Billiard halls closing
To this day if I drive by where Bobs Billiards in Anaheim was I get a sad feeling knowing it is a era gone by. Bob Wallace was a good guy and he ran some solid rooms besides Bob's over the years including Hard Times in Costa Mesa and the Gray Fox in Stanton. That family was decimated by tragedy. Bob had the fatal heart attack, little Bobby and Mike were in the bad bike wreck on their way back from picking up a roll of Simonis cloth in Long Beach. That crash took Bobbys leg and killed Mike. Audie was off and running and I never heard what happened to him. Robin ran the room for a while and eventually it closed. So I can relate to how you are feeling, I would like to tell you it pass's but it still lingers.
All the memorys like Bobby hooking up for a one pocket match and needing to look at the balls with a magnifying glass because he was so blind and still taking the dough. Tony Banks playing Jose Parica 9 ball even but Jose was jacked up one handed and winning. Jeff "Little man" Patterson chattering like a mina bird because he was going off to somebody. Or Keith giving Isaac Lopez the 5 out on a bar box and playing the best shot I have ever seen to hook Isaac so bad he literally could not touch the cue ball without fouling and he took his bankroll, threw it on the table and left. Keith laughed while he said "thats what happens when I get my mixture right" and on and on and on. Years of memorys, mostly good, some great and some tragic all a part of the fabric of my being that cant and shouldnt be duplicated. Last time I went by I think it was a furniture store. I wonder if any of the spirits in that place stuck around to entertain the new occupants, if the walls could talk it would be a dozen best sellers for sure.