No, as a mater of fact, they didn't. Which has nothing to do with the
fact that your lame comment is inappropriate in this section.
NPR seems a perfect spot for stupid rants.
Dale(resigning from the adult-behavior-police)
Chicago. 130 Tables.
- Thread starter sunnyone
- Start date
No, as a mater of fact, they didn't. Which has nothing to do with the
fact that your lame comment is inappropriate in this section.
NPR seems a perfect spot for stupid rants.
Dale(resigning from the adult-behavior-police)
This one describes a new room that was built by the local whiskey masters; Hannah and Hogg, in 1882. (Managed by the famous West Brothers)
H and H built and owned several of the most luxurious billiard rooms, bars, and hotels in the entire city. I have some photos of their rooms that you just wouldnt believe...but they are owned and under copyright restrictions so I can't post them.
H and H built and owned several of the most luxurious billiard rooms, bars, and hotels in the entire city. I have some photos of their rooms that you just wouldnt believe...but they are owned and under copyright restrictions so I can't post them.
For those of us fortunate enough to own a copy(x4) of the 1974(?)
reprint of the 1923 - 1924 Brunswick "Catalogue", there are several pages
of photos of some of the top rooms around the country.
First place in table count goes to The Recreation in Detroit, with a tidy
sum of 142 tables.
Dale(who loves everything old in Pool)
Bensingers was located at 29 W Randolph. They had six (6 ) floors at one time. One floor was for pool, one for snooker, one for Billiards, one for the exhibition room, one floor for bowling and one floor for storage.
Beard
And with multiple locations at one point....totalling some 93 tables...
From Billiards Magazine circa 1918
The total number of commercial tables before other entertainments started competing for recreation dollars is amazing. I just got a copy of John J. Phelan's (no relation to Michael?) book "Pool, Billiards and Bowling Alleys ... in Toledo, Ohio" from 1919. At that time there were 1188 registered commercial tables in 335 rooms in Toledo. The largest room had only 25 tables and there were many rooms with just one or two tables.
You may recognize the Reverend Doctor Phelan as the author of "Science and Immorality" and "The Motion Picture Industry of Toledo".
You may recognize the Reverend Doctor Phelan as the author of "Science and Immorality" and "The Motion Picture Industry of Toledo".
Understandably, not everyone was a fan of these giant "man-malls"...
Part of the reason they came about in the first place was to compete with the "private" billiard clubs, which had all the comforts of home, none of the riff raff off the street, and no nagging wives...
But, as you might expect, the huge new establishments tended to run the smaller billiard rooms out of business, only to close down themselves after only a few years from the huge overhead involved. (And they allowed women!)
The huge multi-story billiard rooms were unaffectionately dubbed "plants" ( as in factories)...or "gold mines" ....and then later when they failed to stay in busines, "gold bricks"...
If they were lucky enough to still be in business in 1930, the great depression saw to it that they didn't last any longer.
Part of the reason they came about in the first place was to compete with the "private" billiard clubs, which had all the comforts of home, none of the riff raff off the street, and no nagging wives...
But, as you might expect, the huge new establishments tended to run the smaller billiard rooms out of business, only to close down themselves after only a few years from the huge overhead involved. (And they allowed women!)
The huge multi-story billiard rooms were unaffectionately dubbed "plants" ( as in factories)...or "gold mines" ....and then later when they failed to stay in busines, "gold bricks"...
If they were lucky enough to still be in business in 1930, the great depression saw to it that they didn't last any longer.
I've read some of Phelan's overzealous work.
I also wondered if he was related to Michael.
Talk about irony.
The 1919 Cleveland Recreation Survey indicates that they had 443 rooms.
379 public, 49 private, utilizing some 1665 tables overall.
One year later, Billiards Magazine reported 2000 rooms in Chicago.
(379+49=428 I realize the Cleveland numbers dont add up, but thats what the book says...lol)
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