If all went according to plan late last week, construction crews have already begun the process of gutting and renovating 130 Newark Ave., which should soon be home to a new sports bar in the neighborhood.
But before the wrecking ball came in, Jersey City’s downtown community held a festive yet bittersweet farewell party for Hudson Camera, which has been a staple on Newark Avenue since 1948, when Herb Klapper opened the business. His son, Pete Klapper, later took over the business and ran Hudson Camera until it closed on March 14.
Longtime customers, current and former employees, and community leaders – including state Sen. Sandra Bolden Cunningham (D-Jersey City) and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy – paid tribute on March 13 to the Klapper clan and the family-owned business they ran for 64 years. Healy and Cunningham each presented Klapper with proclamations, as did the Downtown Historic Special Improvement District.
“I’m going to miss it. But nothing stays the same forever.” – Rev. Barbara A. Mingo
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Home away from home
“I live in Greenville. Hudson Camera was like my living room downtown,” said former customer Jim Legge, who has patronized the shop for 14 years. “I could come and sit at a table here and chat with people. There was always a friendly face. I would come in here and catch up on the news.”
Legge called the store’s closing “bittersweet” and said he would miss this home away from home.
The store’s employees echoed Legge’s sentiments.
“This has been my life for over 30 years,” said Rev. Barbara A. Mingo, who worked at Hudson Camera for 32 years and who served as the store’s general manager. “I’m going to miss it. But nothing stays the same forever. We’ve always been like family here, and we will continue to be like family.”
The store’s employees, said Mingo, were always invited to Klapper family functions, and vice versa. When she was ordained as a pastor, she said the Klappers were present for the special occasion.
“I worked here part-time through high school, college, and then for a bunch of years while I was teaching,” said former employee Carmen Machado. In all, the former special education teacher said she put in about 16 years working part-time at Hudson Camera. “I finally stopped working here when I became an assistant principal. After that, I just didn’t have time to be here.”
Machado, who holds a degree in photography, said that over the years she owned 16 cameras that were purchased at Hudson Camera.
In a recent Reporter cover story, Klapper spoke about the technological changes in photography over the years. He said he still had alphabetized bags of developed rolls of film from customers who haven’t set foot in Hudson Camera in years.
He said he had called the customers’ contact phone numbers to let them know he was closing, but most of the numbers are no longer in service.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.