Death of a pool hall

miscrewed1989 · Sep 2, 2012

Diamond Billiard Club, iin Chattanooga, Tennessee, has been dying a slow death for a few years now. Though the best tables in town still reside there, the place is a far cry from what it once was in its heyday. I can remember walking in for the regular Friday night 8 ball tournament only to find the likes of Bobby Pickle, Billy Young, Paul Turner, Cliff Joyner, Jon Hennessee, and Shane Van Boening and others. It didn't seem to matter what day of the week it was, David Crocket and Billy Bailey always had something going on and DBC was "action central!" Bankrolls changed hands like hot potatos as there might be more action on the rail than on the lights! Then that action would spawn more action until every table in the house was in action! Those were the "good ol' days" of Diamond Billiard Club.
Nowdays, one might run into some $10 or $20 1 pocket action once in awhile, but that's about it. The 7 foot Diamonds stay quiet most of the time except for league on Monday and Thursday nights. The tournaments, nonexistent. Now, we have just been informed that the 9 footers are being removed to make room for more dartboards. DBC now stands for Dart Board Club! The only tournaments advertised on their website are blind draw dart tourneys.
I know this seems to be and has been the trend for quite some time now. Dart players are the ones keeping the poolrooms open. I understand the business side of the decision to add more dartboards. It just saddens me to watch a place that was once so full of energy, pulsating with action, the epitome of what a poolhall was, slowly but surely squeeze the life out of the heart of me and the other poolplayers who, until this week, frequently came through its doors.
So for the many of you out there in AZB world who have had the privaledge of experiencing Diamond Billiard Club first hand, please join me in paying homage to a dying friend. Good-bye, DBC! You will be missed!

Papa Red · Sep 2, 2012

As we all know the gamblers are always after the fast buck. Poker has provided that in the recent years. The players still come back for some fast sets for cash to support the others gambles (poker or slots). I think this will trend out with the young gamblers coming to the front, I hope so anyway. Every tournament at the casino's provide a norm for that. I see players matched up and make a score and head for the tables or slots and give back everything they won to the house. The routine then starts over, find a backer and a game. If a pool room is close to a casino it is doomed, and thats a damn shame.

miscrewed1989 · Sep 2, 2012

No casinos

There are no casinos here, yet...
The buckle of the bible belt would not have such a den of iniquity! Luckily, if we poor, stupid sinners ever want such a thing, our righteous government is taking care of us. It's a good thing they know what is best for us better than we do...

Tramp Steamer · Sep 2, 2012

No casinos here either, thank goodness, but our poolrooms are fading away fast.
Although there's still lots of barbox play scattered about, the economy has all but wrecked the big time pool rooms, both in my city and elsewhere. :smile:

BlindWizard · Sep 2, 2012

Pool action has been dying along with the nation's economy. Politicians and their allies in the financial services sector have created a ponzi economy where reported GDP is largely fiction but the hundreds of billions paid in bonuses based on phoney income is very real. Financial crimes are rarely investigated and never prosecuted.

In a past life I was a federal bank examiner. Our banks are the financial equivalent of Potemkin villages. A false facade is propped up but the underlying assets are phoney. Republicans and democrats employ criminal front men to own and manage a bank and there are other criminal front men used to take out loans whose proceeds actually go to the politicians. Those straw men loans will never be repaid.

Examiners used a cutoff point in loan evaluation. Loans below the cutoff point are not examined. When losses get too big to hide in a given bank, there is a merger or buyout involving a larger institution with a higher cutoff point.

The situation appears hopeless. An ignorant populace cheers politicians are each campaign stop.

NolesFan83 · Sep 3, 2012

I went through this a few years ago, when the golden cue in Melbourne, FL closed. Open since the late 50's, saw just about every great road player and pro known to man. When I started playing pool the room had long lost that type of player, but your could still feel the magic in the air. Every now and then some.of those players would role through town and come in. That was treat. I'm always up for donating gas money. Then the unthinkable happened. The owners who had it for 30 years deciding to sell. I can still remember the first day the new owner took over, I walked in and the room was dead. The place I played in for 5 years straight had no feeling, no magic. It had become what I hated most, a bar with pool tables. I cried a little. The players I grew up with in there, we still play together and like to remember and educate the new players what A REAL POOLROOM is. Long live the golden cue and places like it. The world needs those places back!!!

miscrewed1989 · Sep 3, 2012

NolesFan83 said:
Long live the golden cue and places like it. The world needs those places back!!!

AMEN TO THAT!
Although Diamond Billiard Club is not closing, they have succeeded in destroying the same magic of which you spoke. Along with that magic, the players have also disappeared. It has become as you described, a bar with nice pool tables that no one uses.

DoubleA · Sep 3, 2012

When Dave and Billy were there, it was one of my very favorite rooms and I have been in many rooms all over the country. Man, I always loved the many trips we made to there, many top players and great action. The tourny rosters read like a who is who of pool. For example, the last time there some of the players present were: Eugene Browning, Shannon Daulton, Danny Smith, Little John, Tony Mougey, Billy Young, Josh O'Neal, Mikey Laney, little D, J Rock, Bobby Pickle, Donald Bludworth, Daniel A, Mitch Ellerman, and many more along with B Bailey and Dave Crockett. You think this is not a tough field? Billy and Dave are still great friends, and I see them fairly often. Dave now lives in K-Town. I really miss this place.

nevermiss · Sep 3, 2012

I spent a little time in this room at the time of one of Shannon Daulton's events. The room was first class, the field was packed with great players-Archer, Varner, Pickle, Nevel, Hennessey, Joyner, Watson, etc. Afterwards, more players came through looking for action and got it. I even got to see the late Wade Crane in action. It was one of the nicer rooms that I have been to, and I am sorry to hear that these are troubled times.

miscrewed1989 · Sep 3, 2012

Yes, it is a sad. The worst part is, now there's no real pool hall in Chattanooga. There are places to play, but nowhere here has the aura (or the equipment) found at Diamond Billiard Club.

cueandcushion · Sep 4, 2012

I thought I just read another thread about how pool was booming in Chatanooga because they allow smoking there?

