Hard Times Bellflower

Runner said:
So why did the New Hollywood Billiards close? I'm betting Real Estate $$.
When you're at the mercy of a greedy landlord, it's game over...
I've seen vacant RE in L.A. that used to be a great business... I guess
landlords would rather right off losses rather than keep a paying tenent.

And Sears WAS the Amazon of its time, when you actually drove to the
store and bought USA Craftsman tools, lifetime warranty.
Then this thing called the Internet came along, Sears didn't keep up
with the times.. they're trying now, but it may be too late.

I hope the current owners at Hard Times renegotiate their lease and
keep going... they WILL have to improve the condition of the place,
at the bare minimum, recover the tables and fix the damn A/C.
Click to expand...

The owner decided he wanted to get into the Hollywood nightclub business, which is one of the most fickle businesses in the world.

Clubs come and go in the hood.
 
overlord said:
Jay he leased in the basement but after the earthquake he had to leave that building at Western and Hollywood Blvd. and he assembled lots and built the new Hollywood Billiards, down Hollywood Blvd. by the 101 freeway.

He may a ton of money on the real estate. I believe you ran a pool tournament at the New Hollywood Billiards back in the day.

He operated that room from about 1998 maybe to about 2011.
Click to expand...

We ran the Jay Swanson Memorial tourney there for several years. Filled the field every year with 192 players. The place was packed all weekend and a lot of strong players showed up from as far away as Texas and Washington state.
 
Just went to Hard Times this last Saturday... there were maybe a dozen people
there, just the regulars... deadsville. It might have been the post Black Friday/
Thanksgiving hangover... still doesn't look good.
 
jay helfert said:
We ran the Jay Swanson Memorial tourney there for several years. Filled the field every year with 192 players. The place was packed all weekend and a lot of strong players showed up from as far away as Texas and Washington state.
Click to expand...

And they even had the Pechauer tour stop there .

The nicest pool hall I ever saw. Pretty freaking sad the owner made a monumental mistake in converting that place to a purple-weirdo place.
WTH was he thinking?
 
JoeyInCali said:
And they even had the Pechauer tour stop there .

The nicest pool hall I ever saw. Pretty freaking sad the owner made a monumental mistake in converting that place to a purple-weirdo place.
WTH was he thinking?
Click to expand...

When it opened, it was unreal. It had a very good Northern Italian restaurant in it.

It turned out folks were not that interested in great Italian food while they play pool.

So the Chef quit after approx. the first year. Then the Italian food went downhill and it became more of a bar food kind of menu.

Still the food was darn good. The Cheeseburgers and fries were excellent.

The design was fantastic. It was two stories with a bow truss ceiling. You could look down to the first floor through an opening and see most of the pool tables on the ground floor. It was a design that had pool tournaments in mind. There were little couches that were built in along the crenelated railing. The bar on the first floor was huge and rapped around to a little club.

A lot of the regulars didn't pay for pool time.

I spent a lot of money in that place, eating and imbibing. It was like 5 minutes from my house.

Pool players always complain, we had no idea how good we had it. Over the years there was a lot of action there.

The old restaurant space was filled with TVs after the Italian food went belly up and then the rest of the entire building was filled with TVs.

When the Lakers were playing in the finals it was wall to wall with folks. Saw many boxing matches there.

The place was 23,000 square feet so you didn't bump other players very often while playing.

All good things come to and end. Max Eberle was the house pro for a long time.
 
overlord said:
When it opened, it was unreal. It had a very good Northern Italian restaurant in it.

It turned out folks were not that interested in great Italian food while they play pool.

So the Chef quit after approx. the first year. Then the Italian food went downhill and it became more of a bar food kind of menu.

Still the food was darn good. The Cheeseburgers and fries were excellent.

The design was fantastic. It was two stories with a bow truss ceiling. You could look down to the first floor through an opening and see most of the pool tables on the ground floor. It was a design that had pool tournaments in mind. There were little couches that were built in along the crenelated railing. The bar on the first floor was huge and rapped around to a little club.

A lot of the regulars didn't pay for pool time.

I spent a lot of money in that place, eating and imbibing. It was like 5 minutes from my house.

Pool players always complain, we had no idea how good we had it. Over the years there was a lot of action there.

The old restaurant space was filled with TVs after the Italian food went belly up and then the rest of the entire building was filled with TVs.

When the Lakers were playing in the finals it was wall to wall with folks. Saw many boxing matches there.

The place was 23,000 square feet so you didn't bump other players very often while playing.

All good things come to and end. Max Eberle was the house pro for a long time.
Click to expand...
That was pool heaven whenever I went there. Food was indeed great for a pool place. The only other pool place I know that had great food is in Lake Forrest .

And if you were in the mood for Thai food, you can walk across the street .

I was there in '96 when Efren stopped by. He was introduced to a 3-cushion player and they played upstairs . It was the only time I ever saw Efren play 3-cushion in person. Hell, he played with his Meucci .
There was a Big Bertha table upstairs too iirc.

A place like that should have stayed as a serious pool hall.
They even had Max Eberle as house pro for a while .

The parking was tough but, this is LA.
 
JoeyInCali said:
That was pool heaven whenever I went there. Food was indeed great for a pool place. The only other pool place I know that had great food is in Lake Forrest .

