Its cold in there right now, everyone is wearing sweaters and coats.
Dear Hard Times...
- Thread starter Runner
- Start date
I was there last night for the Mezz Tour stop. 114 players! And they all seemed to be enjoying themselves and it was quite comfortable in there. I spoke with the owner and he said the AC had been working 90% of the time during the Summer and only been out of order for a few days. He told me he got up on the roof and made the repairs himself. Hard Times is well kept with clean restrooms, decent food and a nice atmosphere for pool. They have a bunch of Three Cushion tables as well as the tournament tough Gold Crowns set up by Ernesto. The stories of its early demise have been greatly exaggerated! :thumbup:
I was there last night for the Mezz Tour stop. 114 players! And they all seemed to be enjoying themselves and it was quite comfortable in there. I spoke with the owner and he said the AC had been working 90% of the time during the Summer and only been out of order for a few days. He told me he got up on the roof and made the repairs himself. Hard Times is well kept with clean restrooms, decent food and a nice atmosphere for pool. They have a bunch of Three Cushion tables as well as the tournament tough Gold Crowns set up by Ernesto. The stories of its early demise have been greatly exaggerated! :thumbup:
P.S. If you go by there make sure you go upstairs and visit "Little Al" Romero, the legendary road man who still plays good pool in his 80's and makes some mighty fine playing cues and does jam up repair work as well. Al is a rare bird among pool players. A humble man who crossed cues with the best there was and did better than hold his own. Not one to brag, Al is proud of his record against the champions of his era. Very few got the best of him. I remember some great matches between him and Ronnie and he gave Ronnie fits at One Pocket and Banks with a small spot like 10-8. About ten years ago Efren tried to give him 11-6 and that didn't work out well for the Magician.
P.S. If you go by there make sure you go upstairs and visit "Little Al" Romero, the legendary road man who still plays good pool in his 80's and makes some mighty fine playing cues and does jam up repair work as well. Al is a rare bird among pool players. A humble man who crossed cues with the best there was and did better than hold his own. Not one to brag, Al is proud of his record against the champions of his era. Very few got the best of him. I remember some great matches between him and Ronnie and he gave Ronnie fits at One Pocket and Banks with a small spot like 10-8. About ten years ago Efren tried to give him 11-6 and that didn't work out well for the Magician.
Well well well....
Hey all,
Yep, I was at the Mezz both days... that's the first time it's been cool at HT in at least a year... I think Oscar got the word about the A/C, and made sure it was working... which tells you it's available and working, just not on all the time. Unless it just got repaired?
Hard Times has been my home room for too long, so suggestions to go somewhere else ain't gonna get it... it's THE serious pool hall in L.A., case closed.
And yes, a thumbs up for Little Al... I think HT should have a Little Al 9 ball tournament! I still have my Little Al sneaky and jump/break cues... he's known for one of the best sneaky petes you can get... Al still plays jam up, too.
Hey all,
Yep, I was at the Mezz both days... that's the first time it's been cool at HT in at least a year... I think Oscar got the word about the A/C, and made sure it was working... which tells you it's available and working, just not on all the time. Unless it just got repaired?
Hard Times has been my home room for too long, so suggestions to go somewhere else ain't gonna get it... it's THE serious pool hall in L.A., case closed.
And yes, a thumbs up for Little Al... I think HT should have a Little Al 9 ball tournament! I still have my Little Al sneaky and jump/break cues... he's known for one of the best sneaky petes you can get... Al still plays jam up, too.
I think it's a little ridiculous that you are the OP of this thread and now you're saying that you spent the weekend there; it was nice and cool and oh yeah, what Jay said, 'Go see Little AL as well'.
It's just way too easy to complain!
Mark my words, if Hard Times were to shut down today, then you'd be missing it terribly and so would all of the displaced patrons and contributors, like Al Romero, Catfish and many more who have called this place 'home' for over 20 years.
Sure, Hard Times has it's issues; it's like walking into a pool 'time warp'. Seemingly, nothing has changed since the place was constructed in 88'. The A/C has had innumerable problems in the past two years and I will add that the owner has actually changed 9 compressors this year; spent considerable money on circulation. 'Librado' is Eddie's faithful evening laborer, he cleans every table and vacuums the floors 5 nights a week - he even jumps on a ladder and dusts the lights and sills about twice a month. If there's anything you can't knock is the attention they still pay to the tables and their playability. It's getting to be that time where, the balls need to be changed out, but I'm sure he will drag on that a little because of the expense.
Again, it's just too easy to complain...
...and yet I also notice that the ones who do complain are also the same people who still show up there to play, spectate, or even just to recapture a memory or meet an old friend there.
To this day, Hard Times continues to take in a regular flow of players for the weekly and monthly tournaments there. Chad Beleber is the new tournament director and he does a good job. The 9 Ball is $500 added and one pocket $100 added, no matter how many players show up. I will still support the action and will continue streaming from there and probably even more if the s**t talk continues. I'm the kind of guy who would rather help bail out the ship than abandon it.
Here's a suggestion: why not try contacting or sending a letter to the owner with some constructive criticism? Eddie, the owner doesn't even read this forum, so if you think your complaints will change anything, as if you're contributing to the 'Yelp' of poolrooms, you're mistaken.
No - Eddie does not own the building.
The mailing address is:
Hard Times Bellflower
17450 Bellflower Blvd
Bellflower, CA 90706
Attn: Eddie Arreguin
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And there it is....
I've been going to HT for over 20 years. I've talked to Eddie, in person. I play just about every week... my post isn't an outright complaint, it's an observation like any post on AZ... deal with it.
I was at the Mezz both days during the tournament, not all weekend. My props were for Little Al, not switching it up about Hard Times. As I said, HT IS the hard core pool hall in L.A. IMO... and I've had conversations about helping vs hindering HT from tournaments to lighting the video table. No knocks there.
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