Bars, Taverns, Nightclubs & Social Clubs
UPDATED - 02/15/2020
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Any look at Camden that purports to be real has to first accept that Camden is a place where real people lived and still live. This town, ANY town, is more than its buildings, more than its churches, more than it politicians, and more than its schools. The bars, taverns, and social clubs of Camden provided entertainment opportunities for social activities for their patrons and members. The bars would sponsor sports teams, and provide financial support for other social activities, as evidenced in the advertising sections of programs ranging from banquets to high school and college yearbooks. In times when Camden was the place to be, it can also be said that Camden was the place to be in a social sense for the many who cared to step out for a taste after a hard days work! |
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Camden Bars Before Prohibition Between 1919 and 1933 there were no legally operating bars as we know them in Camden, as the country was operating under Prohibition. There had been, of course, many such establishments open prior to 1919. Some closed shop forever, others remained open as restaurants, or in related businesses such as soft drink bottling. Some stayed in business operating on a "soft drink" permit, serving near beer. Camden's bars were as much a part of the life of the city as the churches and industries. Just as in the days of the American Revolution, a LOT of political activity occurred in and came out of the bars. A lot of appointments to city positions such as the police and fire departments in the days before civil service were received by bar owners, their family members and bartenders. When I set this page up, I had few pre-1918 sources at hand, and the coverage on these saloons was quite incomplete. In June of 2009 I came across three newspaper articles listing liquor license renewals in Camden, from 1894, 1895, and 1904. Click on the dates to read the articles in their entirety. The information about the individual bars named will be added to this page as time permits. |
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Camden Bars During Prohibition A very long and very good book could probably be written about Prohibition in Camden. While some tavern owners sold out and others switched to other lines of work, many business owners, with wives and children to support, found there way around the unpopular laws against alcoholic beverages. A diluted brew of beer was legal, and many of Camden's taverns became "soft drink" houses. Needless to say, the demands of the public for real beer and alcohol and the needs of the businessmen to make a living often met somewhere outside the letter of the law!
Camden Courier-Post columnist James M. O'Neill, writing under the byline of "JIMINY" noted in the February 2, 1933 edition of the paper that" "Twenty-seven of the 142 so-called "soft drink" establishments which were granted a Camden license for 1933, were raided by federal agents during the past year. . . So who was the mayor who said some months ago that Camden was beerless?" While Camden may not have been a "wide open" town in the 1920s and early 1930s, it undoubtedly was "interesting". Philadelphia gangster Mickey Duffy controlled the Camden brewery until he was gunned down in an Atlantic City hotel room, and the saloons and speakeasies of the city in many cases were tipped off about raids. Many stills also were noted in newspapers of the day. On
April 7, 1933, it became legal to serve beer once again in New Jersey. An
interesting article appeared in the June 9, 1933 Camden Courier-Post
concerning the effects that legalization had on the bars and the
speakeasies in and around Camden.
The next day, however, word came from city hall, and all was well at the saloons!
Meanwhile,
court cases were still pending and sentences were still being given out
in Federal Court
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Camden Bars in the 21st Century Take a ride through any neighborhood in Camden, and if you are observant you will notice that at one time there must have been a lot of bars! In a time when the neighborhood bar was not a luxury, but almost as much a necessity as the corner grocery and barbershop, Camden had its share. In August of 1936 there were 213 liquor licenses. Most of the bars are gone, a sign of changing times, attitudes, and the cost of doing business in these modern times. The same thing happened to shoe repair shop- in 1947 Camden had 78 of them… there may have been 2 left in the city in 2004. In order to get a handle on the many bars and taverns the city once had and those it still has, I've divided the city up into several sections, drawn partly on geographical lines, and partly on "neighborhood" lines.
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HELP!!!!!!! If you can help me fill in the blanks, PLEASE e-mail me! I'm also looking for pictures of these bars, both inside and out. THANKS in advance! Phil Cohen |
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One of the older sections of Camden, much of North Camden was fully built up prior to World War I. While no neighborhood was ever exclusively dominated by any ethnic group, in the older days much of North Camden was populated by people of Irish, German, and English descent, with a small Italian neighborhood near 2nd and Main and a black section in the east of 10th Street around Penn Street. The bars reflected the people in the neighborhood. Best remembered are Kelly's at the foot of State Street, Mancine's at 3rd and Elm, Nittingers at North 7th and Birch Street, Anne's Tavern on Vine Street, and Ford's Cafe at 941 Pearl Street, along with the State Bar, the last of the North Camden bars. The sources used below are the 1946 Camden City Directory, and the Bell Telephone Books for 1956, 1959, 1966, 1970 & 1977. For 1990 and 2004 personal research was done!
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Originally part of Stockton Township, Cramer Hill was made part of Camden City in 1899. There was a strong German community, but for the most part Cramer Hill was white, but ethnically diverse. Today there is a strong Latino presence, and some of the old bars remain, under new management, reflecting the present community. My memories of Cramer Hill were that there were A LOT of bars, and one could literally drink one's way up River Road, and have a pretty good head on by the time you hit 36th Street!
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EAST CAMDEN Also part of Stockton Township, most of East Camden's Bars lay along Federal Street, the main corridor, with a few on 27th Street leading in to Cramer Hill. East Camden has been my home pretty much since the mid-70s… I've had some pretty good times here!
