New pool hall opened in my home town, of Carbondale, IL.

A

animatedvmaker

Banned
I no longer live anywhere near there, so unable to go check it out, but it appears that a new pool hall has opened in the small city of Carbondale, IL, where I grew up at.

https://chalkysbilliards.com/

I see that 1 person left a 5 star review about the place, saying that it is one of a kind, but he did not mention anything else about the place, like how many tables are there, and what size they are, but I just think the website looks really cool, and I really hope that the pool room will be a success, because my home town has not had a real pool hall in over 20 years, since the last one went out of business in around 99.
 
animatedvmaker said:
I no longer live anywhere near there, so unable to go check it out, but it appears that a new pool hall has opened in the small city of Carbondale, IL, where I grew up at.

https://chalkysbilliards.com/

I see that 1 person left a 5 star review about the place, saying that it is one of a kind, but he did not mention anything else about the place, like how many tables are there, and what size they are, but I just think the website looks really cool, and I really hope that the pool room will be a success, because my home town has not had a real pool hall in over 20 years, since the last one went out of business in around 99.
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Were you playing at the SIU in the 90s?
 
Nothing on the website really suggests it's actually complete and/or open yet, especially with the Illinois stay home thing in place at li east thru end of April.

Sent from the future.
 
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Kind of a strange location in my mind.
Maybe their focus isn't the night life on S. IL Ave?
 
RiverCity said:
Were you playing at the SIU in the 90s?
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Yeah, I loved to play at SIU bowling and billiards throughout the mid to late 90's.

Loved that pool room during the 90's, because at that time, they had Brunswick Gold Crown tables in there.

That place was filled with so many very strong players, who went to school at SIU during the 90's, and others who came through on the road, to play them. Some of those players were, Troy, Nick (from India), Nick (from Asia somewhere), Mosin (if I am spelling his name right), and several others that were very good, but not quite up to their level.

SIU hosted the National Collegiate Championships one year too, in the mid 90's, and I got to see some very strong players from all over the US.

Sometime in the early to mid 2000's, Bill, the manager, had the place completely redone, and got rid of all those amazing old Brunswick gold crown tables, and replaced them with new 9 foot Olhausen tables, iirc. They were okay, but nowhere near as nice as the old Gold Crown tables that he got rid of, in my opinion.

It was an amazing time, that I wish I could go back to, but gone forever.

By the 2,000's, everything had changed, and all those great players had graduated, and moved away. The popularity of pool had also really gone down hill, and over the years, that renovated new pool room mostly just sat empty. Very sad.
 
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3kushn said:
Kind of a strange location in my mind.
Maybe their focus isn't the night life on S. IL Ave?
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Yeah, it is located way out at the edge of the city, in the country, near a School Bus company.

Maybe whoever owns it, also owns the building out there.

With the cost of rents for businesses in downtown Carbondale, I can't imagine any pool room surviving.

There were 2 bars on the downtown strip that were filled with 9 foot tables at one time, called Stix and Gatsby's, and they are both now gone.

They were both pretty much dives though, and no serious pool players played there, other then back in the 90's, when there were a lot of strong players, and road players who came through the area.

It would just be so cool to hear about a great new pool room opening in Southern Illinois, because I do not know of any actual real pool halls anywhere in that entire region of the state. The closest ones would be near St. Louis, and The Billiard Center, in Cape Girardeau MO, and a few pool halls in Paducah KY.
 
logical said:
Nothing on the website really suggests it's actually complete and/or open yet, especially with the Illinois stay home thing in place at li east thru end of April.

Sent from the future.
Click to expand...

The only reason I think it may have opened, is because I seen on google maps, that someone left a 5 star review of the place, but the reviewer did not go into any details about the place, so who knows.

Maybe they opened in early March, before the virus outbreak caused the nationwide lock down of businesses.

