Old School Pool Halls and Non-Pool Gambling

[Biloxi Boy]

The game of pool was never the main source of support in any pool hall I frequented coming up. It was gambling that paid the light bills. Later on, alcohol began to play a larger role.

Before I was even able to pick up a cue, my father would take me into the ancient establishment he frequented in his youth. It was a full blown, out in the open, den of iniquity complete with chalk tote boards and ticker tape machines. I never played in this place as it was across town and had closed down by the time I could drive.

In my teens, the pool room I lived in openly made book. There were no boards or machines, but Parlay Sheets and Daily Racing Forms were everywhere on the counter and tables. There was usually a card game at a back-corner table going on at all hours. Old style "grid" pinball machines lined one wall. Action was the essence of the establishment. Excessive consumption of alcohol was rare, although cold beers were de riguere if one could pass as "of age". (Us kids had to be satisfied with ice cold bottles of our hometown Barq's Rootbeer.) Table time was a buck, or a buck and a half, an hour -- regardless of the number of players. Once we gained entrance, we thought we had died and gone to heaven, and no one ever had to instruct or remind us to keep our business in a row.

Later on, non-pool gambling moved underground. One had to know to ask, but it was all there. The card games were eventually moved to a room in the back.

I suspect that mine was a common experience, but I would like to hear. Anyone?

 

[gcmortal]

I moved to a small Midwest farm town for my senior year of HS. The tables in that room (three 9 ft, two 10 ft snooker, and one 10ft pool, newest table made ~1920) were essentially a front for the pinochle and rum and Cherry Masters in the back room. The cops knew and did not care as long as they didn't get angry wife calls about missing paychecks. Never saw more than three tables in use at one time. The owner took fine care of the pool side, brushed tables, tips on cues, cloth as needed, but it wasn't what was keeping the lights on. Table time was also ridiculously cheap because why not. Daytime only, no alcohol. Pull a soda bottle out from behind the hinged glass door or get coffee from the machine that dropped a paper cup first.

I knew then I was lucky to be there, but didn't know quite *how* lucky....

 

[sjm]

The late and great Jimmy Fusco, whose room was South Philly Billiards, used to boast that he could find out anybody's speed in both pool and cards in under an hour. Card playing, he told me, was as central to the operation as pool playing.

 

[maha]

called the good old days.

 

[Tobermory]

Dear Biloxi Boy,

From 1951 to 1970 there was a push against illegal gambling all across the nation. It started in 1951 with the Kefauver Commisskin at the Federal level. That phase was not particularly effective. In 1961, however, things really took off with another Senate investigation which more effectively connected with state and municipal authorities. Bobby Kennedy was the force behind the movement.

I should imagine that if you looked up Newport, Kentucky, on the Web and read the story of it during that period you would have an excellent example of the very effective movement against illegal gambling in those two decades.

Regards,

Tobermory

 

[Tobermory]

I just Googled “Newport, Kentucky” myself, and actually didn’t find much on our subject. The victors write the history. Newport is now very gentrified and cultural.

But Google at “Before there was Vegas, there was Newport” tells all. The period of 1951-1970 doesn’t come until the very end of the piece.

 

[Biloxi Boy]

Thank you all for your replies.

The Kefauver Hearings are old news in Biloxi:

"During a national investigation into organized crime involved in interstate commerce in the 1950s, Tennessee Sen. Estes Kefauver convened a congressional committee in Biloxi to the delight of area ministers. Still, the practice persisted until the late 1960s when the last of the wink-and-a-nod rooms faded into history. Hurricane Camille wiped away the remnants of any land-based gaming joints." V. Creel, Buckle Up Biloxi.

Camille was in 1969. However, by the time it hit, it had been a long time since folks on the Coast could walk into a joint and be greeted by an array of crap and 21 tables. Somewhere in the 60's, many of Biloxi's "dealers" migrated to Las Vegas -- so many in fact that there came to be a neighborhood in Las Vegas called "Little Biloxi". To the surprise of few of us here, many of these ex-pats returned home in the 90's once gaming became legal. (We also had a significant influx of casino workers from New Jersey move down, my good friend Mike Surber among them.)

Its hard to believe that we've been legal for 30 years -- time flies. The success of gaming here, however, was predictable -- we were a natural. What is difficult to comprehend is the proliferation of casino gambling, sports betting, etc., across the more conservative areas of America. In view of the changing attitude toward gambling, as evidenced by widespread legalization, I do not see how folks can continue to assert that pool continues to suffer from an association with gambling. Is it ok to risk money on a football game, but betting on pool must remain condemned?

