1197 Lansdowne Avenue
Briggs Cafe operated at 1197 Lansdowne Avenue, the corner of Louis Street and Lansdowne Avenue in Camden’s predominantly Polish Whitman Park neighborhood.
Matthew Derengowski and family were living at 1197 Lansdowne Avenue when the census was taken in April of 1930. Matthew was then working as a hardwood floor scraper. Matthew Derengowski’s daughter Stella married Roy Briggs in 1938. The young couple lived in Hainesport, New Jersey with Roy Briggs’s family before returning to Camden. By 1942 the Briggs and Derengowski’s were operating a bar at 1197 Landowne Avenue know as Briggs Cafe. Sadly, both Matthew Derengowski and Roy Briggs had passed away by the time the 1947 Camden City Directory was compiled.
The 1947 Directory indicates that the bar was owned by Mrs. Mary Derengowski, the widow of Matthew Derengowski. She operated the tavern with her daughter, Mrs. Stella Briggs, the widow of Roy Briggs.
The bar operated in the late 1960s and early 1970s as Walt’s Cafe, and during the 1990s as the Camelot Lounge.
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