Greed kills another GREAT poolroom!

S

Scott Lee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
:mad: Well, I found out today that my home poolroom, Blackbird Billiards, in Kalamazoo, MI is closing. The owner of the strip mall it's located in sold out, and the new owners jacked the rent up ridiculously high to drive out the tenants. Most of the stores are already moving out (three were in the process while I was there today). Rumor is that the new owners want to sell out to a big box store, and they'll tear the mall down and construct the new giant store. Sad...very sad.

Blackbird Billiards was a players' room, and Tim White, the owner, went WAY out of his way to make it that way. When the IPT was going, Tim held several qualifiers. He had money-added tournaments all the time, and never took out one dime. I travel all over the country, and this room was definitely in the top 10 poolrooms in the country, imo. Great equipment, meticulously maintained...you could play on 7' or 9' Diamonds, 9' Gold Crowns, and they had a snooker AND a heated 3-cushion table. Good food, good music, and very reasonable table rates. Tim told me he is taking the summer off, and then will decide if he wants to reopen somewhere else.

Best of luck to you Tim...and thanks for all you've done for SW Michigan poolplayers (and the roadplayers that dropped by too)! Blackbird Billiards will be sorely missed (not the least by ME:( )!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Scott Lee said:
:mad: Well, I found out today that my home poolroom, Blackbird Billiards, in Kalamazoo, MI is closing. The owner of the strip mall it's located in sold out, and the new owners jacked the rent up ridiculously high to drive out the tenants. Most of the stores are already moving out (three were in the process while I was there today). Rumor is that the new owners want to sell out to a big box store, and they'll tear the mall down and construct the new giant store. Sad...very sad.

Blackbird Billiards was a players' room, and Tim White, the owner, went WAY out of his way to make it that way. When the IPT was going, Tim held several qualifiers. He had money-added tournaments all the time, and never took out one dime. I travel all over the country, and this room was definitely in the top 10 poolrooms in the country, imo. Great equipment, meticulously maintained...you could play on 7' or 9' Diamonds, 9' Gold Crowns, and they had a snooker AND a heated 3-cushion table. Good food, good music, and very reasonable table rates. Tim told me he is taking the summer off, and then will decide if he wants to reopen somewhere else.

Best of luck to you Tim...and thanks for all you've done for SW Michigan poolplayers (and the roadplayers that dropped by too)! Blackbird Billiards will be sorely missed (not the least by ME:( )!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...


Yeah Scott, that sucks, it was a nice room, and Tim White was a super nice owner.....Keep me posted on what happens up there, although I'll probably find out from my buddies J.D. and Joe Gay.
 
Bruce...Joe played in there almost every day! J.D. didn't come in as often, but all of us "locals" are crying in our beers! Tim really loves pool, so hopefully he'll find somewhere else. In the meantime, he told me he has a Diamond Pro-Am 9' and the Gabriels 3-C in his 'private room' downtown, if I need a place to play or do a lesson. What a great guy! See you the next time I'm in Chris's!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Whatever happened to Billiards Playground in Kalamazoo?

I went there in 2000 to play in the US Open One Pocket Tourney that was held at the Radisson Plaze.

Matt was a real nice guy.

If I remember rightly, Billiards Playground used to be next to a Funeral Home.
 
How about shooting some nice photos of the place before it is gone for memories?

Also for the benefit of those who could never have the pleasure of experiencing Blackbird Billiards.
 
If Mr. White wants to sell his diamonds,call Mike or Joe at Joe's Rack Shack
at 615-683-6346.
 
That sucks balls!!!!!!!!!!

I remember the first time i went down to Blackbird Billiards, for a 8ball tourny and ended up almost closing the place down lol, and was going on no sleep lol.

But I ended up playing a bunch of 1pocket with Tim which made me see how much I sucked at 1pocket lol.

But I also had my first encounter with a Snooker table too.
 
It was already torn down, when I was there today at 1pm. They were taking down the last pool lights...all the tables were disassembled and gone, and everything was off the walls. They still have the website...www.blackbirdbilliards.com but everything else is now in storage.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

MasterClass said:
How about shooting some nice photos of the place before it is gone for memories?

Also for the benefit of those who could never have the pleasure of experiencing Blackbird Billiards.
Click to expand...
 
Billiards Playground closed, and Matt Rosenthal moved. There is another poolroom called The Playground, but it's nowhere near as nice as Blackbird Billiards was.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

JasonDevanney said:
Whatever happened to Billiards Playground in Kalamazoo?

I went there in 2000 to play in the US Open One Pocket Tourney that was held at the Radisson Plaze.

Matt was a real nice guy.

If I remember rightly, Billiards Playground used to be next to a Funeral Home.
Click to expand...
 
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