Anyways, I can only hope that it is a real pool hall, and that it will be a success. I am not sure if anyone has even tried to open up a new pool room, in Southern Illinois, over the last 20 years.
 
animatedvmaker said:
Yeah, it is located way out at the edge of the city, in the country, near a School Bus company.

Maybe whoever owns it, also owns the building out there.

With the cost of rents for businesses in downtown Carbondale, I can't imagine any pool room surviving.

There were 2 bars on the downtown strip that were filled with 9 foot tables at one time, called Stix and Gatsby's, and they are both now gone.

They were both pretty much dives though, and no serious pool players played there, other then back in the 90's, when there were a lot of strong players, and road players who came through the area.

It would just be so cool to hear about a great new pool room opening in Southern Illinois, because I do not know of any actual real pool halls anywhere in that entire region of the state. The closest ones would be near St. Louis, and The Billiard Center, in Cape Girardeau MO, and a few pool halls in Paducah KY.
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When I go down there I rarely even drive into town, so I didn't know Gatsby"s closed. Stix came after my time but I did walk in the place just to see if they had a carom table. Of course they didn't and more or less just walked out.

I was there 73-76 then went back 79-82? Crazy Horse, Quick Silver and Star Dust were the rooms. Jim Winfrey knocked a hole in the wall of Crazy Horse for access to his Beer & Wine bar Gatsby's then dropped the name Crazy Horse.

What was good is every room had different tables. Gatsby's had AMF, Quick Silver had AE Schmidt and Star Dust had Gold Crowns with the ash trays that rattled LOL.

Yes there was a lot of action at all levels.
 
Glad to see something opening. Pure speculation as they are also "youth and family focused" that it may be full of 7' tables and a smattering of 9'. Pure guess but seems the trend around here. 7' drives leagues and tournaments which drives revenue.

The hall closest to me has 14 bar tables and 2, 9 footers. One reason I had to buy the Gold Crown recently - hated the thought of dedicating 1/2 weekend day to shooting pool and finding the tables tied up.
 
The name chalky’s billiards sounds super familiar to me. Was it in a movie? Of a members name here on AZ?
 
3kushn said:
When I go down there I rarely even drive into town, so I didn't know Gatsby"s closed. Stix came after my time but I did walk in the place just to see if they had a carom table. Of course they didn't and more or less just walked out.

I was there 73-76 then went back 79-82? Crazy Horse, Quick Silver and Star Dust were the rooms. Jim Winfrey knocked a hole in the wall of Crazy Horse for access to his Beer & Wine bar Gatsby's then dropped the name Crazy Horse.

What was good is every room had different tables. Gatsby's had AMF, Quick Silver had AE Schmidt and Star Dust had Gold Crowns with the ash trays that rattled LOL.

Yes there was a lot of action at all levels.
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That is really cool to hear about the pool halls that were around, in the 70's. That was before I was born.

I did not start playing until I was a teenager in the mid 90's.

Gatsby's had 9 foot AE Schmidt tables. The place was such a dive. They very rarely replaced the felt, and it had a really big college crowd, who would spill drinks on the tables, which would stain the felt.

The only plus part was that you could play in the day time for a $1 an hour. But the tables were horribly slow, with horrible conditions, and I would much rather pay $5 an hour to play on the Brunswick Gold Crown tables at the student center.

My home pool hall as a kid was Power Players, and they had 8 foot Valley tables, with hourly rates. They ran out of business in around 99.

I think I spent more time at the SIU Student Center though, during the 90's.
 
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Think we had a couple "Chalkies" here in central Ohio at one time after "The Golden Eight Ball" went out. Not sure if they were franchised or not.
 
3kushn said:
When I go down there I rarely even drive into town, so I didn't know Gatsby"s closed. Stix came after my time but I did walk in the place just to see if they had a carom table. Of course they didn't and more or less just walked out.

I was there 73-76 then went back 79-82? Crazy Horse, Quick Silver and Star Dust were the rooms. Jim Winfrey knocked a hole in the wall of Crazy Horse for access to his Beer & Wine bar Gatsby's then dropped the name Crazy Horse.

