Most Interesting Poolhall

[JimS]

I enjoyed that piece John. Thanks.

 

[1 Pocket Ghost]

I would probably have to say Colonial Billiards in my hometown of Elizabeth City, NC. The room is virtually the same as it was 50 years ago. Luther Lassiter used to play here every night and the house he grew up in (if its still standing) is only a mile down the road. I started playing there around 19 years ago when I was 10 and since then many of the old timers have passed away... those guys could tell you stories about the Wimp all night long. I pretty much grew up in that place...



Fugeddabout those $1,000,000 yuppie pool halls, That pool hall of yours is a thing of beauty....Thanks for sharing the pics - did you take them?, those are great pics.....

.....I'ts 25 degrees up north here tonight and the wind is howling, so I'm imagining/daydreaming about your pool hall, back in the day....it's a warm sunny afternoon in 1961 and I'm sitting in one of those old plaid covered chairs, drinking a cold glass of lemonade and watching Wimpy playing on the front table.....heaven on earth.

 

[Gunn_Slinger]

Anyone who has been to bennies jack and jills in arlington knows that it was one of the greatest gambling room ever. 22 9 ft special made gandys, 1 gold crown, 1 billiard tbl , one 5x10 snooker tbl and one ping pong tbl. With enough room between tbls to put in another tbl. 2 tbls in the back tourney room with bleachers on both sides. The greatest players of the time came often. Non stop action 24/7...no lock on the door to close, no windows, no clocks....paradice....lol. ive never seen another like it....what a room.

 

[9 ball]

Amsterdam Billiards

Could someone please post some pictures of this place as the website dosen't give you a sense of the atmos that this place exudes.

 

[cyrex]

there was an old pool room in Lodi called "The Rex" I think was the name it looked alot like the one pictured above, it was about 100 years old in the 80's, the floor around the tables was wore down through tthe layers of flooring to the concrete around the 9' tables(what was left of them, it had one of those metal cielings-the paneles that are fancy with all the flowers etc on them fitted together, not girly at all-that s a poor description, anyways it turned into a twekers joint, last i heard it was gone, Meth took out a 100 year old pool room, I heard, it was bad when I went but you could feel the past, i never went back.

Wish this poolroom was still around. Back when they used to use playing chips. Great name for a pool hall.

 

["CaliRed".]

Thread Resurrected for a project

Hi guys... this thread was for 2007 but contains material that I would like to use on a website I am creating. It is a website dedicated to showing what the real pool halls looked like back in the day. Pool Halls and the players that played in them.. I'm looking for stories and pictures.

If any of you have some pictures of these beautiful history laden poolhalls from the past, can you please send to photos@oldpoolhall.com ?

If you need them scanned, I would be more that happy to do so for nothing, and I would also put them on a CD for you to preserve them.

Thanks!

"CaliRed"

 

[3kushn]

I went to watch the World 9 Ball Tourney 1975 in Burlington IA. There was a room down the street from the Arena where the floor looked like an earthquake occured there. There seemed to be a 12" difference in floor elevation from one end of the table to the other. Always wondered who the table mechanic was.

 

[Str8PoolPlayer]

The Jointed Cue .... what more could you ask for ?

 

[wrldpro]

i would probably have to say colonial billiards in my hometown of elizabeth city, nc. The room is virtually the same as it was 50 years ago. Luther lassiter used to play here every night and the house he grew up in (if its still standing) is only a mile down the road. I started playing there around 19 years ago when i was 10 and since then many of the old timers have passed away... Those guys could tell you stories about the wimp all night long. I pretty much grew up in that place...

wimpy used to sit on the nearest corner of the bench to the right

yeah that pool hall is old school.i went into that poolhall and you walk up a staircase to get to it.it didnt open tioll 4pm in the afternoon so i went back at 5pm and the guy working there was asleep in a chair.my aunt lives and works in that town maybe you have heard of anita hummer.

 

[fan-tum]

For me, the old Cochran's pool hall in the San Francisco tenderloin tops the list. You could find action in that room 24/7, because they never closed the doors. Same thing across the street (Market, I believe) at the Palace. I spent about a month between those two places, during the so-called Summer of Love in 1967.

Found that I was drawn more to the pool scene than to what was happening in Haight Ashbury, but that was pretty cool too. And I remember seeing this sign on a shop window: "Janice Joplin got tatooed here."

Anyway, lots of great players in those days, like Paul Silva, whose nickname I've appropriated for my handle here. I've never seen anyone move the cue ball the way that guy did. Seems like he ran racks without his cueball ever touching the rail, yet he played for peanuts.

Bill Stroud was shooting in Cochran's, traveling with his big sheep dog named Josh. I knew Bill from Colorado, and he could see that I was tapped out. I helped him out by walking Josh, and Bill would send me out on other errands and slip a few bucks in my pocket. Good guy.

Man, you're stirring up the memories. As a young Navy guy stationed across the bay at Alameda I'd spend my weekends either at the Fillmore or Cochran's or Palace or just walking all over the city( great walking city-S.F.). Loved to watch Searcey play payball on the 12 footers. Did you ever eat at the Italian place Polo's near Cochran's? Loved it.

 

[ne14tennis]

Been there Once

There were two pool halls where I grew up, so long ago it's hard to remember anything other than lots of tables.

About 2 years ago i made a trip to Colorado Springs CO and visited Antique Billiards. Some regulars hanging around and a few military folks banging the balls. What caught my eye was the first half of the place.

Overall it was huge with 35-50 tables and the back half was mostly Diamonds and a huge 6 legged monstrosity.

The front half was all restored tables anywhere from late 1800s thru 1960's or 1970's. There was also 3 old tables stacked on top of each other waiting to be restored. The woodwork on those tables was amazing!