Hawaiian Brian's

R

Rickw

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Well, I just got back from Hawaii. I had a great and exhausting trip!! I did get to visit Hawaiian Brian's and was very impressed! I went there about 4 different times and no one wanted to play except one guy. He didn't want to gamble and I don't gamble much either (although I was amenable to if the right person came up). I was surprised I wasn't approached more often to play. The one guy I did play was very good. He won the Aloha Open. He definitely had some game!

As for the pool hall itself, I was very impressed!! The people that work there are wonderful! They treated me like I was a regular. They have great tables and even greater food! I didn't take my cue and played with their house cues. They were all pretty straight and the tips were all kept up in unbelievably good condition! Their prices weren't bad either considering the high rent of Hawaii.
 
i don't know what his rent would be there cuz it's in a kinda funny place. great but odd. he's got a lock on pool in HA.

did you eat at the ala moana food court?
 
Hawaiian Brian’s is a great place to play at. The equipment, lighting and seating makes for a very comfortable place to play. Because it’s open 24 hours, you have different groups of gamblers, the afternoon crowd and then the evening and late night gamblers.

A Brief History of Hawaiian Brian
Hawaiian Brian was one of the best players coming out of Hawaii, along with Rodney Morris. In his prime back in the 70’s and 80’s he lived in Los Angeles and eschewed tournament play, preferring to stay relatively unknown when he traveled on the road cross-country. In his playing days, he played many of the top players now on the senior tour. A story of his encounter with Bucktooth in Hawaii back in the 70’s was a very “fortuitous” occurrence. Bucktooth threw a real “party” then. That story can be read at: http://www.hawaiianbrians.com/pool_stories.htm . Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction
 
Last edited:
Jay, next time you visit HB, say hello to Joey and his wife.
Joey used to work at Hard Times and moved there.
 
jayz said:
A Brief History of Hawaiian Brian
Hawaiian Brian was one of the best players coming out of Hawaii, along with Rodney Morris. In his prime back in the 70’s and 80’s he lived in Los Angeles and eschewed tournament play, preferring to stay relatively unknown when he traveled on the road cross-country. In his playing days, he played many of the top players now on the senior tour. A story of his encounter with Bucktooth in Hawaii back in the 70’s was a very “fortuitous” occurrence. Bucktooth threw a real “party” then. That story can be read at: http://www.hawaiianbrians.com/pool_stories.htm . Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction
Click to expand...
Great stories!!!
 
bruin70 said:
i don't know what his rent would be there cuz it's in a kinda funny place. great but odd. he's got a lock on pool in HA.

did you eat at the ala moana food court?
Click to expand...

No Bruin, I didn't get there. I was so busy, I could barely take a breath! We ate at a couple of their fast food places, Zippy's and LL's, and both were very good. We also ate at Dukes and a hotel called the Princess something (it wasn't Kaiulani's) and they had a great buffet. I went with a huge contingent of family and we have family there so we were booked up most of the time.
 
here's a story my brother told me, since he used to watch hawaiian brian at house of billiards on 6th st.....

HB never played snooker(or so it seemed), and a snooker player popped in one day to challenge HB to a game. HB ran the table,,,,,and the snooker player quit. i don't know what his point total was, but does it make any difference if he runs the table.:)

here's another,,,from harvey mason himself. HB came to the east coast to gamble. he bumped into mason while waiting to play the bigger names. they played for chump change,,,like $20 or $50 or something. mason won the first set and quit. mason's moral,,,always leave ahead.
 
Rickw said:
JC,

Was that Hard Times in Bellflower or Sacramento?
Click to expand...
Bellflower. Joey had a huge break and was hooked on pool.
Hard Times in La Habra finally closed btw. Sadly, the owner died and his son could not run the business.
 
