This bar appears in the 1887-1888 and 1888-1889 Camden City Directories as being operated by a Charles Kelly. John Asbert was the proprietor by 1919.

John Asbert was a Polish immigrant. He was born in what was then Prussia in 1871, and came to America in 1887, and married his wife Martha in 1893. When Prohibition went into effect in 1919, Asbert's saloon-keeping was curtailed. He operated under a soft drink license through at least 1924. By 1930 he had moved top Gloucester City NJ. 

Felix C. Knast and his wife Mary had operated the bar from the 1930s through the early 1950s at 671-673 Ferry Avenue. The bar was then known as the Knast Cafe. This block of Ferry Avenue was taken in the early 1950s by the City of Camden to make room for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Manor public housing project, Interstate 676 and other projects that did not come to fruition in later years. Like several other of the business owners who were displaced, the Knasts relocated their business nearby. The new Knast cafe was built at 1703 Mulford Street, on the corner of Van Hook and Mulford Street.

The Knast family operated the new bar bar through the early 1970s. By 1977 they had sold the business and Felix and Mary Knast had moved to Glendora NJ. Felix Knast passed away in December of 1981 at the age of 79, survived by his wife, who died in August of 1989.

Advertisement from the First Annual Grand Ball Program

Jefferson Athletic Association

February 21, 1919