I grew up in a different era.
The owner of the pool hall, where I grew up and worked, owned another place on the other side of town.
It was a recreation center pool hall, with "normal" people.
Dads, moms, kids, and the rest of the "normal" people played there, if they had an interest in pool. No alcohol was sold there...only soft drinks, snacks, and they had a grill for sandwiches.
They held tournaments on occasion and no gambling was allowed. There were money games going on at times, but it was very discreet.
No cussing was allowed, either. You would be warned and eventually thrown out if you didn't abide by the rules.
I went there on occasion, but it didn't interest me. I could hang out with kids at school and other "normal" places. I preferred the "wilder" side of things.
I learned to play in the "wild" pool hall with hustlers, gamblers, drunks, crooks, road players, etc. and it was a totally different environment. Alcohol was sold. There was no kitchen. You drank your "lunch" or "supper".
By the time I was 14 or 15, I was beating everybody in the place for money and that included the owner who played pretty good and gambled a lot. Later, I could beat anybody for miles around and pool became my "job".
Other kids were walking around with $5-10 allowances from their parents, or $50-80 a week from working, and I sometimes was carrying $1500 in my pocket to play pool with, and you could buy a brand-new Mustang for less than $3000 then..
There is nothing wrong with "sterile" pool, but that doesn't make for good movies.
uttahere:
