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
The Dreamland Café has been called the “gateway to the legendary Lawnside Park”.[1] The establishment’s history, which spanned forty years, began with John “Jack” Brady. Dreamland Cafe was Brady’s longtime objective. He had operated at least two other New Jersey clubs before launching Dreamland Cafe. One, called the “Chauffeurs Rest,” was in Atlantic City. The other, called the “Red Top,” was in Lawnside. It is uncertain when Brady first envisioned opening a nightclub that would seat hundreds of people, serve food and drinks, and feature live entertainment. But according to his wife Emily Hawkins Brady, that dream was reality by 1940.[2]
Under the Bradys’ tenure, a catalog of who’s who graced the stage at Dreamland. Mrs. Brady herself named early headliners like the Ravens, the Four Tones, Peggy Thomas, and Savanah Churchill. She also said Joe Louis, Jersey Joe Walcott, and Wilt Chamberlain were regular guests at the cafe[3]. Other acts reputed to have appeared there include Erskine Hawkins, Louis Jordan, Harry "Fats" Crafton, Jimmy Preston and his Prestonians, Tiny Bradshaw, Steve Gibson and the Red Caps, Damita Jo, and Dinah Washington. Even legendries like Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan took the cafe’s stage. [4]
The Bradys owned and operated the cafe from 1938 through 1974.[5] Jack managed operations for the first twenty-five of those thirty-six years. Emily took over after Jack’s death in 1963. She ran the cafe for eleven years before transferring the liquor license to the Matthew Earl Corporation in 1974. Emily died in 1976. [6]
The Matthew Earl Corporation transferred the Dreamland Cafe liquor license to the Aluralka Corporation in 1977. Aluralka is presumed to have owned the club when it was devastated by fire in February 1979. All was quiet after that. A used car lot presently occupies the site of the former cafe.[7]
[1] Lawnside Historical Society, Inc. 2005 Pictorial Calendar, December 2005; photo by Linda Waller Shockley.
[2] 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).
[3] “Dreamland Man… ,” p.1.
[4] “Lullaby for Dreamland: The Dreamland Cafe in Lawnside,” Princeton Online, New Jersey Historical Society (https://jerseyhistory.org/lullaby-for-dreamland-the-dreamland-cafe-in-lawnside/ : accessed 11/25/2024); see also, Sandy Levins, “Artists From Lawnside’s Dreamland Era,” HistoricCamdenCounty.com (http://historiccamdencounty.com/ccnews127.shtml :accessed 11/25/2024).
[5] This Green Book issue confirms the Dreamland Cafe was operating in 1938: The Negro Motorist Green Book (New York: Victor H. Green, Publisher, 1938), 6; digital collections, New York Public Library (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/9dc3ff40-8df4-0132-fd57-58d385a7b928 : accessed 2/12/2023). See also the Notice of Application transferring the cafe’s liquor license from Emily Brady to the Matthew Earl Corporation: “Notice of Application,” Courier Post, 22 July 1974: 35; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.Newspapers.com ; accessed 2/26/2024).
[6] Dreamland Man… ,” p.1. See also: Notice of Application,” p. 35; and “BRADY Emily Hawkins,” Courier Post, 1 November 1976: 46; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 October 2022).
[7] “Notice,” Courier Post, 19 August 1977: 49; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 10/21/2022). See also: “Like a Conductor,” Courier Post, 28 February 1979, p. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 10/21/2022).
(c) By Andrea N. McDonald, Lawnside Historical Society
Written for the project, "Green Book Locations in Lawnside and Berlin," funded by the New Jersey Historical Commission
