The pool room with the most action in Los Angeles in the late 1960's to the early 1970's was Mr Pockets on 6th Street one block West of Western Avenue. It was a great room, there was enough space between the 14 tables that you did not have to wait for the player on the next table to finish taking a shot. The only downside was the table were from AMF but the big pockets made me feel like I could play. The limited menu was decent, the prices were reasonable and they were the first pool room in Los Angeles that could serve beer.
The room was full of older guys who still wore hats when they went out. An interesting hard and fast rule was "no swearing" if there was a lady present. Amazingly the rule was observed by all the regulars and if a newbie broke the rule they were quickly told not to stop.
Freddy Garino was the "House Pro" and one of the regulars was Alan Hale who lived by his wits and won every time he went to a table. A common spot at the time was to give a guy the seven and the eight playing nine ball. That all changed when Brian Hashimoto came to Los Angeles from Hawaii. Brian was the best shot maker anyone had ever seen, he literally could make every shot on the table.Because Brain had to make expenses he started giving out the six, seven and eight playing nine ball. After beating everyone with that spot he started over giving everyone the five out.
While Brian was a good player he was not yet the player he would become. He started playing Hippie Jimmy Marino one shot shoot out with the seven every Friday. After watching Jimmy play position and the art of "push out" nine ball Brian improved enough to where Jimmy would only give him the eight. When they were breaking even with the last two they quit playing.
Sadly there is only one small pool room left near downtown Los Angeles and the amazing game of pocket billiards is long gone.
Oh yes, why I started telling you about Mr Pockets you could get on the table to shoot a shot. You did not have to have one foot on the floor.
The room was full of older guys who still wore hats when they went out. An interesting hard and fast rule was "no swearing" if there was a lady present. Amazingly the rule was observed by all the regulars and if a newbie broke the rule they were quickly told not to stop.
Freddy Garino was the "House Pro" and one of the regulars was Alan Hale who lived by his wits and won every time he went to a table. A common spot at the time was to give a guy the seven and the eight playing nine ball. That all changed when Brian Hashimoto came to Los Angeles from Hawaii. Brian was the best shot maker anyone had ever seen, he literally could make every shot on the table.Because Brain had to make expenses he started giving out the six, seven and eight playing nine ball. After beating everyone with that spot he started over giving everyone the five out.
While Brian was a good player he was not yet the player he would become. He started playing Hippie Jimmy Marino one shot shoot out with the seven every Friday. After watching Jimmy play position and the art of "push out" nine ball Brian improved enough to where Jimmy would only give him the eight. When they were breaking even with the last two they quit playing.
Sadly there is only one small pool room left near downtown Los Angeles and the amazing game of pocket billiards is long gone.
Oh yes, why I started telling you about Mr Pockets you could get on the table to shoot a shot. You did not have to have one foot on the floor.