DoubleA · Sep 4, 2012

nevermiss said:
I spent a little time in this room at the time of one of Shannon Daulton's events. The room was first class, the field was packed with great players-Archer, Varner, Pickle, Nevel, Hennessey, Joyner, Watson, etc. Afterwards, more players came through looking for action and got it. I even got to see the late Wade Crane in action. It was one of the nicer rooms that I have been to, and I am sorry to hear that these are troubled times.

Yes, afew more of the names I forgot.

miscrewed1989 · Sep 4, 2012

Booming??

cueandcushion said:
I thought I just read another thread about how pool was booming in Chatanooga because they allow smoking there?

If it's booming somewhere in Chattanooga, I'd sure like to know where that is! I don't know of a single place in town where a poolplayer can go to find the magical atmosphere and aura of a genuine poolhall. The closest thing to that is a small place called EJ's with six 7 foot barboxes and one 8 foot coin-op. It still has a little of the poolhall feel, it just doesn't have the full spectrum, no 9footers. Yes, smoking is allowed and the beer is cheap. It's a banger's paradise, but no big table action. The owner cares about the place and the game and does his best to keep the equipment in the best possible condition. I just wish it was bigger with some 9 footers and still had the same feel.

miscrewed1989 · Sep 7, 2012

Update

Just to update, Diamond Billiard Club in Chattanooga, TN, has chaged their position on removing pool tables. Maybe things are starting to look up here. Now all we need is for some players to come through and stir up some action and get things going again.

cueandcushion · Sep 18, 2012

A poster named spktur said he played at Chattanooga Billiard Club? They have three locations and are booming.

Funny how two guys in the same city have such a different outlook on the scene.

Saint Louis has almost no pool scene at all.

joelpope · Sep 18, 2012

I have been to Chattanooga numerous times over the past 5 years and have been to Diamond as well as 2 of the Chattanooga Billiards Clubs (I have not been to the newest CBC)

The original downtown CBC has great ambience but not so great equipment. The big CBC on the south side of town is fantastic. Big, open, excellent equipment, lots of people... Just an all around excellent place

On my one any only trip to Diamond Billiards my experience made it the "one and only trip." I was there early, the staff was indifferent to the point of rudeness and the equipment was poorly maintained. Rather that sit in a corner ignoring customers the staff might try picking up a brush or a towel.

I'm not sure when death occurred but from what I saw it was inevitable.

WalkerInTN · Sep 18, 2012

I went to Diamond 2 months ago, wasn't impressed at all. Tons of people playing darts, but half the pool tables were empty. Looked pretty cramped around the tables & kinda dirty. Reminded me of some of the dives I played at in Houston 20 years ago, I expected a fight to break out at any moment. Not someplace I'd bring a nice cue to play with.

I've been playing at CBC East for years, I like it MUCH better. Less dart players, more pool players. Looks cleaner & much less cramped. I've also been playing there & in walked John Showman or Nick Varner! Different strokes for different folks.......

HomerJay20 · Sep 18, 2012

Darts?

WalkerInTN said:
I went to Diamond 2 months ago, wasn't impressed at all. Tons of people playing darts, but half the pool tables were empty. Looked pretty cramped around the tables & kinda dirty. Reminded me of some of the dives I played at in Houston 20 years ago, I expected a fight to break out at any moment. Not someplace I'd bring a nice cue to play with.

I've been playing at CBC East for years, I like it MUCH better. Less dart players, more pool players. Looks cleaner & much less cramped. I've also been playing there & in walked John Showman or Nick Varner! Different strokes for different folks.......

I have played cricket Darts. I have a dart board at home. There is some quick fun to be had playing darts, but someone for the life of me tell me how it's more enjoyable then playing pool

It's not even in the same stratosphere as far as I'm concerned. The dynamics of billiards games seems to be multiple fold over darts. I'm tempted in the safety of a biased forum to make the assertion that people would rather not play a game that's complex requiring years of learning and skill refinement. Am I wrong? Is there more to darts than I know about?

Hungarian · Sep 18, 2012

Half empty means half full which is extrememly good. I can tell you pool hall owners dream to have their tables half full.

But you may have not really meant half full.

Just saying

WalkerInTN said:
I went to Diamond 2 months ago, wasn't impressed at all. Tons of people playing darts, but half the pool tables were empty. Looked pretty cramped around the tables & kinda dirty. Reminded me of some of the dives I played at in Houston 20 years ago, I expected a fight to break out at any moment. Not someplace I'd bring a nice cue to play with.

I've been playing at CBC East for years, I like it MUCH better. Less dart players, more pool players. Looks cleaner & much less cramped. I've also been playing there & in walked John Showman or Nick Varner! Different strokes for different folks.......

WalkerInTN · Sep 18, 2012

Hungarian said:
Half empty means half full which is extrememly good. I can tell you pool hall owners dream to have their tables half full.

But you may have not really meant half full.

Just saying

True, but when Diamond has half their tables empty & CBC has all 20 tables full (& people waiting for one to open), that says something.

Death of a pool hall

AzB Silver Member

Love it or Leave

AzB Silver Member

One Pocket enthusiast.

AzB Silver Member

Wannabe pool player

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

Cue & Cushion_STL_MO

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

Cue & Cushion_STL_MO

AzB Gold Member

Mr. Entertainment

AzB Silver Member

C'mon, man!

Mr. Entertainment