Mike Fusco’s World Famous Poolroom Philly’s Boulevard Social and Athletic Club. FUSCO’s !980’s

Cris00009

Cris00009

Member
My name is Chris Mastellone. i grew up in the Boulevard in the 80’s. My buddy Zach Davis and his dad Pete Davis were who introduced me to the place when I was in 6th grade. I was 13. The place stayed open 24/7/365. you actually paid a $1 for a membership card. I have some of the greatest memory’s and will try to put down some of what I can remember here from time to time. I will start by listing names of people from that era in the hope that it will stimulate my memory and more stories to come back to me. If anyone was there or is interested in talking about one of THE BEST and most fun places to play,watch,learn and hang out in the 80’s PLEASE CHIME in!!!!

Mike Fusco, Jimmy Fusco, Petey Fusco, Pooh he was a locksmith for the school district and a billiard player and a tough mofo, Abe, Lorraine a counterwoman, Peter Rabbit, Joe Veasey, Trenton Marty, Stevie “Wonder” Dombrowski, Henry Basheer, Pittsburgh Johnny, Robbie Reiss, Josh the Nit a fat Jewish red headed kid who’s father owned Fayva shoe stores?, Spanish Mike Lebron, Spanish Dave Lebron, Spanish Lou, Gil !!! The Puerto Rican drug dealer that played EVERYONE..road agents and undercover pros were brought in to rob him…Cornflakes now known as Jonny World from Chickies out here in vegas which is where I moved to in 1991, Dayo from Mosconi’s they were close to my age, Gino the gypsy!!, Fat George, Gus Szamboti.

Ill stop there for now but there was a $5 Tuesday night 9ball tournament back then, every week and any or all of the above players might be your 1st round opponent!

I also got see all the touring pro’s come thru Fusco’s when there was a tourney down the AC or at the convention center in Philly.. Hopkins ,Mizerak, Reyes, Strickland,PArica,Rempe.

Just another thing to try to get some comments we would go to Pete Sinklers place in Downingtown and play in the junior 9ball championship. We played Dennis Hatch and Shannon the cannon , Jimmy “the kid” Wetch and others in those tourneys.
 
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Long live H&H.... The houseman ...I think he was an x-fighter/boxer. Will say from the late 60's. Name was Fisher. He bet $5.00 he could pick someone up by the belt with his teeth... He did that. The tables were AMF GoldCrown look a likes. Mike Fusco went into the Cue and Cushion on Cottman...when the Cue was not in the back.
 
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Cris00009 said:
In my day they were all Brunswick Gold Crown’s with Simonis cloth.
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I'm not quite sure ... I think "Time" was $1.50 or slightly more. They had the clock with handles and a time card. Jimmy was the big name...the person to watch. I did not know Mike owned BLVD... My time was before him. I just remember him from Cue&Cushion. He would come in and play the houseman Walt Krebbs. Walt could play.

Welcome to AZB
 
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GoldCrown said:
I'm not quite sure ... I think "Time" was $1.50 or slightly more. They had the clock with handles and a time card. Jimmy was the big name...the person to watch. I did not know Mike owned BLVD... My time was before him. I just remember him from Cue&Cushion.

Welcome to AZB
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Yes Mike Fusco I guess had a beauty salon and bought the Boulevard. I started hanging there in 1981 or so. The time was $2 a hour and it the clock was a big brown machine on corner of front counter and each table had a running clock that would be started when you got the balls.Mike would play straight pool with guys but if he got behind he‘d make up an excuse and just leave. He let me and my buddy Zach practice for free in the summer as long as we did our drills for a couple hours . The L and 15 no count were the main drills. Nice to hear from you.
 
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Cris00009 said:
Yes Mike Fusco I guess had a beauty salon and bought the Boulevard. I started hanging there in 1981 or so. The time was $2 a hour and it the clock was a big brown machine on corner of front counter and each table had a running clock that would be started when you got the balls.Mike would play straight pool with guys but if he got behind he‘d make up an excuse and just leave. He let me and my buddy Zach practice for free in the summer as long as we did our drills for a couple hours . The L and 15 no count were the main drills. Nice to hear from you.
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Interesting what you said about Mike leaving. When Mike came into Cue & Cushion to play Walt… it was direct deposit to Walt’s wallet. My .02 is Mike thought he was better than he was. I knew he owned the salon. He also like high end cues. Hopefully “Pocono” chimes in. He knew Mike somewhat.
 
GoldCrown said:
Interesting what you said about Mike leaving. When Mike came into Cue & Cushion to play Walt… it was direct deposit to Walt’s wallet. My .02 is Mike thought he was better than he was. I knew he owned the salon. He also like high end cues. Hopefully “Pocono” chimes in. He knew Mike somewhat.
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Yes he definitely thought he was better than he was. I remember he had at least a few szamboti’s thru the years. Gus would play in the $5 tuesday night 9ball tourney sometimes. I never got to own a Boti as we called ‘em. Robbie Reiss a kid that owned a flower shop and a lefty with a big game had a beautiful all black 1 I coveted but never got him to sell.
 
Cris00009 said:
Yes he definitely thought he was better than he was. I remember he had at least a few szamboti’s thru the years. Gus would play in the $5 tuesday night 9ball tourney sometimes. I never got to own a Boti as we called ‘em. Robbie Reiss a kid that owned a flower shop and a lefty with a big game had a beautiful all black 1 I coveted but never got him to sell.
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Doc Frye cues were the thing in the 60-70’s. He had a relationship with Gus. My avatar is a Doc.
Doc was tight with Miz.
 
