George H. Jones operated a saloon at 1674 Mount Ephraim Avenue according to the  1918-1919 Camden City Directory. Prohibition was enacted in 1919, and liquor sales were banned. Many establishments remained open under "soft drink" licenses, selling low alcohol content beer. Harry Francis and Margaret Purdy operated 1674 Mt. Ephraim Avenue as Purdy's Cafe through at least October of 1931.

Harry F. Purdy was living at 247 Mt. Vernon Street with his wife Margaret when the Census was taken in 1910. He then worked as a deckhand on one of the railroad ferries. By June of 1917, when he registered for the draft, Harry F. Purdy had been appointed to the Police Department of the city of Camden, a position he held through at least January of 1920. The family which included daughter Vera and son Harry Jr., then lived at 1237 Van Hook Street.

Sometime during the 1920s Harry Purdy left the police department. He was operating the bar at 1674 Mt. Ephraim Avenue when the Census was taken in April of 1930. The family lived above the bar. 

When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, a full liquor license was obtained for 1672 Mt. Ephraim Avenue, the corner of Mount Ephraim & Van Hook Street, in Camden NJ. In 1934 the bar was operating as Johnnie's Cafe. 

The Camden Courier-Post reported in June of 1939 that Henry Knauer received a renewal of the liquor license for 1674 Mount Ephraim Avenue. The Camden City Directories for 1940, 1943, and 1947 report Edward Knauer as the proprietor, and the 1947 Directory reports that Henry and John Knauer worked there as bartenders. During these years the bar was known as Knauer's Cafe. 

By 1956 the bar was owned and operated by William H. Hubert, and was known as Hubert's Cafe into the 1970s. William H. Hubert had run a bar nearby, at 1200 Jackson Street, in the late 1940s. Hubert ran the bar into the 1970s. He passed away in the fall of 1973. 

From the late 1970s through the late 1990s the bar was popularly known  as Giacomo's. New management stepped in around 1999, and a very bad crowd began frequenting the spot. The bar was shut permanently down by 2001. 

Thomas Hines
Decatur Street
Leon Gentek
Purdy's Cafe
Oscar Probst
Van Hook Street

Camden Courier-Post - May 1934

PURDY'S CAFE RAIDED; WOMAN IS ARRESTED

Federal prohibition agents under Patrick J. Ryan, chief of the Camden dry forces, raided Purdy's Cafe, at 1674 Mt. Ephraim Avenue, shortly after noon yesterday, seized seven half barrels of high-power beer and arrested Mrs. Margaret Purdy.

Arraigned before U. S. Commissioner Wynn Armstrong, the woman pleaded not guilty, waived a hearing.

Purdy's Cafe - October 5, 2003