4 of 5

click to enlarge

In 1962, Bamboo and Rattan Works, Inc. experienced its first of two fires. This fire, believed to have been started by two little girls playing outside, destroyed much of the warehouse. As you can see from the photo, the right half of the building, the warehouse, was completely destroyed. However, the office and workshops in the left half (the structure in the left half of the picture) remained largely unaffected so the business was able reconstruct itself quickly.

click to enlarge

Then, in 1982, an individual/s (possibly three boys) broke into the third story of the building and started a fire. This photo taken by Art Maison is what was left of the third floor. The fire started there and eventually made its way downward damaging most of the building. The fire inspectors first accused the family of starting the fire due to a five-gallon can of gasoline used to fuel our snow blower. Eventually, after being further inspected by the fire department, they determined the cause of the fire to be started by matches and not the five-gallon can. Since the building was destroyed and Hoboken had been deteriorating for some time, Art Maison decided to move the business to Lakewood, New Jersey, where it still does business today.

4 of 5