Anyone remember the name of a small room in Chicago 2 Gold Crowns for money games and billiard tables

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brunswick1901

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
In the 1980s was there a small pool room with two Gold Crowns for money games. I seem to also remember there were billiard tablets for three cushion. If there was does anyone remember the name of the room and the owner?

If my memory is correct the guy that opened the room was upset at Chris' Billiards.
 
brunswick1901 said:
In the 1980s was there a small pool room with two Gold Crowns for money games. I seem to also remember there were billiard tablets for three cushion. If there was does anyone remember the name of the room and the owner?

If my memory is correct the guy that opened the room was upset at Chris' Billiards.
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Was that Seymour's?
 
Reminiscent of a small/storefront novelty/tobacco shop I blundered into on the NW side (around 1970?) that had a nine foot table. Someone else was driving (took me car-shopping) and I was new to the neighborhood. After I bought my own car, I went hunting for that storefront again but could never find it. The guy I was with originally didn’t know the area either, and was no help. Somewhere east of Central/south of Belmont, south side of the street (?).
 
I'm sure neither of these are correct, but both had/have 2 pool tables. Ten Cat on Ashland. Not gold crowns but old tables. The other is Cary's on Devon. He used to have two Brunswicks, but I don't remember if they were gold crowns or not. The city changed the law and made him remove one. The tables were free always. Now he has a 9 ft Diamond bought directly from the Derby City tournament a few years back. Table is always free.
 
DynoDan said:
Reminiscent of a small/storefront novelty/tobacco shop I blundered into on the NW side (around 1970?) that had a nine foot table. Someone else was driving (took me car-shopping) and I was new to the neighborhood. After I bought my own car, I went hunting for that storefront again but could never find it. The guy I was with originally didn’t know the area either, and was no help. Somewhere east of Central/south of Belmont, south side of the street (?).
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Those were the days! I loved finding little gems like that. Most are gone today.
 
I think it was Frank Van den Bosch's Chicago Billiard Café. Seems it's still in business:

Established in 1984 by the Van den Bosch family and sold to the current owners in 2008, the Chicago Billiard Café has been a local and family-owned business for over 20 years. In its heyday, the Cafe was home to many of the city's best players and a standard stop for some of pool's modern-day legends. Regulars included Freddy "The Beard" Bentivegna, Billy Incardona, Efren Reyes, Raymond Ceulemans, Roberto Rojas, Jeff Carter and Leonard "Bugs" Rucker -- all legends in the game. Today, as one of the city's last remaining true pool halls, the Cafe continues to cater to pool aficianados as well as amateurs of all skill levels. We have top-of-the-line equipment with 16 nine-foot regulation size tables, most of which are Brunswick Gold Crowns covered in top-of-the line Simonis 860 cloth. Additionally, we have one of the city's few snooker tables, a 12 ft. antique covered in directional cloth imported from Ireland.​
 
Bob Jewett said:
I think it was Frank Van den Bosch's Chicago Billiard Café. Seems it's still in business:

Established in 1984 by the Van den Bosch family and sold to the current owners in 2008, the Chicago Billiard Café has been a local and family-owned business for over 20 years. In its heyday, the Cafe was home to many of the city's best players and a standard stop for some of pool's modern-day legends. Regulars included Freddy "The Beard" Bentivegna, Billy Incardona, Efren Reyes, Raymond Ceulemans, Roberto Rojas, Jeff Carter and Leonard "Bugs" Rucker -- all legends in the game. Today, as one of the city's last remaining true pool halls, the Cafe continues to cater to pool aficianados as well as amateurs of all skill levels. We have top-of-the-line equipment with 16 nine-foot regulation size tables, most of which are Brunswick Gold Crowns covered in top-of-the line Simonis 860 cloth. Additionally, we have one of the city's few snooker tables, a 12 ft. antique covered in directional cloth imported from Ireland.​
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Could be...maybe I miss read the OP. Not much action in there anymore that I've seen, but you could probably find some small games. I played Larry Nevel in there once.
 
It was over 22 years ago and I think the room was nicer that the room you suggested. I was in Chicago for business and whenever I traveled I would look for one of the pool rooms where the better players like to play. After I spoke to the owner for a few minutes the owner, whose name I am trying to remember, started telling me about the room.

He said he opened it because he was upset with Chris' Billiards and one day he got a call from Billy Incardona. He said Billy asked him to recover the two Gold Crowns and he would pay for it. Billy said he was getting the 8 and the breaks from Efren and the owner understood why Billy wanted new cloth on the tables. Billy tells this story slightly differently while commentating a one pocket match but it is essentially the same story. I seem to think it may have been called, "California Billiards" but I didn't want to suggest a name that was incorrect.

The owner went on to describe Efren and Billy showing up and started hitting balls on each table. I think the owner said Billy asked, "Are you ready?" and Efren walked over and recked the balls.

Bob Jewett said it might have been the, "Billiard Cafe", that makes more sense than California Billiards.

I have just started writing on AZB and when possible to confirm my memory I would like to speak to the person I am writing about before I post it.
 
I want to thank Bob Jewett and mr3cushion for confirming that the room was the Billiard Cafe and that Frank Van den Bosch was the owner.

I cannot emphasis enough how nice Frank was to me. I was a stranger and those of us who have spent time in the pool room know you have to be careful. I would like to write about the stories that Frank told me, I want to accurately re-tell the stories and to give full credit to Frank.

If anyone knows how to reach Frank please ask him to message me on AZB.

How great is AZB!
 
Does anyone remember a Caucasian lady with short blond hair when I saw her, who would often show up at the rooms with the biggest money games. I think she was middle age and sometimes she would gamble. Her name might have been Clair.
 
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brunswick1901 said:
It was over 22 years ago and I think the room was nicer that the room you suggested. I was in Chicago for business and whenever I traveled I would look for one of the pool rooms where the better players like to play. After I spoke to the owner for a few minutes the owner, whose name I am trying to remember, started telling me about the room.

He said he opened it because he was upset with Chris' Billiards and one day he got a call from Billy Incardona. He said Billy asked him to recover the two Gold Crowns and he would pay for it. Billy said he was getting the 8 and the breaks from Efren and the owner understood why Billy wanted new cloth on the tables. Billy tells this story slightly differently while commentating a one pocket match but it is essentially the same story. I seem to think it may have been called, "California Billiards" but I didn't want to suggest a name that was incorrect.

The owner went on to describe Efren and Billy showing up and started hitting balls on each table. I think the owner said Billy asked, "Are you ready?" and Efren walked over and recked the balls.

Bob Jewett said it might have been the, "Billiard Cafe", that makes more sense than California Billiards.

I have just started writing on AZB and when possible to confirm my memory I would like to speak to the person I am writing about before I post it.
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Did Efren outrun the nuts? ha ha
 
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