Louis Scalera
Luigi Scalera was born the 5th child of Vincenzo and Michelina Scalera on 2/24/1894 in Maddaloni, Italy (near Naples). He was orphaned about the age of 7 and was apprenticed out to a religious statue sculptor, where at first young Louis smoothed the excess clay off the statues after they came out of their molds and then eventually learned to paint the statues and their saintly faces.
In 1910 at the age of 16, he immigrated to America, arriving alone at Ellis Island on the ship “Berlin” on March 1st of that year to join his older brother, Nicola (Nick), who promptly put him to work in his barber shop. Young Louis did not like barbering and attended Fawsett School of Art on High St. in Newark, NJ (the current site of Arts HS) at night. He quit cutting hair and went to work at New York Gallery in NY decorating (painting) furniture as was the current style. The commute into NY was difficult, so he left to work at Bambergers in Newark 1921 – 1924 doing the same kind of work customizing furniture especially bedroom sets.
Vincenzo Scalera
He married his brother Nick’s sister-in-law, Carmela Bove, eventually had 7 children and lived on North 10th Street in Newark. In 1924 when Bams would not give him a raise as he needed to raise his family, he rented a garage in Newark from a winemaker named Modest Farino and did his own refinishing and painting of others’ furniture. In 1930 he moved to a larger factory on Morris Ave. in Newark and added upholstery and custom cabinetry work to refinishing. In 1936 he moved to a larger factory on Sherman Ave., Newark, first doing custom work. In 1943 his work changed for the war effort and he started to manufacture trays for radio tubes for Westinghouse.
About 1945, when a business associate took a deposit for a table that was already promised to another customer, he asked Louis if he could duplicate the table. Louis did and the man was so impressed that he asked Louis to make more. In 1946 he started manufacturing furniture and in 1948 opened an additional factory on 44 Hunter St. in Newark – one shop for the woodworking and the other for the finishing.
Eventually in 1950 all work was consolidated to Hunter Street, one floor for the woodworking and the other for the finishing. His oldest son, Vincent worked with him in the factory on Hunter St. and eventually took over the company after Louis retired around 1959. Due to Newark riots and burglaries, the factory became uninsurable and my father had to declare bankruptcy in 1968.
The Royal Arts Co. bought out Louis Scalera & Company and changed the name to Scalera Furniture Industries. Eventually Royal Arts and Scalera moved into one factory and the Scalera name was dropped. Vincent Scalera left and went to work at Hoffman Koos Furniture until his retirement.
Evenings during his working years and then full time after he retired, Louis Scalera painted pictures on canvas of scenes of the Mediterranean coastlines and villas, portraits, and still-lifes of flowers, fruit, and birds, which he sold or gave to individuals in his family. He also made beautiful purple velvet lined jewelry boxes with paintings of roses on the outside of them. They may have been sold at Saks Fifth Ave.
Louis Scalera was a short man with an Italian accent, who often wore a brown fedora hat. He had a good sense of humor.
Louis Scalera died 4/14/1981 at the age of 87 in Newark, NJ, a patriarch of a large family of many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren leaving behind a legacy of artists. Many of his descendants work in art, advertising and design. Louis Scalera’s genes live on.
Documented by Nancy Mackow