Los Angeles area players from the past

jrhendy

jrhendy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
desi2960 said:
Cuban Joe Valdez, Fred Walen, Peter Gunn, Popcorn, and many of previous named.
But there was a high $ golf game played on the big snooker table, I don't know their real names but, Tweedy and Heart Attact Jack, comes to mind.
I was a young rail bird at the old upstairs place on bellflower Blvd.
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Tweedy (Jim Shermerhorn sp) Jimmy Van and I played quite a bit of golf and liability snooker on Bertha starting in the 60’s and into the early nineties when they opened Hard Times and put the same 6 x 12 in it. Heart Attack Jack would play in the cheaper games but more likely to be in with one of the road players when they were in town. No one was barred from playing on that table and the regular players could hold their own against most of them.

I met Tweedy and Jimmy Van in the early sixties at Beaver’s pool room on Tweedy Blvd in Southgate when Tweedy was still in the Navy.
 
jrhendy

jrhendy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Baby Huey said:
I think one name from the 70's - early 80's is Hawaiian Brian. He was probably the best nine ball player in that era from Los Angeles. He was a champion beater and made big scores playing on the road during that time. No one had to like playing him any pool game and his One Pocket game was pretty sporty. He is a good friend and we had some great road trips together. I was all in no matter what the game and who his opponent was. One memorable road trip took us to Houston at the Le' Cue where he beat everyone for the week we were there. He had a tremendous heart and loved action.
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I played Brian at Five Points Bowl when he first came from Hawaii. I beat him a couple cheap sets and Hawaiian Jay told me that would not last long and he was right.

I loved playing Brian over the years and probably lost more money to him than anybody else. It did not matter what he gave me in any game, I lost. The only time I had him trapped was when he asked me to play some three cushion. We had each won one game and I was waiting for him to Jack it. He said ‘I quit, I am supposed to be doing this to you’.
 
jrhendy

jrhendy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
TWOFORPOOL said:
"Artesian Kenny" lives in Salem, OR and at 80 years old can still play a little with a Fargo rating of 598. He has been my good friend for 35 years and will be on my 5 person team at the Regional WBCA tournament in March.
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Kenny and I played some at Verne Peterson’s Billiard Palace in Bellflower. He was the first of the young guys to take a road trip and came back a step up on the rest of us.

I have not seen him for quite awhile, say hello for me if you see this.
 
alphadog

alphadog

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Baby Huey said:
I think one name from the 70's - early 80's is Hawaiian Brian. He was probably the best nine ball player in that era from Los Angeles. He was a champion beater and made big scores playing on the road during that time. No one had to like playing him any pool game and his One Pocket game was pretty sporty. He is a good friend and we had some great road trips together. I was all in no matter what the game and who his opponent was. One memorable road trip took us to Houston at the Le' Cue where he beat everyone for the week we were there. He had a tremendous heart and loved action.
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I was In Hawaii a couple of years ago and was told no one plays 1 pkt because Brian had schooled them all:wink:
Not sure of that but they werent playing 1 pocket.
 
M

maha

from way back when
Silver Member
going broke on the road. yes for most of those that relied only on their shooting ability to win the money.

those that shot well plus were smart and knew how to manage an opponent did just fine.
 
W

wahcheck

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Northern California names

Hi Jay:

I know this thread is about good pool shooters in Southern Cal past, but I was wondering if you knew any of these names I remember from No.Cal. and mostly in SF pool halls like Palace Billiards, Cochrane's,(which later became Hollywood Billiards and the Q Club):

Nine ball Paul (Palace Billiards)
Dalton Leong
Jimmy Lee
Billy Ray Suden
Billy "the Kid" Aguerro
Billy Palmer
Dave Piona
Paul Brienza
Tony Annigoni
Tony Chohan
Bucktooth (Richard Cook)

Also, it was at Hawaiian Brian's pool hall in Honolulu where I first saw "Rocket" Rodney Morris play; when I saw his style and stoke, it was very similar to the first time I saw Earl at the Reno Sands tournament, unbelievably smooth,easy, and both struck me as real "naturals" at this game.
 
