Hard Times Bellflower On the Scene

jjohnson said:
Was a few miles away so I cruised by. Took another look through the gap between the two front doors. Unless Eddie had all the Pro Tables taken out they are still in there. So the place is probably ready to reopen once it is cleaned up, etc.

I went to the 99 Cent Outlet store next door. "I only work here." She was no help getting me the landlords phone number. But as I was walking out she came around the counter and just outside she pointed to the large building next door. "The landlord owns that one too."

Now just in the past year this larger building has been completely renovated. I would come in to shoot pool and all the construction guys would be in there working. This building is like 5 stories high and about 50 feet square. It is attached to the building HT is part of. You got the 98 Cent Outlet then HT then a small ministry that is attached to this much larger building.

Lots of money went into it. And these few new tenants are totally lame. So the landlord is definitely hurting for rent. I think he might be looking for someone to take on the HT business. I will ask him if he might let someone in there just to run it and give him a %. I mean he is not getting a dime for it now. But of course business men have "tricks" up there sleeves. He is probably getting a fat government bailout check. Anyway when I get hold of him I will see how far he is willing to go.
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A waste of time and frankly, a waste of letters too.

The place is worth more at a loss than at small earnings.
 
jjohnson said:
I think i will just hang it up. i really did not and do not have the time to talk to the landlord etc. but i was willing to do it. but after your post and other comments i will just keep working and socking away 3 grand a month until further notice. i hate to say it but this covid may have killed my hopes of becoming a player since i have no decent place to play to perfect my game unless i move to fremont or vegas.
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3k a month isn't enough for you to provide pool to yourself?
Get your own table at home or build an addition for one...go rent an office space or basement apartment that is big enough?
 
I found it hard to believe that Hard Times was ever a success. I spent a week there in the early 90s.
it was a fabulous visit for me as a player...champions and action galore.
But it all could’ve been contained in a 15 table room. About 30 of the tables were hardly being used.
...and the tournament tables were being cleaned with a damp towel....the whiteness of the cloth under the rails looked like flotsam on a beach. My partner at the time was Canada’s top billiard mechanic...he told the cleaner that he was creating mud of the chalk dust...cloth was slow like snooker.
I played 5 or 6 matches and had to get an excellent Champion tip replaced.

it was great for the players, but I wouldn’t have taken the room as a gift.
 
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pt109 said:
I found it hard to believe that Hard Times was ever a success. I spent a week there in the early 90s.
it was a fabulous visit for me as a player...champions and action galore.
But it all could’ve been contained in a 15 table room. About 30 of the tables were hardly being used.
...and the tournament tables were being cleaned with a damp towel....the whiteness of the cloth under the rails looked like flotsam on a beach. My partner at the time was Canada’s top billiard mechanic...he told the cleaner that he was creating mud of the chalk dust...cloth was slow like snooker.
I played 5 or 6 matches and had to get an excellent Champion tip replaced.

it it was great for the players, but I wouldn’t have taken the room as a gift.
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Well I had met zkeneho oener the place at one time at Kolby’s in Ztempe. We talk about the the positives, and negatives of owner Hard Times.

The place sound like a big pain in butt, constant vandalism in rest rooms, no beer & wines sales, profit was not worth trouble.

When big name came to town, regular players, watched, and did not pay for table time.

Then you have Hellflower, not nice place to be in.
 
I checked out HT in the 90s Ran into a half dozen or so old acquaintances. Hadn't seen these guys in 20 years but there they were like clockwork. :D I Dug the tournament side. Heavies in action. Years later I run into a guy who used to bounce there. Made good money as a bodyguard. Even had to shoot somebody. Did time for that I recall. Fuk if I'll ever try being a player.
 
pt109 said:
I found it hard to believe that Hard Times was ever a success. I spent a week there in the early 90s.
it was a fabulous visit for me as a player...champions and action galore.
But it all could’ve been contained in a 15 table room. About 30 of the tables were hardly being used.
...and the tournament tables were being cleaned with a damp towel....the whiteness of the cloth under the rails looked like flotsam on a beach. My partner at the time was Canada’s top billiard mechanic...he told the cleaner that he was creating mud of the chalk dust...cloth was slow like snooker.
I played 5 or 6 matches and had to get an excellent Champion tip replaced.

it was great for the players, but I wouldn’t have taken the room as a gift.
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Chalk mud! Seen that in the late 90s in T-Town. Hideous.
 
In the late 80’s and early 90’s it was heaven on earth for me as a player who liked action. I quit a job managing a mortgage company in San Diego and transferred to the Orange County office, just so I could be near Hard Times and the 6 x 12. I started playing on Bertha when it was down the street at the Billiard Palace in the 60’s. At Hard Times we often played $50 a point liability snooker on Big Bertha and nobody was barred. $50/100 a game heads up and $20/2 ring game golf. If you were in action, Chuck would keep the place open all night. I played a lot of $50/100 a game 9 ball and one pocket. 9 ball tournaments every Weds and Sunday, and you never knew who would show up.

