Name a pool hall you wish was still open today

[GentlemanJames]

yea, there wasn't any viable locations available which were not in an industrial park. Even the old Kmart on MacDade (still vacant ) wasn't willing to budge on the premium square footage price. I still haven't settled on a "substitute". Any recommendations? I'm in the heart of delco...
My Dad used to shoot at Delco Billiards Academy and many bar leagues. *I grew up in Drexeline Billiards...Wish I still had all my dads trophies...

*Thinking about it, I actually spent more time in local bars than Drexeline. As did every other family in the Softball, Darts, and Pool Leagues in during the 90's.

Great Pic!

I hope Bob (or someone) thought to grab the Drexeline sign out of the lightbox on the side of the building! I hate to think that glowing Delco icon might end-up broken and tossed carelessly in a scrap heap by a non-pool playing construction guy when the demolition begins! If it's still up, someone needs to grab that bad boy, before it's too late. - GJ

 

[libtrucker]

Reney's Billiards Academy , New Britain , Ct.

Where was this? That's my hometown and I've never heard of it

 

[fan-tum]

Pool Room

Tacony Billiards,Philly

Town and Country, Sunnyvale, Mtn. View??

 

[fan-tum]

How long did that place last? I remember working there when they were first getting started but that’s a story for another day.

That's the one with 100 tables, right? I'd rather go to a room with 20 nice tables than those 100 blah tables.

 

[rabbitt]

S.m not so much the pool halls themselves; it's the players inhabited them. It would be pointless for Palac e 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.

Thanks for Saying that BOB That Was my 1st Love of Places..We used come up from San Mateo bay area etc..Tony (rip) And others.I was about 16 and spent many nights in the car.Because Paul At the Palace was tough on following the 18 yrs old Rule.This was at the Time when players were moving to Detroit Etc.Cohcrans was going down hill,And the Action Was in other States,and Going strong..Get with the Ways Players We're Staying up For Days and Get Stake Horse,and Rack Em. The Rabbit..

 

[u12armresl]

The Strand, Charleston WV.

It only had about 5 pool tables. They were vintage 9ft Brunswicks with 5in bucket pockets. The slate even sloped in toward each pocket. Super easy tables.

But they also had two billiard tables, and I enjoyed going there to watch older players play 3-cushion. Now the nearest billiard table is a road trip away.

Everything in The Strand was dated 1940's or earlier, such a great atmosphere. When they closed down a few years back, I went to the estate sale and bought a few items. I still have and use the kelly pills and dirty old jug that all the players used in that place from the 1940's until the doors were closed for good.

Those guys would bet on anything.

 

[u12armresl]

Bruce's Billiards and Sticks and Stones (same place)

No better "C" tournament in the entire country.
Plenty of action, great calcutta, awesome house players, big table, 10ft, bar box, 3 cushion, it had everything.

 

[David in FL]

Sailor‘s, in Racine, Wisconsin.

Owned by Frank Stellman.

A bygone era.

 

[LHP5]

Sure do miss VIP Billiards and Bill and Billies in MD. Good old days.

 

[goatgod]

“The rack” in Jackson, TN. This place held my soul as I flunked out of a small Christian college nearby. Great folks. Great players.

 

[Goldy]

Don’t forget THe Truckdriver....played a tad better than Vickery.

You mean this legend?

 

[Rusty in Montana]

Corner Pocket Billiards any and all of them and then the Colfax Billiards in Denver even if I was there only one time .

 

[fan-tum]

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.

Windows? Didn't B.P. have wall to wall mirrors? I don't recall any windows. The same goes for Cochrans(but no mirrors).

 

[fan-tum]

Being from Southern California, there are lots that have closed down in the 15 or so years I've been playing. Golden Cue Billiards in El Monte CA is for sure the one I wished most was still open. What are yours?

There were only 2 rooms where I would've welcomed a body guard...Golden Cue and Cochran's, the back exit.

 

[1pocket]

I would like to have seen one of the old style downtown pool halls in Chicago or New York.

You still can if you go to Chris's Billiards in Chicago

 

[1pocket]

Weenie Beenie's room that was open 365/24 for 14 years I believe -- would be another good one to visit if you could travel back in time... Was it Guys and Dolls or?? I did go once for a couple of hours mid 70's when I was driving through the area.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Windows? Didn't B.P. have wall to wall mirrors? I don't recall any windows. The same goes for Cochrans(but no mirrors).

Cochran's location did have windows open later after ownership changed, I'm pretty sure. I think both rooms had windows built in but they were painted over and/or covered with mirrors.

 

[Taxi]

Weenie Beenie's room that was open 365/24 for 14 years I believe -- would be another good one to visit if you could travel back in time... Was it Guys and Dolls or?? I did go once for a couple of hours mid 70's when I was driving through the area.

Beenie's (Jack & Jill) was in Shirlington, VA. Guys and Dolls was in Silver Hill, MD. Guys and Dolls was the best action room in the DC area until Beenie's opened in early 1968. Both of them were open 24/7. Personally I liked Guys and Dolls better, because those Gandy tables at Jack & Jill were the pits, and during the warm weather the humidity made them nearly unplayable.

The room I wish I could see again was McGirr's, on 8th Ave. in New York between 44th and 45th. Great atmosphere, world class players, and every type of table from super tight 9 ft. to 5 x 10's to 3 cushion and snooker tables. Think of the 211 Club in Seattle, only with much more action.

 

[Colonel]

Guys & Dolls and USA Billiards, both in Maryland. I’ve been in a lot of pool halls in my life but I saw just about everything you could ever see in a pool room in both of those places. From drug dealers getting taken off for a 6 figure score and actually paying it right there in cash, to a guy that always harped about how he didn’t carry a wallet and that his bank roll was “right here” tapping his front pants pocket and watching him fall asleep in a chair and have a guy take a box cutter and cut open his pocket while he slept and take it, to a Pimp calling a pay phone on 14th St. in D.C. to get one of his girls to collect from his stable and drive out into Maryland to give him a fresh cash infusion. When pool was colorful.

 

[Twocylndr]

Capital Q Billiards downtown Springfield, IL.