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jay helfert

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
wahcheck said:
Hi Jay:

I know this thread is about good pool shooters in Southern Cal past, but I was wondering if you knew any of these names I remember from No.Cal. and mostly in SF pool halls like Palace Billiards, Cochrane's,(which later became Hollywood Billiards and the Q Club):

Nine ball Paul (Palace Billiards)
Dalton Leong
Jimmy Lee
Billy Ray Suden
Billy "the Kid" Aguerro
Billy Palmer
Dave Piona
Paul Brienza
Tony Annigoni
Tony Chohan
Bucktooth (Richard Cook)

Also, it was at Hawaiian Brian's pool hall in Honolulu where I first saw "Rocket" Rodney Morris play; when I saw his style and stoke, it was very similar to the first time I saw Earl at the Reno Sands tournament, unbelievably smooth,easy, and both struck me as real "naturals" at this game.
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I know and knew all of the above, except for Jimmy Lee. I gambled with Dave Piona on my first trip to SF and Billy Ray stopped in my poolroom in Bakersfield in the early 70's. I've got a lot of respect for Bily Palmer's One Pocket game and same for Tony C. who took me off once. Annigoni was a friend of mine up until......and I'm still on good terms with The Tooth! I've known Doc Brienza forever and same for Billy Aguerro. Dalton died way too young.
 
Eric.

Eric.

Club a member
Silver Member
jay helfert said:
Dalton died way too young.
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Dalton was living "back east", in my area. I believe the rumors were that the Asian mob had an issue with him.

I'm not sure if this was ever solved, so it's a rumor (but a fairly credible one). He definitely didn't die from natural causes; shot in the head, from what I remember hearing.


Eric
 
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W

wahcheck

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
C.j.

Eric. said:
Dalton was living "back east", in my area. I believe the rumors were that the Asian mob had an issue with him.

I'm not sure if this was ever solved, so it's a rumor (but a fairly credible one). He definitely didn't die from natural causes; shot in the head, from what I remember hearing.


Eric
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If I remember correctly, C.J. Wiley once told me he was buddies with Dalton way back when, and he said something along the same lines about his demise.
 
S

Scott Lee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
BmoreMoney said:
Ues, one in the same! Damn, I was hoping for a score lol ☺. On a sad note his brother Bob died not too long ago. I was just with Tom the other night ( we have been good friends for A LONG time and he used to give me lessons when I was a kid on my 9 ball game lol.
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Here's the funny part...as good as Tom and Bob were, they were not the best in the famly! There were 5 Vanover brothers. Their older brother could beat any of the others. :thumbup:

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
 
fan-tum

fan-tum

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Black-Balled said:
I heard of Tony chohan.

Now how about deo alpajora?
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There's a one-pocket match on Youtube with Alpajora and John Schmidt, and Deo plays very strong.Matter of fact Deo gets out of a strong break with an incredible shot...A+++.
 
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midnightpulp

midnightpulp

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
jay helfert said:
Ernesto and Morro Paez were the two best around L.A. until Jose Parica moved into the neighborhood! Frank has been a good player all his life. Good enough to compete against anyone. Still plays good One Pocket in his 70's now. There was another guy who was just as good as Morro or Ernesto for the cash - Francisco Galindo! He could come with it and beat quite a few road men. Francisco opened a little bar/poolroom in East L.A. and pretty much retired from competition. Really nice guy and a former champion amateur boxer. He was built a little like Danny Diliberto (wiry) and even moved around the table like him. Probably hit like him too. I sure didn't want to find out. :wink:
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Heh. Francisco had a room in San Bernardino (about a half-a-mile from my house) in the mid-90s called Gold Ball Billiards. Only story I have is watching Francisco play Keith McCready for a couple hours (I believe the match went on all night, with Francisco taking 20K off Keith. That's what Francisco's son told me, anyway). Wish I had more stories. Sure a lot of action went down there, but I was a young teen in the mid-90s, so hanging out at a pool hall all the time wouldn't have gone over well with the parents, especially with having a table at home.

Ever go down to Gold Ball at that time?
 
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