What was your first pool hall?

[itsfroze]

First pool hall?

My first pool hall was Plaza Billiards in Paramus N.J. owned and operated by Richie Brown around 1969.

 

[cuesmith]

Beechmont Billiards...RIP.

Boy, I just stumbled on this thread. That picture sure brings back memories. I closed my first pool room, Oakley Royal Family Billiards in Sept '89 and opened up Beechmont Billiards a few months later. That was a hell of a room in it's "hey day". Had some good action, tournaments, characters. Oakley was what I called an "Old School" pool room, but Beechmont had it all.

Sherm

 

[Spantiznik]

Were I grow up there wasn't a Pool Hall around, unless you wanted to travel more then an hour.

Were I played and learned was at a local Canadian Legion, playing against the old farmers and Vets.

Last time that I went there, they had the tables covered and moved onto a wall. One of them they had a little bingo ball machine, so they could play bingo on a Saturday night. Blah!!

 

[cuesblues]

I knew Izzy. He played a lot in the Family Fun Center. Always wore a leather jacket. Dark hair, thin. Didn't he have a mustach or goatee??

Still a leather jacket & goatee
Just saw Izzy the other day

 

[cuesblues]

Both John Gatton and Isadore Weinelauer told me a few tales about playing each other there, but they'd mentioned the Velvet Rail and Celebrity more from that (approximate) time period. Pic had some choice things to say 15+ years ago about lots of places around the Denver area (I heard he's still alive...) including Plush Rack.


To add to the thread; my first real pool room would have been Grady's had I been allowed to play (way too young), I was allowed to watch a little.
So, I'd have to say that Stick's Billiards, Colorado Springs, CO was where I caught the bug. It was a Clicks chain that couldn't make it and eventually thrived (for a while) under new ownership. Plenty of B+ to open class players and lots of action (again, for a while) 4 GC 9's, maybe 6 Valley Cougars and I think 10 Brunswick 4x8. Later expanded to allow for about 6 or 8 more Valley's and a 24 hour clientele (too bad that didn't last).
This October it will have been closed for 2 years, the location is now a Laser Tag and still has those same 4 GC's ... weird.

Hey Ivan,

The Velvet Rail was Sid Barcelona's room, close to where Frank's place was on Tennyson. Sid is talking about opening another room after all these years but I doubt it will happen unless his son gets involved.

I can't remember the names of the rooms in Colorado Springs back in the 60's-70's but there were quite a few and ton's of great players.

Peace

Ted

 

[jgpool]

The 70's

Hey Ivan,

The Velvet Rail was Sid Barcelona's room, close to where Frank's place was on Tennyson. Sid is talking about opening another room after all these years but I doubt it will happen unless his son gets involved.

I can't remember the names of the rooms in Colorado Springs back in the 60's-70's but there were quite a few and ton's of great players.

Peace

Ted

Hey Ted hope you're well. I got to the Springs in 1974 and didn't hang out in the pool rooms but I knew all the bars. One place you might remember was Sportsmans Lounge in the old Bowlmoor bowling alley. The guys I knew out there were Dick Henry, Angel Garcia, Charlie Shootman, Jimmy Gravel, Scott Smith, maybe Bill Stroud, possibly Island Drive and many more that escape me right now.

Time for a cold COORS!

 

[bignick31985]

Garage at my mom's house. I was getting tuition assistance (grants) to go to Tech School, and they cut me $1000 check at the end of the semester, for unused funds.

I called an ad in the paper, and had an 8ft slate table within the week. Set it up in the garage, played the cloth off it, lol. Summer was HELL though. Could only get a game or two in before you were drenched in sweat.

Had to sell it for tires for my truck when I was broke. Terrible. Now I'm trying to buy a house, but I can't afford one with a room big enough for a 9' table. So maybe an addition is in the future, lol.

Since I have no table now, I frequent Shady Lady, Tuckers (both sides), Players Place, and our home bar Sandy's. On an occasion I'll drop into Rusty's by Shady Lady for a play on the Diamonds, but I've only been a few times since having dropped my cue off for work there.

 

[cuesblues]

Hey Ted hope you're well. I got to the Springs in 1974 and didn't hang out in the pool rooms but I knew all the bars. One place you might remember was Sportsmans Lounge in the old Bowlmoor bowling alley. The guys I knew out there were Dick Henry, Angel Garcia, Charlie Shootman, Jimmy Gravel, Scott Smith, maybe Bill Stroud, possibly Island Drive and many more that escape me right now.

Time for a cold COORS!

If my memory serves me, there was a lot of action at the Sportsman's Lounge.
I also remember watching 2-players from Fort Carson in the late 60's that were pro level players, but I was a teenager and didn't really care about names.
Plus it was the 60's, I was probably on acid when I met them.
I watched Sid play one of them gettng the 7-ball and Sid didn't have a chance.

By the way, I moved to Golden, and I can see your favorite brewery from my back window.

 

[bazkook]

The first place I started playing wasn't technically a pool hall. I started playing casually in a skating rink when I was in my early teens. Then I quit for a few years and picked up the game seriously right after high school. I played in a place called Big Dawg Billiards on nothing but bar boxes. During the first year I started I usually played from 6 or 7 PM to closing time (midnight to 2 PM depending on how busy the place was) during weekdays and even longer on Saturdays;they were closed on Sundays. I started playing my first league there and really started to love the game.
When I moved out of town to attend college,I started playing at a couple of pool rooms in the college town. One was a place called Dodo's. They had nothing but really old Brunswick 9 footers and a couple of old snooker tables but it was old place and the tables were not kept up as well as they should,so it wasn't a place I enjoyed playing. The other local room was Sonny's Brew and Que,which was much more modern and had 2 Brunswick 9 footers,1 Kasson 9 footer,and 6 or 7 Valley bar boxes. I've been playing at Sonny's ever since I started going there.