Webster's defines a tavern as "an establishment where alcoholic beverages are sold to be drunk on the premises." Hence, during the period of Prohibition, from 1920 to 1933, there were no taverns in Hillsborough. Instead, there were halls. Music halls, dance halls, catering halls, and the like. Farley had a hall, Palahach had a hall, and Theodore and Catherine Venis had a hall.
 |
| 7 October 1935 Courier News |
They immigrated to America early in the century: Theodore from Greece in 1906 at the age of eighteen, and Catherine from Romania in 1909 at the age of sixteen. They met, married, and settled in Hillsborough, New Jersey, in 1929, soon opening the Venis Dance Hall, Boarding House, and Service Station on Route 206 across from the southeast corner of the Duke Estate.
 |
| 28 April 1936 Courier News |
Much like other similar establishments in Hillsborough, the Dance Hall served food and non-alcoholic refreshment, held dances, and was available for private functions. The boarding house behind the hall, whose thirteen rooms each had two beds, catered mostly to summer boarders. Catherine Venis was one of the first proprietors in Hillsborough to apply for a beer license when they became available in 1933, and it is likely that the name of the establishment was changed to Venis Tavern at this time.
 |
| 12 June 1941 Courier News |
The couple continued to run the tavern for the better part of the next 20 years, somehow finding the time to raise a large family whose progeny became ubiquitous in Hillsborough for decades.
 |
| 17 June 1963 Courier News |
At the beginning of the 1950s, the business was purchased by Greek immigrant Christopher Dios. He, along with his wife, Sophia, and brother John, had been in business together in Somerville since the 1930s; first with a fruit stand and later, after the end of Prohibition, with "Chris' Bar and Tavern" at 119 West Main Street (the section of the street that was demolished for the Downtown Somerville shopping center in the 1970s.)
In 1948, Dios was evicted from that location (for reasons apparently lost to time) and could not immediately find another location for the tavern until the Venis Tavern on Route 206 became available.
At some point between 1958 and 1959, the establishment was acquired by Albert "Slim" Everett, and the name was changed to Dachsund Tavern. The tavern was sold again around 1975, likely to its final owner, William Tepper. The name was changed once again to Billy Jack's, but it was also known in the 1980s as Players Assembly Tavern. Many Hillsboroughians recall being served their first underage drink here in the '70s and '80s, and it wouldn't have been a shock to see Doris Duke at the pool table.
 |
| 1979 Aerial View |
The tavern made the news in January 1984 when Tepper was accused of harassing a disabled patron by telling him to keep his wheelchair in a corner and not go near the bar (he was cleared of any wrongdoing the next year), but by that time, Tepper had other plans. In March, he received approval from the Board of Adjustment to build a 48-lane bowling alley on the east side of Route 206 near the Raider Boulevard intersection and to extend Raider Boulevard across the highway to a planned 17-unit industrial park. He planned to transfer the Billy Jack's liquor license to the bowling alley. After spending the next year trying to make that all happen, Billy Jack's was quietly closed and the building demolished sometime at the end of 1985 or beginning of 1986.
No comments:
Post a Comment