CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY

FLORENTINE GRILL
aka Florentine Beer Garden
941 South 4th Street

941 South 4th Street does not appear to have been a tavern prior to Prohibition. The Troni family operated 941 South 4th Street as a restaurant in the mid 1920s. The 1924 City Directory shows Aristide Troni and his wife Fanny at that address. Anthony Troni managed the business, and Pauline Troni, the widow of Emilio lived thee as well. By Aristide Troni had moved to 1670 Norris Street and left the restaurant business. 941 South 4th Street was now the home and business of Gennaro D'Annunzio and his wife Emma. 

The D'Annunzios were succeeded in time by Michele "Mike" Barbalace and a partner named Hoover, probably John Hoover, who had previously operated an establishment at 1 Haddon Avenue. The called the business the Florentine Beer Garden. By June of 1939 Mike Barbalace had left. He and his brother Fred acquired the Pine Street Tavern at 589 Pine Street, the corner of South 6th Street and Pine Street, and renamed it Nora's Cafe. It appears that the liquor license for 941 South 4th was held by a Joseph Italiano through February of 1938, when it was transferrred to Joseph Cuffari.

In February of 1939, Joseph Cuffari had gone into the bar business at 941 South 4th Street and changed the name of the business to Florentine Grill. Joseph Cuffari and his family operated the bar at 941 South 4th Street for many years. Joseph Cuffari was born in Italy around 1886, he came to America in 1913 with his wife Anna. By 1930 the Cuffari family owned a home at 310 Beckett Street. Joseph Cuffari was then working as a hat finisher. By that time there were three children, a daughter, and two sons. The Cuffari family remained involved with the bar as late as 1967, when Anna Naro Cuffari and Josephine Labato applied for liquor license renewal.

The bar remained open as the Florentine Grill through the early 1980s. By 1990 the establishment was known as the TMT Lounge. It had closed by the late 1990s. 

 

 

Florentine Grill
at
941South 4th Street

November 9, 2003

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