And if you were in the mood for Thai food, you can walk across the street .

I was there in '96 when Efren stopped by. He was introduced to a 3-cushion player and they played upstairs . It was the only time I ever saw Efren play 3-cushion in person. Hell, he played with his Meucci .
There was a Big Bertha table upstairs too iirc.

A place like that should have stayed as a serious pool hall.
They even had Max Eberle as house pro for a while .

The parking was tough but, this is LA.
Click to expand...


Efren played my friend Bruce Kaner, now deceased. Thai town was just down the street.
 
overlord said:
When it opened, it was unreal. It had a very good Northern Italian restaurant in it.

It turned out folks were not that interested in great Italian food while they play pool.

So the Chef quit after approx. the first year. Then the Italian food went downhill and it became more of a bar food kind of menu.

Still the food was darn good. The Cheeseburgers and fries were excellent.

The design was fantastic. It was two stories with a bow truss ceiling. You could look down to the first floor through an opening and see most of the pool tables on the ground floor. It was a design that had pool tournaments in mind. There were little couches that were built in along the crenelated railing. The bar on the first floor was huge and rapped around to a little club.

A lot of the regulars didn't pay for pool time.

I spent a lot of money in that place, eating and imbibing. It was like 5 minutes from my house.

Pool players always complain, we had no idea how good we had it. Over the years there was a lot of action there.

The old restaurant space was filled with TVs after the Italian food went belly up and then the rest of the entire building was filled with TVs.

When the Lakers were playing in the finals it was wall to wall with folks. Saw many boxing matches there.

The place was 23,000 square feet so you didn't bump other players very often while playing.

All good things come to and end. Max Eberle was the house pro for a long time.
Click to expand...


Yeah, the place was fantastic in the beginning... I used to go upstairs and
practice during a weekday.... really got great work in.
After the restaurant went under, they started taking private bookings and
'sportsbar' events... you'd come to play Saturday night only to find they
closed for a private party..WTF?
So eventually it ceased to be a pool hall and became a nightclub, and we
know what happens to 'flavor of the month' nightclubs.
 
Thought I would bump this thread.. word is that Eddie will
be recovering the tournament side tables ONLY, and his
lease is up at the end of this year... with Oscar D. buying
HT Sacramento it'd sure be great if Ernesto took over
Bellflower!
 
Runner said:
Thought I would bump this thread.. word is that Eddie will
be recovering the tournament side tables ONLY, and his
lease is up at the end of this year... with Oscar D. buying
HT Sacramento it'd sure be great if Ernesto took over
Bellflower!
Click to expand...

dude.... that would be awesome!!! a "Hardtimes" Domiguez tag team :)
 
I recently heard they are adverse to using the heater to add to their disdain for AC. With the string of unseasonably cold weather here in LA (especially at night) I wonder how cold it gets in there. This February was the first on record in which we did not record a 70 degree plus day in Downtown LA.
 
Just an FYI...recently heard from a reliable source that Hard Times Bellflower renewed their lease. So I guess they will be open for a while to come. This is good news. Let’s see if they fix the place up some.


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ThinSlice said:
Just an FYI...recently heard from a reliable source that Hard Times Bellflower renewed their lease. So I guess they will be open for a while to come. This is good news. Let’s see if they fix the place up some.


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Click to expand...

I heard that they recovered some tables as well!! Now … just need to find the key to the Thermostat and give it to Rexus… :)
 
Runner said:
So why did the New Hollywood Billiards close? I'm betting Real Estate $$.
When you're at the mercy of a greedy landlord, it's game over...
I've seen vacant RE in L.A. that used to be a great business... I guess
landlords would rather right off losses rather than keep a paying tenent.

And Sears WAS the Amazon of its time, when you actually drove to the
store and bought USA Craftsman tools, lifetime warranty.
Then this thing called the Internet came along, Sears didn't keep up
with the times.. they're trying now, but it may be too late.

I hope the current owners at Hard Times renegotiate their lease and
keep going... they WILL have to improve the condition of the place,
at the bare minimum, recover the tables and fix the damn A/C.
Click to expand...

They recovered the tables in red and tried to turn it into a nightclub with pool tables. Kind of what’s happening with Freezer’s now in Phoenix. Didn’t work for Hollywood and we will wait and see about Freezer’s. IMO you have to be one or the other, history shows us trying to be both does not work too well, but of course there are exceptions. I hope Freezer’s is one of them.

I heard Hard Times, Bellflower renewed their lease and hope that is true. Great room I played out of from time to time. Hard Times, Sacramento has new owners (Oscar and Desiree Dominguez) and they are continuing on as a great room that caters to its players like the Markulis family always did.

As a player who has been around California pool for 65 years, I will tell you we are extremely lucky to have Chris Swart at California Billiards, the Markulis Family that built and ran Both Hard Times rooms, and now the Dominguez Family at Hard Times, Sacramento, to keep pool alive in Northern CA.
 
OP here... yeah, Eddie had the tournament side tables re-clothed, along
with Big Bertha, although the jury's out on what kind of cloth it is.
It's not 860, that's for sure.

IMO, the AC and ventilation need to be addressed.. everyone bringing
their own box fans in to play doesn't cut it. Just gets stale in there.

Glad the lease has been handled..

hashtag: MakeBellflowerGreatAgain:cool:
 
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