Historic New Brunswick Estate
Bela Dudits & Descendants ~ Owner of
Dudits' Watch and Jewelry Store ~Tompkins Ice Cream Parlor
     
Bela dudits was born in Hungary in 1880, and by the early 1900s, he and his family had immigrated to the United States. Shortly after, he established his store 'B. Dudits, Jewelry & Watches' on French Street, New Brunswick, NJ.  The photos above show Bela and his daughter, in front of the Watch and Jewelry Store at 128 French Street in 1908, and a later view of the interior of the shop with Bela and his son William taken in 1917.   Note the wonderful array of inventory!  The shop carried all manner of clocks, watches, phonographs and records, fine and costume jewelry, lamps, decorative statuary, perfumes, as well as an assortment of interesting sundries. Watch and jewelry repairs were also available.

During the 1920s, Bela operated a real estate office next door at 130 French Street.  During the Depression, property values being what they were, Bela converted the real estate office to an ice cream parlor and opened a B. F. Tompkins Ice Cream franchise in the early 1930s.  B. F. Tompkins Ice Cream was based in Elizabeth, with franchise parlors located in Newark, Plainfield, New Brunswick, Perth Amboy and Sayerville.

After World War Two, Bela's son Bill continued operating the French Street ice cream parlor.  By this time it had become a hugely popular destination for New Brunswick families, and particularly an after-school teenager hangout, as anyone growing up in the city during the 1940s, -50s or -60s can attest.

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