On Tuesday afternoon, just two tables were in use, surrounded by stalwarts who have been coming for years. Among them were Charles Miller, who once played here with the legendary Willie Mosconi; Richard Byrnes, whose family owns a pet shop up the street; and Pat Cotillo from Ozone Park, who doesn't play anymore because of a back injury, but comes by to drink coffee and talk.
The space had been a pool hall since the early 1960s. The Kims, who moved to Queens from Korea in the mid-1980s, leased the space in March, paying a security deposit of $49,500, agreeing to monthly rent of $8,250 and buying the security system. What they say they did not know was that the previous owner, who ran the business under the name Rack Em Up, was in the process of having his liquor license revoked, on charges that he had never properly transferred the license from the owner before him.
The Kims applied for a new liquor license of their own but were denied in April - because, said Bill Crowley, a spokesman for the State Liquor Authority, the revocation proceedings against the previous owner were still in progress. The Kims have asked that their request be reconsidered, but now, without beer sales, business is dead. By 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Sunnie Kim said, they had made $31. The monthly electric bill is $1,500.
For a pool hall, a liquor license is not a trivial matter. When people can have a beer while they play, Jason Kim said, they stay longer. "Now, they just come in 30 minutes," he said. "I understand. They don't have fun."
Once, pool halls could be found all along Jamaica Avenue: four of them, spaced every few blocks. Today, only Hermes remains. Numbered beads still hang above the tables, for keeping score in straight pool, though most people nowadays play quicker games of nine ball. And pool purists are not enough to sustain a business. John Gavares, who works at the hall part time, said he knew someone from the Wise potato chip warehouse nearby who used to bring his friends in after work. He hasn't been around much lately.
"He goes to the place on Lefferts, the Side Pocket," Mr. Gavares said. "The people gotta wait an hour to play over there. All for a stinkin' beer."
The last line of the article says it all: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/nyregion/thecity/13disp.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Personally, I prefer pool halls that do not serve alcohol, but in today's tough -- [Thanks, Smorgie!
] -- economic times for a pool hall, a liquor license is not a trivial matter.
Another related article in The New York Times:
Not unexpectedly, there was some anger among the regulars over the problems the new owners - Jason and Sunnie Kim and their son, Aaron - are having with opening a pool hall in a space that has been a pool hall for more than 40 years.
Richard Byrnes, whose family owns a business nearby, pointed out the door toward Jamaica Avenue, under the elevated J and Z trains. "These places are all gone," he said, glancing toward several locked storefronts. "Look at all the shutters down. All these empty places, and they're going to ruin these people. It's gonna be another 99-cent store."
Even with Hermes open for business, the glory days of pool halls in the area may well have passed. That certainly was the undertone of the conversation with the old-timers there this week. Poolroom patrons these days are looking for more of an entertainment-oriented, nightclub-style experience, they said. Whereas decades ago, people were serious about their pool, and acted that way.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/remembering-the-glory-days-of-billiards/
This sad tale seems to be a theme today for many pool halls across the country.
Of course, it is location, location, location, as they say. When I visit pool rooms like Snookers in Providence, RI, a town with about 100 colleges and universities within driving distance, it is evidence that pool rooms can thrive.
I would be interested to learn if any of the readers of this forum frequent a pool room that serves no alcohol and why it is successful, even though it serves no alcohol. :smile:
JAM
The space had been a pool hall since the early 1960s. The Kims, who moved to Queens from Korea in the mid-1980s, leased the space in March, paying a security deposit of $49,500, agreeing to monthly rent of $8,250 and buying the security system. What they say they did not know was that the previous owner, who ran the business under the name Rack Em Up, was in the process of having his liquor license revoked, on charges that he had never properly transferred the license from the owner before him.
The Kims applied for a new liquor license of their own but were denied in April - because, said Bill Crowley, a spokesman for the State Liquor Authority, the revocation proceedings against the previous owner were still in progress. The Kims have asked that their request be reconsidered, but now, without beer sales, business is dead. By 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Sunnie Kim said, they had made $31. The monthly electric bill is $1,500.
For a pool hall, a liquor license is not a trivial matter. When people can have a beer while they play, Jason Kim said, they stay longer. "Now, they just come in 30 minutes," he said. "I understand. They don't have fun."
Once, pool halls could be found all along Jamaica Avenue: four of them, spaced every few blocks. Today, only Hermes remains. Numbered beads still hang above the tables, for keeping score in straight pool, though most people nowadays play quicker games of nine ball. And pool purists are not enough to sustain a business. John Gavares, who works at the hall part time, said he knew someone from the Wise potato chip warehouse nearby who used to bring his friends in after work. He hasn't been around much lately.
"He goes to the place on Lefferts, the Side Pocket," Mr. Gavares said. "The people gotta wait an hour to play over there. All for a stinkin' beer."
The last line of the article says it all: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/nyregion/thecity/13disp.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Personally, I prefer pool halls that do not serve alcohol, but in today's tough -- [Thanks, Smorgie!
] -- economic times for a pool hall, a liquor license is not a trivial matter.Another related article in The New York Times:
Not unexpectedly, there was some anger among the regulars over the problems the new owners - Jason and Sunnie Kim and their son, Aaron - are having with opening a pool hall in a space that has been a pool hall for more than 40 years.
Richard Byrnes, whose family owns a business nearby, pointed out the door toward Jamaica Avenue, under the elevated J and Z trains. "These places are all gone," he said, glancing toward several locked storefronts. "Look at all the shutters down. All these empty places, and they're going to ruin these people. It's gonna be another 99-cent store."
Even with Hermes open for business, the glory days of pool halls in the area may well have passed. That certainly was the undertone of the conversation with the old-timers there this week. Poolroom patrons these days are looking for more of an entertainment-oriented, nightclub-style experience, they said. Whereas decades ago, people were serious about their pool, and acted that way.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/remembering-the-glory-days-of-billiards/
This sad tale seems to be a theme today for many pool halls across the country.
Of course, it is location, location, location, as they say. When I visit pool rooms like Snookers in Providence, RI, a town with about 100 colleges and universities within driving distance, it is evidence that pool rooms can thrive.
I would be interested to learn if any of the readers of this forum frequent a pool room that serves no alcohol and why it is successful, even though it serves no alcohol. :smile:
JAM
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