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More than a few bars and clubs did business on the Boulevard before Governor Whitman razed everything on the south side in 1999 and 2000. The Boulevard's reputation was far, far worse than the reality… the price of being located across the river from Philadelphia, where the media constantly paint's Camden in the worst of colors on order to diminish the many, many shortcomings of that blighted city. The reality is that there were never more than five bars serving liquor on the Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Camden, and no more than three liquor stores, at any time. Given the location, and the State Store situation in Pennsylvania, the liquor stores were (and the two that remain) very profitable. Of the four bars that did business on the boulevard, three featured dancers clad in the state minimum which consists of a bikini. That's right, in New Jersey, you can't serve a beer and see a nipple at the same time! Not exactly one's conception of a den of iniquity. What the boulevard did feature were three motels, which by the 1970s had devolved into "by the hour" joints. A certain degree of prostitution took place, and the bars and other legitimate businesses on the Boulevard paid the price, reputation-wise, for that. It did not help that one of the bars, the Oasis, was located in the same building and owned by the same people who owned the Oasis Motel. Oh yes, we can't forget the infamous "LIVE NUDE SHOW" that Camden was always blamed for. It was on the Admiral Wilson Boulevard… in PENNSAUKEN.
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CENTER CITY CAMDEN In the days when Camden's downtown was thriving, downtown Camden, defined here as the area between Linden Street and the "Chinese Wall" elevated rail lines at Mickle Street, the Delaware River and the Federal Street Bridge had many bars and restaurants. Some left to declining business, others were forced out in the assorted urban renewal projects that did as much to destroy Camden as revitalize it.
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SOUTH CAMDEN South of Mickle along Broadway to Everett Street, this section of Camden featured many fine establishments, some of which are still in operation today.
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CENTERVILLE This neighborhood of Camden was predominantly black prior to the 1950s, and has always seemed to have its own feel. There were and are a few establishments in and around Centerville which traditionally served that community.
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EIGHTH WARD Centered around the intersection of Ferry Avenue and Broadway and separated from South Camden's residential neighborhoods by a few blocks of industrial and commercial buildings, the Eighth Ward community was driven economically by jobs at the New York Shipbuilding Company shipyard, Howland Croft & Sons textile mill, and the McAndrews & Forbes licorice plant, among others. There was a large Italian community, and apparently smaller Ukrainian and Croatian communities. The bars declined as the factories left, and in 2004 there is only one regular bar open in the entire neighborhood, one private club, and a single liquor store.
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FAIRVIEW-MORGAN VILLAGE Built around the time of World War I to provide housing for the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard's workers. There were never too many bars in Fairview, as the community was built and first settled during the days leading up to Prohibition. After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, a few licenses were granted, but most of Fairview's drinking seems to have been centered around the social clubs, and in the bars of Gloucester City, Mount Ephraim, and West Collingswood.
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MOUNT EPHRAIM AVENUE This large section of Camden encompasses the predominantly Polish Whitman Park neighborhood. There were many corner bars on Mount Ephraim Avenue, and on the parallel streets.
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HADDON AVENUE Haddon Avenue south of Mickle Street had a few bars, one still operating today dates back toi before Prohibition. There were no neighborhood bars in Parkside, all the tavern life was on Haddon Avenue. There were a few bars just west of Haddon, on Mount Vernon and on Kaighn Avenue.
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| Camden Courier-Post * July 1, 1941 |
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CITY TAPROOMS RENEW LICENSES AS PERMITS EXPIRE All but One Retailer and Four Clubs Take Out New Papers With the exception of one tap room and four clubs, all liquor permits in the city were renewed last night by the Excise Board sitting at its last meeting of the fiscal year which ended at midnight. Total permits in the city are 211 retail, 23 distributor and 44 clubs. The five who did not receive their licenses last night have until July 31 to renew. Mrs. A. Messick, of 303 Erie Street appeared before the board and entered a complaint against Russell Utter, holder of a retail license at 938 North Third Street. Mrs. Messick stated music was played loudly and much confusion could be heard as patrons left the establishment. Members of the board, John L. Morrissey, chairman, Mrs. Ann M. Baumgartner, secretary, and Vincent Canzanese, conferred and informed Utter he was responsible for any noises caused by patrons, and to guard against any reoccurrences, Transfer Granted A person to person transfer was granted from Frank Tenerelli, of 950 South Fifth street, to Louis Di Mattia who will continue business at the same address. A transfer from 2101 Broadway to 1148 Atlantic avenue was granted to Adella Oreb. This is the one retail license that has not been renewed, the transfer being granted under the 1940·41 permit. Permits Approved Retail permits were granted the following: George W. Kirby, 419 Federal street; Edward H. Kraus, 1150 Mt. Vernon street; Stefan Schoen, 828 Chestnut street; Mayme L. Wolf, 705 Chestnut street; Ottavio De Ascentiis, 519 Line street; Joseph Miraglia, 302 Stevens street; John T. Morrow, 576 North Twenty-seventh street; Tullio Egizi, 232 Stevens street; John Salvatore, 300 Mechanic street; Louis Seidman, 1129 broadway; Russell Utter. 938 North Third Street; Louis Di Mattia, 950 South Fifth street; Edward Williams, 601 Pearl street; Charles L. Humes and Walter N. Carley, 12 Hudson street; Charles F. Miller, 226 State Street; Harry G. Wells, 941 Pearl street; Rocco Palese, 302 Spruce Street; Clara C. Snyder, 601 North Front street; Plaza Club Hotel, 500 Cooper street; Victor R Potamkin, 710 broadway; John Revallo, 1186 Mechanic street; Vasco Canzanese. 713 South Third Street; Thomas Kenney, 531 Market Street and Harry C. Wichert, 1219 Mt. Ephraim Avenue. Club licenses were granted to Fairview Post No. 71, American Legion, 2995 Mt. Ephraim Avenue; Seventh Ward Republican Association, 1024 South Eighth street; Pride of Camden Lodge of Colored Elks, 711·Kaighn Avenue and Veterans of Foreign Wars Mucci Post, 820 Broadway. |
