Hollywood Billiards- The End???

Just saw a rerun of Last Call with Carson Daly taped from Spot 5750 just before the Superbowl. Sure hope it was filmed after hours because he was the only one in the place. The house cues laying on the tables were all black (shafts included). I suppose it be only fitting if the house cues were fiberglass.

During one segment he says "It's a great spot here, it's huge. It's like a club, sports bar, night club, food, did I say club?" LOL No mention of pool hall in that description.
 
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Fatboy2 said:
let the ugly people play good ustairs and the pretty people play ugly down stairs
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Actually it would have been better the other way around.

Call the upstairs the "VIP" section....Put the crappy lighting and red cloth on those tables.....

Tell people that they can't get in unless they are good looking...aka..."on the list".....Have a million in the bank.......no make that 2 million......or are a broke ex football player that has played in at least two pro bowls.

Let the idiots with egos in that town feel special while they are walking up the stairs to the joke tables.
 
westcoast said:
Funny thing is that he seems to wear the same outfit all the time- all black. A friend of mine refers to him as the "Creature of the Night". Seems to shoot 1 pocket really well. He seems to live at HOB- I don't know if I've ever been there and not seen him.

I practice at the HOB in Santa Monica, but don't gamble. I'm simply a recreational league player. I just find the whole hustling scene fascinating. Would love to do a sociological and psychological study on it.

I wonder why 1 pocket and 3 cushion have become the dominant games there? You'd think rotation games and 14.1 would get some play.
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i did find hob fascinating too. its like an "island" of one pocket, isolated in such an unsuspecting area. i played danny.... this guy is/was truly a character. there was 30 minutes of asking me who ive played and where im from... and then for 10 a game he quit after the first one, and i never ran more than 2 or 3 balls. he mumbled something like "i just have a bad feeling about this". it was like he was dying to play, and dying to quit all at once. haha, i think too many people have heard about him, and hes seen it all too many times. anyway... why did they boot him??

then there are almost worldbeaters in there. richard plays so good. im sure hed hate it if he sawe this, but that there is a STRONG (and relatively unknown) one hole player. its like you gotta play like mark tadd, or play like a b player to get a good game in there. anything in between and you're kinda stuck.

then there is hollywood. id didnt like it. i was only in town for a weekend, my friend was raving about it. max didnt want to play one hole?! odd to me. i wish i had the 9ball speed to play him on his own tables, but im not mark tadd. and noobody else wanted to play. maybe i was there on an off night? who knows.... point is, the old hollywood was the shiz..... that place was a real poolhall. these seem to be fewer and fewer nowadays.
 
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Just wondering if anyone has been in there on a Saturday night can report how the place is doing. I don't mean as a serious pool hall (I think we know how that is going), just whether the change in their business model and focus appears to have worked out for them.
 
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Well there it is, Hollywood Billiards was morphed by its genius owner Jef Bey into "Spot 5750" an upscale Hollywood nightclub with red cloth and shady lighting on its previously flawless Ernesto tight Gold Crowns and (in keeping with my fond wishes for all the success they deserve) is already closed. I don't know much about business (certainly not as much as Mr Bey) but that seems like a pretty short time for them to recoup a massive remodel and make enough to retire. I hope they all got all the success they deserve.

And for other pool room operators that dislike pool players, well good luck to you all.

Thanks

Kevin
 
Hollywood Billiards

Chances are he changed it because he could tell it wouldn't work the other way. Sometimes you make a radical change as a 'hail mary' to try to stay afloat in some form. Just speculation on my part, but I'm betting it would have closed either way.
 
RackemBilliards said:
Chances are he changed it because he could tell it wouldn't work the other way. Sometimes you make a radical change as a 'hail mary' to try to stay afloat in some form. Just speculation on my part, but I'm betting it would have closed either way.
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By "tell it wouldn't work" maybe you mean "tell he couldn't make it work". Why is it some guys can succeed where others fail? Do you think its just fate?

For example, along the same model of an upscale Billiards Club in a large market area, it seems that Amsterdam Billiards does great and is a very popular billiards location. As opposed to Hollywood Billiards, Amsterdam is quite Billiards positive, lots of pool promotion and at least one event a night. Hollywood Billiards choose the path of zero pool promotion, seeking instead to be a venue for corporate events and parties. But maybe its just luck, who knows?

Thanks

Kevin
 
overlord said:
My understanding is that he sold the business, but not the real estate.
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I had heard something similar, except that he more or less leased out the business rather than sold it. The question of course is who owns the pool tables, and will they have to be sold to pay creditors.

If he was just leasing everything then theoretically he could open up again tomorrow as HB again.

But perhaps as Kevin suggests, the best thing would be for all the Gold Crowns to get auctioned off by a bankruptcy court so that, as Warren Buffet would put it - the capital would go back into society where it could find those people more capable of putting that capital to its highest and best use.
 
Should have been Mecca. Jeff was burned out with his small profit margin business and took it out on the players. The loyal customers! Kevin's right and he did see it all go down.
 
DogsPlayingPool said:
I had heard something similar, except that he more or less leased out the business rather than sold it. The question of course is who owns the pool tables, and will they have to be sold to pay creditors.

If he was just leasing everything then theoretically he could open up again tomorrow as HB again.

But perhaps as Kevin suggests, the best thing would be for all the Gold Crowns to get auctioned off by a bankruptcy court so that, as Warren Buffet would put it - the capital would go back into society where it could find those people more capable of putting that capital to its highest and best use.
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If anyone picks up at table from HB, make it table 13! Best table there.
 
DogsPlayingPool said:
I had heard something similar, except that he more or less leased out the business rather than sold it. The question of course is who owns the pool tables, and will they have to be sold to pay creditors.

If he was just leasing everything then theoretically he could open up again tomorrow as HB again.

But perhaps as Kevin suggests, the best thing would be for all the Gold Crowns to get auctioned off by a bankruptcy court so that, as Warren Buffet would put it - the capital would go back into society where it could find those people more capable of putting that capital to its highest and best use.
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Mitchell

I have no suggestions for Mr Bey, been there done that, I'm not much of one for banging my head against the wall.

I will say that people that have low people skills, or an axe to grind, should not try to exist in a people business. Or they should fade into the background and let those that do possess those skills handle the customers.

Thanks

Kevin
 
If they had paid Paris Hilton her $100,000 appearance fee to show up at the grand opening this wouldn't have happened. :rolleyes:
 
atthecat said:
On table 13! Combine the best of both worlds!
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Everything I've seen of Amsterdam makes that place look like its vibrant and fun.

The first time I walked in HB I was just stunned, what a beautiful place, and the tables were close to perfect (thanks Ernesto and Oscar) and then Jeff came to "welcome" me all angry (I swear) over the fact that I had walked in with a water in my hand. I was like, "I'm sorry man I didn't know" but that wasn't good enough.

The people that habituated that place all did it in spite of Jeff. He once asked me how to have more people come (I had given up on him at that point) and I told him, hell this place would have a waiting list right now if just the regulars you ran out were here.

Kevin
 
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