Rickw said:
Well, I just got back from Hawaii. I had a great and exhausting trip!! I did get to visit Hawaiian Brian's and was very impressed! I went there about 4 different times and no one wanted to play except one guy. He didn't want to gamble and I don't gamble much either (although I was amenable to if the right person came up). I was surprised I wasn't approached more often to play. The one guy I did play was very good. He won the Aloha Open. He definitely had some game!

As for the pool hall itself, I was very impressed!! The people that work there are wonderful! They treated me like I was a regular. They have great tables and even greater food! I didn't take my cue and played with their house cues. They were all pretty straight and the tips were all kept up in unbelievably good condition! Their prices weren't bad either considering the high rent of Hawaii.
Click to expand...

The $10,000 Aloha Open is held twice a year, the next one will be held the second Saturday in December. A double elimination format, race to 2, handicapped starting with "D" class (women) all the way up to 5A. It's open to the first 128 players that sign up ($60 entry fee). It's a real crap shoot, making it popular for the average player, with the last two winners being C players, Phoebe Choy http://www.azbilliards.com/2000storya.cfm one of them. You can see past results on: http://www.hawaiianbrians.com/pool_tournament-archives.htm

There are thousands of dollars in lucky number drawings, lots of pool action two weeks leading up to the tournament, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday the week of the tournament. Players from all over the State and elsewhere participate. Good time to plan a vacation over here and have some fun. Airfares for the holiday season are being advertised at $400 round-trip from the West Coast. Hawaiian Brian's is open 24 hours. The predominant money game in Hawaii is 9-ball, with money bet on the five and nine. The tournament field is usually filled a week before the tournament
 
Last edited:
Jayz,
Thanks for the links. I believe the guy I played there was Jason Collins. I thought he said he won the Aloha Open but I must have been mistaken. I think I do remember him saying he won $1800. I thought he was a pretty good player and seemed like a nice guy. There were other players on the next table and they seemed pretty nice too. The whole place had a real nice feel to it. The only thing I didn't like was the parking. I rented a big SUV and had a heck of a time getting it into those small stalls without hitting those cement pillars.
 
Rickw said:
Jayz,
Thanks for the links. I believe the guy I played there was Jason Collins. I thought he said he won the Aloha Open but I must have been mistaken. I think I do remember him saying he won $1800. I thought he was a pretty good player and seemed like a nice guy. There were other players on the next table and they seemed pretty nice too. The whole place had a real nice feel to it. The only thing I didn't like was the parking. I rented a big SUV and had a heck of a time getting it into those small stalls without hitting those cement pillars.
Click to expand...

Aloha Rick,
Jason Collins finished second in the last Aloha Open. If you play about Jason's speed you would absolutely love it at Hawaiian Brian's as a "regular". At Jason's level you could play "even" with about twenty different guys and another twenty or so just a little better than him, or match up with a bunch of guys below that speed. Of course there are others better, but as a whole, everyone finds their own level and matches up with the others above or below their particular speed. What really makes the poolroom special is the amount of gamblers that come in at different times because of their work schedule. You have the afternoon crowd and the night crowd. At my level (about Jason's), I could play everyday for $20 or $40 a game if I wanted to. But when you get old, some days you just don't feel like playing. If you do come back someday, bring your cue. Talk to the manager on duty. I'm sure he could find a game for you. Or if you can, check out table 27, 28 or 29 and hit some balls. If you show some speed, some one will ask you to play.
 
Aloha Jayz,

Mahalo for the 411. I played on 33, 32 and I think it was 27 against Jason. I'm 53 so you don't have to tell me about age, lol! If I'm playing my game, I think I can hang with Jason. I really thought he was stalling on me though. He started out pretty weak and then came into his game more. He said he doesn't gamble anymore so I guess he was just cold at first and then warmed up.

I'm not much of a gambler but I was in the mood to play for $20 or so because I was on vacation and expected to spend money anyway.

Btw, I lived in Hawaii, on Clark St, from '70 to '72. I'd love to live there again but doesn't it confine you a little as a pool player? On the mainland here, I can go to a dozen different pool halls in a 100 mile radius.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top