What was good is every room had different tables. Gatsby's had AMF, Quick Silver had AE Schmidt and Star Dust had Gold Crowns with the ash trays that rattled LOL.

Yes there was a lot of action at all levels.
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JC Alexander, is building a pool room right in the Crazy Horse Complex, he's already got the bar going. I'm going to talk to him today (best friends since college 67). I'll let yah know what's really going on. He's been remodeling and enlarging that garden level/bar with a few 7' tables and kicked out the room N. to put in 9 footers. He purchased that whole complex there between the old laundromat and the buildings next to it last year.
 
animatedvmaker said:
That is really cool to hear about the pool halls that were around, in the 70's. That was before I was born.

I did not start playing until I was a teenager in the mid 90's.

Gatsby's had 9 foot AE Schmidt tables. The place was such a dive. They very rarely replaced the felt, and it had a really big college crowd, who would spill drinks on the tables, which would stain the felt.

The only plus part was that you could play in the day time for a $1 an hour. But the tables were horribly slow, with horrible conditions, and I would much rather pay $5 an hour to play on the Brunswick Gold Crown tables at the student center.

My home pool hall as a kid was Power Players, and they had 8 foot Valley tables, with hourly rates. They ran out of business in around 99.

I think I spent more time at the SIU Student Center though, during the 90's.
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Did they still have all the GCrowns in place then? I used to live at UD's above Baskin Robbins? ice cream store.
 
Island Drive said:
JC Alexander, is building a pool room right in the Crazy Horse Complex, he's already got the bar going. I'm going to talk to him today (best friends since college 67). I'll let yah know what's really going on. He's been remodeling and enlarging that garden level/bar with a few 7' tables and kicked out the room N. to put in 9 footers. He purchased that whole complex there between the old laundromat and the buildings next to it last year.
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Once they open I'll have to make an exception and run through town before hitting Grassy & the Kitchen.

Wonder what happened to Bill Wade, Johnny Cash, Itchy, and all that part of the gang?
 
3kushn said:
Once they open I'll have to make an exception and run through town before hitting Grassy & the Kitchen.

Wonder what happened to Bill Wade, Johnny Cash, Itchy, and all that part of the gang?
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Yep, I'll get the low down. Was funny hearing Winfreys name, been awhile since I heard that name spoken, cept for me and JC bring em up from time to time, he's still alive. I thinks he's holding on to one of the stolen cues from the Johnson City tournament days. I think he acquired it from the thief/student during that time frame. I heard got lifted at the event/Janscos, then someone lifted it from the first thief and then it some how $$$$$$$$$ came his way. During our broke college daze, we'd always went to Crazy horse at 1:30 am, it's when Jim threw out the cooked hot dogs and popcorn, it was free and helpful at times. I'd splurge and get a bag of cashews to accompany my meal, I always called it my Steak/eggs. :)
 
Island Drive said:
Did they still have all the GCrowns in place then? I used to live at UD's above Baskin Robbins? ice cream store.
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I do not know about before the 90's, but during the 90's, the only Brunswick Gold Crown tables in Carbondale IL were at SIU University, in the Student Center Bowling and Billiards. They are no longer there. The manager had them replaced with Olhausen tables iirc, when it was remodeled.

A bar named Stix, downtown, had 9 foot tables, but I forgot what brand they were. I do not think they were Brunswick tables though.
 
Island Drive said:
Did they still have all the GCrowns in place then? I used to live at UD's above Baskin Robbins? ice cream store.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I am not sure what you mean by UD's, and if you are referring to my home town of Carbondale?

I do not know about before the 90's, but during the 90's, the only Brunswick Gold Crown tables in Carbondale IL were at SIU University, in the Student Center Bowling and Billiards. They are no longer there. The manager had them replaced with Olhausen tables iirc, when the it was remodeled.

A bar named Stix, downtown, had 9 foot tables, but I forgot what brand they were. I do not think they were Brunswick tables though.
 
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