Albuquerque Room Closes
- Thread starter T411
- Start date
I'm sorry to hear that. We were just talking about classic pool halls and the corner pocket made the list. Something about old men sitting around having their daily coffee that lets you know your in the right place.
Where will Louie take his daily naps?
Where will Louie take his daily naps?
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T411 said:The Corner Pocket in Albuquerque closed its doors for good yesterday.
I have fond memories of the Corner Pocket from a road trip around 25 years ago. Jimmy Moore was the house pro and still showcasing his amazing stroke and running racks in straight pool. There was an old Wilford and a young Wilford (not related), and Louie Roybal, a great guy and a great player. The first day I was there I ended up in a golf game with a guy named Al. The snooker table at the Corner Pocket sucked, so Al took me to another room downtown to play. Al was an Animal Control Officer and I thought I would be stealing. Al beat me out of $700 playing $50/$5 golf. We got to the room later and Poker Paul, my road partner, looked at me and said "I got me a hell of a road man, the Dog Catcher beat us for $700". Turned out Al was a good all around player, and I did get the $$ back, but it took about a week. They used to have free goodies up front by the bar at Happy Hour. Wilford (the older one) & Louie took us to dinner at a Mexican restaurant downtown and it was great food and the first time Paul & I had eaten sopapillas with honey in them. Jimmy did try and double steer me into a bad one pocket game in Santa Fe, but I wouldn't go for it. Another old time room and piece of pool history gone forever. John Henderson
How many pool room are now are left in Albuquerque?
There were a lot of great players that played there - Jimmy Moore, Louie Roybal, Wil Maestas, Kyle Tafoya, Cisco Martinez - I'm pretty sure that Anna Kostanian has spent a lot of time in there also. Too bad - that place held a lot of history and some great memories.
T411 said:
When I was Trucking Albuquerque Union 76 at 25 & 40 was a reqular stop. I alway loved Albuquerque at night. Very interesting place.
jrhendy said:
I played on that table too, and it was pretty crappy.
John, did they happen to steer you to the Palomino Club? They did me, and I was about 3 weeks healing from it. I fancied myslef a pretty good scrapper in those days, but that night mt big problem was that I wasn't the sprinter I used to be.
Mike9 said:
Yep, Doc & Eddy's is a great place. Louie has been giving lessons there for a while now and Eric Von Koons is the residing pro (in retirement). Anna is usually at the Billiard Palace, owned by her family, but she gets around. I heard that absentee ownership allowed the Corner Pocket to fall into disrepair, health code violations, etc. It's been for sale for a while, the motorcycle dealership next door bought the property and plan to make a new showroom on the site.
It looked bad a year or so ago when I was in there, the ceilings were leaking, and the place was in bad need of repair. I figured then that it was just a matter of time before they would close
Glen
Glen
realkingcobra said:It looked bad a year or so ago when I was in there, the ceilings were leaking, and the place was in bad need of repair. I figured then that it was just a matter of time before they would close
Glen
Thst was a good bet.
I have walked through many many pool rooms over the last 7 years or so, and in doing so, I've learned to spot the ones that are going to stay in business, and the ones that are going to sink and die. I have no sympathy for room owners that just expect to stay in business just because they open the doors with the mindset that they're just in this for the money, and don't feel they need to spend any money on the customers to provide them with the kind of place they WANT to come back to. Pool rooms DON'T close their doors because they did everything RIGHT, they close because they didn't do enough
Glen
with the mindset that they're just in this for the money, and don't feel they need to spend any money on the customers to provide them with the kind of place they WANT to come back to. Pool rooms DON'T close their doors because they did everything RIGHT, they close because they didn't do enough Glen
realkingcobra said:I have walked through many many pool rooms over the last 7 years or so, and in doing so, I've learned to spot the ones that are going to stay in business, and the ones that are going to sink and die. I have no sympathy for room owners that just expect to stay in business just because they open the doors
Glen
Maybe you should become a consultant??
Blackjack said:
When I was living there I never saw Anna coming to corner pocket.Anna`s father owns a pool room on Wyoming street-'Billiard cafe'.
The owners of corner pocket live in Arizona and very rarely they came to the corner pocket to check on their buisiness. Nearly 9 months ago the owner`s son came to clean up the place but I do not know what happened.I left the town 6 months ago.
I loved that place and it has personality-Leather from most of the chairs was torn exposing the sponge,leaky roof and water dripping on table 10,the table Louie Royball used to practice.Once the roof started leaking Louie moved his buisiness to the table ( # 15 ) the one I used to practice.I then moved to table 17.Most of the regular players are a decent bunch and never came across such a nice bunch in any pool room across USA.
It was taken by surprise when my ex practice partner from Albuquerque sent me a text message few days ago informing me about the closure.
I miss that place.
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It don't take a consultant to figure out the fact, that if a new room owner buys a room for sale from the selling owner, that he now has to make payments that the selling owner didn't have to make, because the selling owner opened the room in the first place. The new owner has to somehow increase the net income of the room to cover the new cost of doing business that the selling owner didn't have to support. If the new owner does nothing to increase the business income to cover this cost, how long do you expect things to last at that pace? That's only one flaw that is over looked by new room owners, there are others as well, but save it for another timeironman said:
Glen
realkingcobra said:It don't take a consultant to figure out the fact, that if a new room owner buys a room for sale from the selling owner, that he now has to make payments that the selling owner didn't have to make, because the selling owner opened the room in the first place. The new owner has to somehow increase the net income of the room to cover the new cost of doing business that the selling owner didn't have to support. If the new owner does nothing to increase the business income to cover this cost, how long do you expect things to last at that pace? That's only one flaw that is over looked by new room owners, there are others as well, but save it for another time
Glen
OK...........