Dreamland
Known Name(s)
Dreamland Cafe
Address
Evesham Avenue Lawnside, NJ 08045 (Primary) (1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955)385 Evesham Avenue Lawnside, NJ 08045 (Modern Address)
Establishment Type(s)
Café, Tavern, Night Club
Physical Status
Demolished
Detailed History
Said to have been built in 1940, John “Jack” Brady’s Dreamland Café was an Evesham Avenue fixture. When Brady died in 1963, his wife, Mrs. Emily Brady, said that the club had been “a long-time dream” her husband had. She named the Ravens, the Four Tones, Peggy Thomas, and Savanah Churchill, as some of the club’s headliners, and Joe Louis, Jersey Joe Walcott, and Wilt Chamberlain as regular guests.[1] Mrs. Brady ran the club from 1963 until 1972; she died in November 1976.[2] The Dreamland Café was destroyed or severely damaged by fire twice, once in 1975 and again in 1979.[3] The 1979 blaze was the club’s undoing.
[1]. Coleman, Chet. “Dreamland Man, 75, was Veteran of World War I …,” Philadelphia Tribune (1912-), 25 June 1963, p. 1; digital image, ProQuest Historical Newspapers (https://www.proquest.com/news : 30 December 2023).
[2]. See List of Dreamland’s Plenary Retail Consumption License Notices, 1942-1977; “BRADY Emily Hawkins,” Courier Post, 1 November 1976, p. 46; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 October 2022).
[3].“Lawnside Café Hit By Blaze,” Courier Post, 15 May 1975, p. 9; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 October 2022); “Like a Conductor,” Courier Post, 28 February 1979, p. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 October 2022).