I came back up north in 92, but I will never forget the great times I had there. I made a few trips back over the years, but it was never the same. It was always treacherous, but most action rooms are.
 
johnhendy said:
In the late 80’s and early 90’s it was heaven on earth for me as a player who liked action. I quit a job managing a mortgage company in San Diego and transferred to the Orange County office, just so I could be near Hard Times and the 6 x 12. I started playing on Bertha when it was down the street at the Billiard Palace in the 60’s. At Hard Times we often played $50 a point liability snooker on Big Bertha and nobody was barred. $50/100 a game heads up and $20/2 ring game golf. If you were in action, Chuck would keep the place open all night. I played a lot of $50/100 a game 9 ball and one pocket. 9 ball tournaments every Weds and Sunday, and you never knew who would show up.

I came back up north in 92, but I will never forget the great times I had there. I made a few trips back over the years, but it was never the same. It was always treacherous, but most action rooms are.
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John, as you know I partnered up with Chuck and convinced him that having a big tournament would attract players and be good for business. He agreed right away and we kicked it off in 1988 with a $10,000 Added 9-Ball tournament. At that time it may have been the biggest poolroom tournament being held anywhere. And it worked! We packed the place and sold 250-300 tickets each day. Business picked up after the tournament was over, as more players started practicing to get ready for the next one. For the next few years we had two big events per year, coinciding with the Sands Tourney in Reno. Hard Times was on the map of every pool player and we had big money games almost every week. I had a helluva lot of fun running those tounaments, with the highlight handing the winning players envelopes stuffed with hundreds! No checks, only cash! (y)
 
jay helfert said:
John, as you know I partnered up with Chuck and convinced him that having a big tournament would attract players and be good for business. He agreed right away and we kicked it off in 1988 with a $10,000 Added 9-Ball tournament. At that time it may have been the biggest poolroom tournament being held anywhere. And it worked! We packed the place and sold 250-300 tickets each day. Business picked up after the tournament was over, as more players started practicing to get ready for the next one. For the next few years we had two big events per year, coinciding with the Sands Tourney in Reno. Hard Times was on the map of every pool player and we had big money games almost every week. I had a helluva lot of fun running those tounaments, with the highlight handing the winning players envelopes stuffed with hundreds! No checks, only cash! (y)
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I can’t remember how many of your tournaments I played in Jay, but the one I remember most was The Color of Money Invitational Tournament at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, 1988. One of the reasons I remember it, was I did not play too well. Playing in a tux on tight tables with cameras guys running around, made it easy to dog it. It was still an honor for me to be invited, and I will never forget that.

You helped keep the action going in SoCal for years, and if I remember right, you ran a few for the Markulis family when they opened the new Hard Times in Sacramento.
 
johnhendy said:
I can’t remember how many of your tournaments I played in Jay, but the one I remember most was The Color of Money Invitational Tournament at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, 1988. One of the reasons I remember it, was I did not play too well. Playing in a tux on tight tables with cameras guys running around, made it easy to dog it. It was still an honor for me to be invited, and I will never forget that.

You helped keep the action going in SoCal for years, and if I remember right, you ran a few for the Markulis family when they opened the new Hard Times in Sacramento.
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The Color of Money tournament (aka The Peter Vitalie Invitational) was an amazing event. We used the Biltmore Bowl downstairs to hold the tournament on four tables, and the place was PACKED every day. The ticket lines were out door, down the hallway and all the way up the long set of steps to the first floor. Maybe a few hundred people waiting to get in each day. That's when I realized you could do a "Gate" in L.A.

I did do the first few tournaments for Chuck when he moved up to Sacramento. All were great events with stellar fields. You were there for all of them, Action John!
































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Fatboy said:
The interwebs is a very complex thing. I still can’t figure it out🤪
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That's why they call it The Web! Guys like us get trapped in it and can't get out. ;)

If I encounter a problem on my computer I have to call my wife in to bail me out. I am clueless how to fix anything. Cookies, bugs, software, hardware, system errors, servers, programs, platforms, and on and on. It's all Greek to me. I'm not really that helpless but I know that most 15 year old kids are far more conversant on a computer than I am.
 
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jay helfert said:
That's why they call it The Web! Guys like us get trapped in it and can't get out. ;)

If I encounter a problem on my computer I have to call my wife in to bail me out. I am clueless how to fix anything. Cookies, bugs, software, hardware, system errors, servers, programs, platforms, and on and on. It's all Greek to me. I'm not really that helpless but I know that most 15 year old kids are far more conversant on a computer than I am.
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Yeah. Not just the endless details but the absolute logic.
 
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