By Bruce Klauber
Robert Ruffolo, owner and proprietor of Atlantic City’s iconic Princeton Antiques Book Shop since 1966, loves Atlantic City.
The store, at 2917 Atlantic Ave., is a singular treasure trove of Atlantic City-focused books, antiques and an unrivaled collection of historic photographs that dates back to the turn of the 20th century. They depict everything from the Steel Pier’s high-diving horse, to 1933 newspaper notices advertising the 500 Club.
The store continues to be the destination for authors seeking rare photographs (including this writer) and filmmakers looking for one of the city’s unique locations to shoot a movie. And after almost 60 years in business, Ruffolo remains upbeat about his store and the city.
It all started for Ruffolo and Princeton, when his father purchased the building in 1966.
“I was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina,” he recalled. “I went off to college at NC State to major in textile chemistry. But I could see there wasn’t much of a future in that field. I came up to Atlantic City and helped my father out. Eventually, I got into the book business. And with the girls, the beach and the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, I decided to go to Stockton, then headquartered from 1970 to 1973 at the old Mayflower Hotel in the city, for a business degree.
“While I was there, I found that Stockton had a huge budget to buy books, because they were a brand new college and needed a certain amount of books for accreditation. We ended up selling them hundreds and hundreds of books while I was going there part time. We got into the book business in a big way.”
When he first arrived here, he couldn’t help but notice the seasonal nature of Atlantic City. He was moved to become active in helping determine the city’s future.
“My father got me to join the Atlantic City Jaycees,” he said. “I rode in the car with Steven Perskie, who was going around to all the Jaycees, promoting the fact that gambling was coming in. While he was in the Senate, Perskie sponsored the legislation legalizing casino gaming in Atlantic City. That was in 1976, and it failed. It passed in 1978.”
Retailers in the city at the time were hoping that the legalization of gambling would help business. Some noticed a difference, and some didn’t. The impact to Ruffolo’s business was nothing but positive.
“This was one of the few blocks in the city where all the storefronts were occupied,” he said. “Yes, there were vacancies in the city, but we were in a strong area and we saw a great boom here.”
The photo part of the business started with postcards. Ruffolo would go to flea markets and antique shows and buy boxes of Atlantic City postcards.
“I didn’t know what I was buying,” he said, “But I was looking for Atlantic City stuff, and when I found it, I’d make a deal to buy the whole box. I built up a collection of over 200,000 cards and I categorized them by subject, which included everything from the Boardwalk to Atlantic City bars. Then I went into photos and started that collection, which also came from flea markets at first. I was buying more Atlantic City stuff than anyone else around.”
People from all over the country contact Ruffolo for rights to photographs for use in books, and surprisingly, from those who want to decorate their beach houses and get ideas from the décor in the vintage photographs.
“Some people took a look at a particular photograph,” he said, “And they knew more about the image than I did. They could talk about it for five minutes.”
Ruffolo has listened and learned, and in the process has developed an almost encyclopedic knowledge of Atlantic City’s history.
“My knowledge is just from personal experiences,” he said. “It’s not written down anywhere. People just tell me things and that’s how I’ve learned. I have a passion for Atlantic City. I’ve done interviews where they want to hear dirt and spread dirt about Atlantic City. I tell them they can go somewhere else. I look at the positive things and I try to do everything I can to promote the city. You can find negative things in any city.”
Princeton is one of those places that must be visited to properly describe just what’s within.
Yes, it’s slightly musty and it’s overflowing with books, files and antiques, and it’s pretty clear that things haven’t changed much since the day the store opened in 1966. It’s unique, it’s delightful, it’s charming, and it’s timeless, which is just part of what has attracted several motion picture producers to film there.
“Gun Shy,” with Nicholas Cage, was one. More recently, producers of a film starring Shirley MacLaine titled, “People Not Places” and scheduled for release next year, came to Princeton.
“They took over the shop,” said Ruffolo. “We moved things out of the way for them and they shot several sequences inside the store. They also shot the exterior. They were here for two days.”
Though known for vintage books and photos, the store still actively deals in antiques.
“We have antiques along the tops of the bookshelves and we have a large collection of Atlantic City stuff that’s growing,” Ruffolo noted. “Just one of the things we have is a large collection of Atlantic City sterling silver spoons. Some are very elaborate. Some are engraved with an image of the lighthouse, and others have an engraved image of a rolling chair in the bowl of the spoon. I have Mary Gregory glass that has Atlantic City engraved in it.
“Before the 1960s, a lot of the high-end stores opened on the Boardwalk because that’s where their wealthy clientele was during the summer. They saw a great market. When retailers bought display advertising on the Steel Pier or Million Dollar Pier, they got as much money or more than what it would cost to advertise on Fifth Avenue.”
While we likely won’t see that golden age again, Ruffolo has good feelings about Atlantic City’s future.
“Someone once told me that Atlantic City was designed so that it will never fail,” he said.
As for the future, Robert Ruffolo simply said, “We’ll be here.”
Bruce Klauber is the author of four books, an award-winning music journalist, concert and record producer and publicist, producer of the Warner Brothers and Hudson Music “Jazz Legends” film series, and performs both as a drummer and vocalist.
