Billiard Room - Sands Bowl, Lancaster, CA, circa 1959

Dead Money

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I think you have juxtaposed the arrangement of the rooms. Brunswick was huge in bowling & typically the lanes
were the lion’s share of the business. The pool room usually had smaller revenue since leagues weren’t popular yet.
The pool rooms in bowling alleys had fewer tables and was essentially a side stream revenue to bowling alley income.

Brunswick offered a package rental arrangement leasing all the equipment for a bowling alley only, or a pool parlor
only, or a combination. But the equipment had to be Brunswick. They’d rent you everything from fountain set-up, to lockers and counter displays. Essentially they were trying to be the one stop provider for your bowling & pool needs.
I think so too...this initial picture was taken from the pool hall but in other pictures posted it is clear the bowling section is actually larger.

What a fun place. Bowling, pool, good food and drinks! :love:
 

Dead Money

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
On the cars.. the black one to the left of the door looks like a 1956 Chevy to me.....

But what is confusing is the Fords and Chevys have almost the exact same "greenhouse" front to rear.

sands pool bowling!.png
 

pwd72s

recreational banger
Silver Member
Old car enthusiasts? I like to watch this guy's presentations...always a good chuckle or two.


Oh, to have a time machine...go back and grab one of those then new anniversaries...
 

Dead Money

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Old car enthusiasts? I like to watch this guy's presentations...always a good chuckle or two.


Oh, to have a time machine...go back and grab one of those then new anniversaries...

Nice! There are a lot of car fans here..gearheads etc. A great thing.

It is a shame NPR is such a sewer of stupidity most of the time. It would be a great venue for us here on AZB to cuss and discuss car things regularly.
 

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
I loved those tables...but the lighting stunk. It’s what Brunswick was foisting on pool players to give pool a ‘family’ image....what it did was give the place the the atmosphere of a men’s washroom.
With the older direct lighting on each table, a player had a sense of being in his own world.
Brunswick cheapened the game...John Brunswick would’ve hated the look.
 

pwd72s

recreational banger
Silver Member
Maybe a bit of straying off topic from time to time isn't so bad...

Black one to the left of the door...too bad parking lights aren't really clear. Tough to make out the hood emblem as well, but hints of the Ford Crest?
My 2nd car ever was a '55 Ford coupe...a well worn one. Thought I was stepping up from the '50 I had before that...I was wrong.
 

ribdoner

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
Silver Member
The old Belmont Theater at Belmont Ash;and and Lincoln in Chicago turned into a bowling alley/Billiards place around 1964.
Jimmy Caras represented Brunswick and gave an exhibition, Artie Bodendorfer and I had a match there, straight pool at that time,
before he became the one pocket player everyone talks about today.
Good old days.

I also played Artie straight pool in 61 (i think) at the Elmhurst Recreation Bowling Alley on Roosevelt Rd, i think we were both about 16.

He was working a carnival which was either in Elmhurst or Villa Park.

The bet was a "fin" ($5).

He won and i pulled up because i didn't like my chances

Your right, fond memories due to a kinder, gentler society with much less mis-information and strife let alone it not taking our bodies a half hour +- to get lubricated after we get out of bed.

Where was your "home" room?
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I also played Artie straight pool in 61 (i think) at the Elmhurst Recreation Bowling Alley on Roosevelt Rd, i think we were both about 16.

He was working a carnival which was either in Elmhurst or Villa Park.

The bet was a "fin" ($5).

He won and i pulled up because i didn't like my chances

Your right, fond memories due to a kinder, gentler society with much less mis-information and strife let alone it not taking our bodies a half hour +- to get lubricated after we get out of bed.

Where was your "home" room?
I have Artie’s GC4 in my house all warm safe and sound. It’s coincidently the best GC4 I’ve ever owned. Pretty cool piece of history I think.
 

Dead Money

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I also played Artie straight pool in 61 (i think) at the Elmhurst Recreation Bowling Alley on Roosevelt Rd, i think we were both about 16.

He was working a carnival which was either in Elmhurst or Villa Park.

The bet was a "fin" ($5).

He won and i pulled up because i didn't like my chances

Your right, fond memories due to a kinder, gentler society with much less mis-information and strife let alone it not taking our bodies a half hour +- to get lubricated after we get out of bed.

Where was your "home" room?
That is cool!
 

Biloxi Boy

Man With A Golden Arm
Biloxi's Beach Bowl was dead center in our notorious "Strip" on U.S. 90 (just east of Treasure Bay's present location). The pool tables were immediately inside the front doors, in their own glass partitioned area. My exposure to ten foot pool tables began and ended there.
 

Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It was shortly after this period that pool blossomed into its heyday.
Remember the different color cloths on the Gold Crowns in the early 60’s.

It almost became hard to find green cloth in the newly opened pool rooms.
The Hustler movie got released & pool became the new entertainment trend.

I can still vividly recall how excited I was to turn 16 yrs old because it made me age
eligible to go to the pool halls without accompaniment by a parent, guardian or escort.

The nostalgia of pool still fascinates me. This thread restored forgotten memories I’ve haven’t
thought about in 60 years. This was a miraculous period for pool and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
 
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