Ok well here’s one circa 1983? Muscle John a well known backer brought Brian Gross thru Philly and to Fusco’s. He was young kid from Georgia I think and a monster!!! He played Jimmy Fusco 9ball and it wasn’t close he drummed on Jimmy for a couple grand. Muscle John was crowing they’d play anybody in the city. Then Gross beat Petey ..and i think he gave Gil a big spot and crushed him but Gil didn’t really go off to out of towners til he got better a few years later.
 
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Some of my favorite days and nights at Fusco’s was when Peter Rabbit and Joe Veasey would play one pocket..They’d usually sit around bickering and making the game for as long as the matches took. They were HILARIOUS. If you ever saw them you’d remember it for the rest of your life. The Rabbit would almost always get staked. They’d play for $100 a game or a race to 5 for $500 or a thousand. It all depended on who was around. Later in life when I dropped out of college I actually sold storm windows door to door with EL Rabbito on the mean streets of Camden New Jersey although not for very long, but i digress, back to the match, the 2 of them would talk between every shot. It always got racial as they had an ongoing Schtick. The Rabbit would make american Indian references while dancing around the table going “haaaaay yaaah yahhh yaaah hey yahhh yahh yaahhh” like he was doing a Indian rain or war dance!!!! I would almost piss my pants. If the Rabbit was winning he’d draw it out so long running the last couple balls with his patented head snap move just as he hit the cue ball every time. When Veasey got to the table and was winning he’d scream “off to the showersssssssss” with a German accent!!!! Oh god I wish i had video. I saw them play soooo many times. It would have been a reality show in the 90’s or 2000’s. Rabbit would call Veasey every version of his name from BEASEY to Lichtenstein. me and Zach called each other Lichtenstein for years even to this day we say it.
 
Never saw Rabbit play but heard about him. SO..there was beer distributor on Rennard Ave in Philmont named Peter Rabbit Beverages. The owner said people were constantly coming in looking for PR.
Take some of the 1P stories to onepocket.org
 
Jimmy Fusco... Mr. Stuck in Traffic. If he was to meet you for anything non pool game related he was late...and stuck in traffic...over and over and ....
 
Cris00009 said:
Some of my favorite days and nights at Fusco’s was when Peter Rabbit and Joe Veasey would play one pocket..They’d usually sit around bickering and making the game for as long as the matches took. They were HILARIOUS. If you ever saw them you’d remember it for the rest of your life. The Rabbit would almost always get staked. They’d play for $100 a game or a race to 5 for $500 or a thousand. It all depended on who was around. Later in life when I dropped out of college I actually sold storm windows door to door with EL Rabbito on the mean streets of Camden New Jersey although not for very long, but i digress, back to the match, the 2 of them would talk between every shot. It always got racial as they had an ongoing Schtick. The Rabbit would make american Indian references while dancing around the table going “haaaaay yaaah yahhh yaaah hey yahhh yahh yaahhh” like he was doing a Indian rain or war dance!!!! I would almost piss my pants. If the Rabbit was winning he’d draw it out so long running the last couple balls with his patented head snap move just as he hit the cue ball every time. When Veasey got to the table and was winning he’d scream “off to the showersssssssss” with a German accent!!!! Oh god I wish i had video. I saw them play soooo many times. It would have been a reality show in the 90’s or 2000’s. Rabbit would call Veasey every version of his name from BEASEY to Lichtenstein. me and Zach called each other Lichtenstein for years even to this day we say it.
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I was a member of the Boulevard Social Club.
I believe it was on top of a Penn Fruit super market and the outside had pool balls painted on the walls at Cottman and the Boulevard,
if I remember correctly.
Many a morning I walked out of that place as the sun was coming up after watching these guys play.
I do remember watching one pocket games with Peter Rabbit and Joe Veasey and the commentary from both players as they were playing.
Spot shots were like basketball free throws for those guys.
I was about 16 at the time.

Played a few miles down the road at Welsh and the Boulevard too at a place called Moulin Rouge which eventually became Country Club Billiards.
A little further down Cottman (rt73) was Burlholme Billiards across from the driving range.
 
philly said:
I was a member of the Boulevard Social Club.
I believe it was on top of a Penn Fruit super market and the outside had pool balls painted on the walls at Cottman and the Boulevard,
if I remember correctly.
Many a morning I walked out of that place as the sun was coming up after watching these guys play.
I do remember watching one pocket games with Peter Rabbit and Joe Veasey and the commentary from both players as they were playing.
Spot shots were like basketball free throws for those guys.
I was about 16 at the time.

Played a few miles down the road at Welsh and the Boulevard too at a place called Moulin Rouge which eventually became Country Club Billiards.
A little further down Cottman (rt73) was Burlholme Billiards across from the driving range.
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Was above Horn&Hardards somewhere near Levick. I remember Penn Fruit. Moulin
Was a dump. Never felt comfortable in there.
 
GoldCrown said:
Was above Horn&Hardards somewhere near Levick. I remember Penn Fruit. Moulin
Was a dump. Never felt comfortable in there.
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I never saw Moulin that way.
It was just another poolroom to me.
The Boulevard was no palace either.
Those were the days.
 
philly said:
I never saw Moulin that way.
It was just another poolroom to me.
The Boulevard was no palace either.
Those were the days.
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Did not love some of the people in Moulin… needed a wet suit to go into the bathroom. Rug seams were a tripping hazard. Blvd had a better snack machine.
 
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Did the Boulevard have a separate one pocket tournament right before the Legends of One Pocket tournament in Philly that Steve Cook won in 1991? Must have been some crazy action with all those players in town.
 
The Boulevard was on top of a laundrymat with Gaudios right there behind it at Buselton and Roosevelt boulevard. Yes levick was the street behind gaudios that we took to go home and get back on boulevard.
 
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