Name a pool hall you wish was still open today
- Thread starter fast&loose designs
- Start date
It's not so much the pool halls themselves; it's the players who inhabited them. It would be pointless for Palace Billiards or Cochran's to come back to San Francisco or the Blue Cue (1965-1967) to come back to Berkeley if the people I remember in them were not there.
Which one was upstairs in the tenderloin? IIRC it was cochrans. It was still open around 2001...
Ian
Gentlemen Jim’s, Lake St. Mostly a bunch of jerks, but good tables and good house cues.
They were within a couple of blocks of each other when I knew them. They both had windows to Market Street, but Cochran's entrance was on Golden Gate.
Cochran's was taken over by Tony Annigoni and partners after they had taken over and then closed Palace Billiards. I believe Cochran's was rechristened "The Cue Club" and may have turned into Hollywood Billiards later. It now seems to have been turned into residential space, judging from Street View.
I second that, I did not often go to that room, but when they were going and pool was also going, the had some nice tournaments there.
Country Club was the place I first saw pros in person, including a teenage Alex P that was drawing a crowd even then.
Another one in Boston area that was a great room was Brighton Billiards. Basement room with 8 pristine setup GC tables, tight space, crowded, waiting lists, smoked in, but always enjoyed going there. It would probably have to be a tie for me between Brighton and CC if I could only see one open, but it has to be with the provision that the rooms were like they were in their prime for any of them. I don't want to see some run-down place with 3 players in it and 14 kids spilling their beer on the tables listening to rap about doing chicks and buying cars.
A lot of rooms closed in the Boston, central MA area that I miss, Mr Billiards in Framingham where I learned to play, GeeCues in Marlborough, Boston Billiards (oddly enough for a chain this was one of the bigger action rooms in the area). About 3-4 more rooms closed that I visited for tournaments.
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Chelsea billiards NYC
The Rack in Detroit.....when Gil Elias owned it.
...if you were too poor to own a TV, you could come to The Rack...
....and get better entertainment.
A man of ‘respect’ in the black community, Redd Fox, was his ‘pool room’ name....
...played pretty sporty one-hole...playing Beaver (liked to wear a beaver hat)....
...Beaver was much darker skinned....needed a healthy spot off Redd, and usually lost.
...so Beaver has finally got Redd stuck pretty good one day..getting, I think, 8-5....
Redd is racking, Beaver is chalking....Beaver is up about 20 Gs....
...Beaver says “Redd, we need to jack up the bet...you ain’t nothin’ but a white fag anyways.”
....the room goes still....NOBODY talks to Redd like this....Redd looks up from the rack...
...stares at Beaver with those eyes that make people tremble....
....and cracks up laughing...:rotflmao1:
Beaver wins about 30 Gs that day....struts around the room....saying...
“I’m gonna buy me a Winnebago...and I’m goin’ on the ROAD!!!”
I’ve played at fancier rooms...but The Rack takes second place to NO room for playing
conditions....and any player had a chance to become a wealthy man.
...if you were too poor to own a TV, you could come to The Rack...
....and get better entertainment.
A man of ‘respect’ in the black community, Redd Fox, was his ‘pool room’ name....
...played pretty sporty one-hole...playing Beaver (liked to wear a beaver hat)....
...Beaver was much darker skinned....needed a healthy spot off Redd, and usually lost.
...so Beaver has finally got Redd stuck pretty good one day..getting, I think, 8-5....
Redd is racking, Beaver is chalking....Beaver is up about 20 Gs....
...Beaver says “Redd, we need to jack up the bet...you ain’t nothin’ but a white fag anyways.”
....the room goes still....NOBODY talks to Redd like this....Redd looks up from the rack...
...stares at Beaver with those eyes that make people tremble....
....and cracks up laughing...:rotflmao1:
Beaver wins about 30 Gs that day....struts around the room....saying...
“I’m gonna buy me a Winnebago...and I’m goin’ on the ROAD!!!”
I’ve played at fancier rooms...but The Rack takes second place to NO room for playing
conditions....and any player had a chance to become a wealthy man.
I’d be fine with the current rooms if they were packed with bangers in the back tables, and players on the front tables. Now, they are mostly ghost towns.
All of them.....
Alaska has had few pool halls compared to the rest of the nation. But, I miss all of them. I doubt I will ever leave this place as it is all I know, but if I did I would want to live close to a pool playing town.
The original Billiard Palace in Anchorage was by far the best pool room Alaska ever had. Unfortunately, I was in the midst of my almost 40 year absence from the pool scene and never spent much time there.
Mark Griffin created the original Palace and it was a classy place.
I think a few of the pool halls I have read about in the "states", should of been designated as being of "historical significance" and preserved by what ever federal agency our government has for such places.
I doubt my hick town will ever see another real pool hall again. Just not enough real pool players here. Woe is me.......
Alaska has had few pool halls compared to the rest of the nation. But, I miss all of them. I doubt I will ever leave this place as it is all I know, but if I did I would want to live close to a pool playing town.
The original Billiard Palace in Anchorage was by far the best pool room Alaska ever had. Unfortunately, I was in the midst of my almost 40 year absence from the pool scene and never spent much time there.
Mark Griffin created the original Palace and it was a classy place.
I think a few of the pool halls I have read about in the "states", should of been designated as being of "historical significance" and preserved by what ever federal agency our government has for such places.
I doubt my hick town will ever see another real pool hall again. Just not enough real pool players here. Woe is me.......