Cue Lockers

[Mr. Bond]

At the Illinois Billiard Club there is a beautiful set of antique cue lockers on the wall. This was a feature that some of the better rooms had back in the day. I was just wondering if anyone still uses them anymore?


A funny story:
The cue lockers at the IBC came out of a popular pool hall in Chicago. (that is now extinct) So popular was this hall that it was packed almost every night. Consequently every one of the cue lockers were always spoken for. (having your own locker was somewhat of a status symbol so they did not become 'available' very often)

One busy night at this old hall, one of the regulars (who had a locker to his name) collapsed during a match, right there in the middle of the room. Within minutes medics arrived and laid him out on top of one of the pool tables, and tried to save him.

After many minutes of failed attempts, the medics gave up, covered the man up with a sheet, and proceeded to take his body out to the ambulance....the man was dead.

The room was very quiet. But as the door closed behind the last medic, a voice rang out from behind the bar.....

LOCKER NUMBER 12 IS NOW AVAILABLE !!!!!

 

[Rich93]

At the Illinois Billiard Club there is a beautiful set of antique cue lockers on the wall. This was a feature that some of the better rooms had back in the day. I was just wondering if anyone still uses them anymore?


A funny story:
The cue lockers at the IBC came out of a popular pool hall in Chicago. (that is now extinct) So popular was this hall that it was packed almost every night. Consequently every one of the cue lockers were always spoken for. (having your own locker was somewhat of a status symbol so they did not become 'available' very often)

One busy night at this old hall, one of the regulars (who had a locker to his name) collapsed during a match, right there in the middle of the room. Within minutes medics arrived and laid him out on top of one of the pool tables, and tried to save him.

After many minutes of failed attempts, the medics gave up, covered the man up with a sheet, and proceeded to take his body out to the ambulance....the man was dead.

The room was very quiet. But as the door closed behind the last medic, a voice rang out from behind the bar.....

LOCKER NUMBER 12 IS NOW AVAILABLE !!!!!

I can't vouch for the dead man locker story but I can fill this in a little. The lockers came from Beverly Bowl at 94th and Ashland in Chicago. It was where I played as a kid (despite the Chicago ordinance that you had to be 18 to enter a billiard room). Beverly had 20 bowling lanes and 9 tables - 7 nine foot pool tables and 2 ten foot billiard tables. Most of the regular old-timers there kept their cues in a locker and the lockers were full. There was a waiting list but it might have only been in Alex's (the manager's) head. Although I asked for a locker space I don't recall my name ever being written down anywhere. Also, I don't recall a locker ever becoming available in the 4 years or so that I haunted the place. I suspected then that some of those cues belonged to old guys who had either died or stopped playing and how unfair that was to regulars like me. Beverly closed about 8 or 10 years after I stopped playing, and Jim Parker (founder of the Illinois Billiard Club) bought the tables and lockers. Five of those 9 Anniversary tables are currently at the IBC, the rest might be in IBC storage.

The style today is to carry your equipment with you. I don't know of any IBC member who uses the lockers except Jim Parker. John Lavin, owner of Red Shoes Billiards, told me he had lockers when his room first opened but they are long gone now. I don't recall the reason.

 

[OTB]

Brickyard pub in Battlecreek Michigan has some nice ones......

 

[bral]

Neat story, cue lockers would be nice if their security could be depended on.

Having said that, I'd be happy enough finding a pool room with good equipment in SoCal that has decent air conditioning this time of the year.

 

[shanevic7]

Neat story, cue lockers would be nice if their security could be depended on.

Having said that, I'd be happy enough finding a pool room with good equipment in SoCal that has decent air conditioning this time of the year.

Amen to that, the heat is brutal this time of year.

 

[DogsPlayingPool]

Neat story, cue lockers would be nice if their security could be depended on.

Having said that, I'd be happy enough finding a pool room with good equipment in SoCal that has decent air conditioning this time of the year.

I had a locker at the House of Billiards in Sherman Oaks, CA back in the 80's. Not sure, but I don't think they are still there (the lockers, that is. The room is there). Being in the Valley there is a very good probability the A/C is functional.

 

[FELIX]

Locker

I had a cue locker at Trueloves in Oklahoma City in 1969 , before that you
laid your cue at the end of the bar . Thats where Norman Hitchcock
lost his Balabuska , good times there. Lots of top players came by to
try Norman , Tommy Tucker , Mike Walthrup , Buddy and others.
Felix