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It began when the owners of Margherita Pizza Cucina on Anderson Avenue found the portrait during a cleanup.
“My husband was going to throw it away,” said Abir Abuali. “But I said, ‘No. I’m going to find them.’ The last thing I’d want if it was me is to have a family photo end up in a Dumpster.”
Abuali took the photo home, cleaned it up and contacted Daily Voice.
The subsequent story, shared widely on Facebook, eventually reached Joseph Bace.
Bace was living on 78th Street in North Bergen in the 80s when he convinced family members who'd come to town for his grandmother's funeral to pose for a portrait.
Base, who now lives in North Carolina, couldn't remember the name of the studio, which he said was in the 7000 block of Bergenline Avenue.
Enter Emanuele "Manny" Pontoriero.
"I worked for David West, the photographer who took the photo," Pontoriero said. "The studio was Corday Studio located at 7121 Bergenline Ave., North Bergen."
There's a liquor store there now.
"I bought the studio from David in 1987 and made a sample print to display there," Pontoriero said. "Several years later I closed the studio and worked from my home till we moved to Florida.
"I gave sample prints that were on display to the people in the photos but could not remember the names of that family. I put the print in storage in a store in Fairview that belonged to my brother in law. I did not want to destroy it -- and in 1997 the internet was not what it is today.
"After moving to Florida I forgot about it, and so there it stayed," said Pontoriero, who runs a successful photography business in the Tampa/Clearwater/St. Petersburg area.
"I am happy to hear Joe is going to be getting that print. He and his family were wonderful -- I do remember that," Pontoriero said. "I'm very glad the folks who now operate that store took the initiative to look for the owner."
READ MORE: Family In Decades-Old Portrait That Turned Up In Fairview Basement Found
COURTESY: Joe Bace / INSET: Courtesy Margherita Pizza Cucina
Margherita Pizza Cucina, in the 300 block of Anderson Avenue between Walker and Cliff streets in Fairview (COURTESY: GoogleMaps)
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