As a child of Holocaust survivors, I consider my status as Second Generation to be both a privilege and a responsibility.

Growing up on my parents’ chicken and egg farm on the outskirts of Atlantic City, New Jersey, my father often took me with him on his daily delivery route into the city. We would usually enter the rear alley delivery doors of restaurants, hotels and grocery stores, where I was treated to a glimpse of the inner workings of this resort town’s numerous Jewish establishments. Like many of my generation who grew up in the area, I later spent summers working for businesses that catered to the tourist industry. Driving visitors up and down the world famous Atlantic City Boardwalk in one of the city’s classic icons—the rolling chair—made me familiar with the hundreds of businesses and hotels that lined this great walkway.

In the early 1970s, my parents, Sam and Mania Schoffer, purchased the Lafayette Hotel on 109 S. North Carolina Avenue and converted it into a kosher establishment. Working there enabled me to appreciate the challenges involved in operating a family hotel in Atlantic City. A few years later upon my return to the area, it became obvious that the culture of Jewish-owned family businesses that had once contributed to a vibrant atmosphere within Atlantic City had begun to vanish. Times had changed and due to economic necessity, Atlantic City began transforming itself into a great casino gaming resort. 

Now, feeling the nostalgia toward a bygone era of local Jewish merchants, I thought it would be worthwhile to document that era using the collected input from people I know whose families had played a role in these times. I began to outline the concept for a “tribute album,” which I started and stopped many times. In 2007 my involvement with the Jewish Community Day School of Atlantic County gave me the idea that this project would be even more meaningful if it had a worthy beneficiary such as Jewish education. What began as a modest collection of personal stories and photographs about area Jewish family businesses has grown into a culturally rich documentary of local Jewish history.

This book, through the participation and support of many people, is intended as a tribute to individuals and their families whose hard work became a realization of the “American Dream.”

 Leo B. Schoffer, Editor