For a good account of the history of legal gaming in Biloxi:

Buckle Up Biloxi! - GGB Magazine

Thirty years of rockin’ and rollin’ with legal casino gaming

ggbmagazine.com

The Biloxi Strip, located on US 90 just outside the western city limits, was the center of our old "tourist trap" gambling mecca during the the "good old days" of the 40's, 50's and 60's:

Decades Ago, Biloxi, Mississippi Was A City Of Vices

Biloxi is a popular city, and that doesn't seem to be anything new. Decades ago, it was known as the "hot spot of the Deep South."

www.onlyinyourstate.com

"Mississippi Mud", based on the Sherry Murders, provides a good account of the Dixie Mafia and final, final days of The Strip.

 

[Biloxi Boy]

Not the first, or the last, time I've been wrong,

 

[mnorwood]

You guys should google Sam and Rose Maceo and the maceo family in Galveston. They ran illegal gambling on the island for 40 years. There casino chips were accepted as currency. Pool rooms served as fronts for cards and slot machines in the back. They financed exhibition matches for billiards and other games. It was Maceo money that financed the establishment of Vegas and the family founded the ufc before selling it to Dana white. Vegas and Galveston have a strong connection. The Maceo empire fell in the early 60s. The death of the 2 brothers with the push against gambling ended them. The book about there life is a good read.

 

[DynoDan]

called the good old days.

Go figure. Small time/personal/non-organized gambling was a ‘way-of-life’ growing up in the 50s midwest. Marbles first, then poker, and then pool. Nowadays, if you ask your opponent if he’d like to “make the game more interesting?”, he looks at you like you‘re crazy.

 

[lfigueroa]

Growing up in San Francisco and oft visiting The Palace and Cochrans, it was pretty much a given you'd be betting something with someone.

Nowadays you can go weeks without a money game, and then when it pops up it's for small money. When I was learning 1pocket just 20 years ago you were expected to bet a hundred or two for a set. I can only imagine what it was like further back in time.

Lou Figueroa

 

[maha]

yea when you went into most any pool room someone would play you for what would be about the minimum hourly wage in the area any game you wanted. and not even close to the better players in the room.
and the more regular gamblers would bet a 100 on all kinds of bets or gimmick shots if they thought it was a good bet or they had a good chance.
the west cost had the worse gamblers and the east coast had the toughest ones.

 

[Colonel]

The game of pool was never the main source of support in any pool hall I frequented coming up. It was gambling that paid the light bills. Later on, alcohol began to play a larger role.

Before I was even able to pick up a cue, my father would take me into the ancient establishment he frequented in his youth. It was a full blown, out in the open, den of iniquity complete with chalk tote boards and ticker tape machines. I never played in this place as it was across town and had closed down by the time I could drive.

In my teens, the pool room I lived in openly made book. There were no boards or machines, but Parlay Sheets and Daily Racing Forms were everywhere on the counter and tables. There was usually a card game at a back-corner table going on at all hours. Old style "grid" pinball machines lined one wall. Action was the essence of the establishment. Excessive consumption of alcohol was rare, although cold beers were de riguere if one could pass as "of age". (Us kids had to be satisfied with ice cold bottles of our hometown Barq's Rootbeer.) Table time was a buck, or a buck and a half, an hour -- regardless of the number of players. Once we gained entrance, we thought we had died and gone to heaven, and no one ever had to instruct or remind us to keep our business in a row.

Later on, non-pool gambling moved underground. One had to know to ask, but it was all there. The card games were eventually moved to a room in the back.

I suspect that mine was a common experience, but I would like to hear. Anyone?

My father’s hall had pool tables, sold soda pop and those old Stewart sandwiches that were heated up in the device provided by the sandwich guy and a cigarette machine. There were 2 pay phones and a pair of bookies who set up shop there and paid my father a kick back. Everything was driven by action of some sort.

 

[BRKNRUN]

Isn't that where the name "Pool Hall" actually came from? (and ultimately the American version "Pool')

 

[FranCrimi]

In the 70s and 80s in South Queeens, NY, pool rooms were upscaling their look to try to attract more of the public, but inside, it was still the same --- just disguised a little more. My local room was walking distance to the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club, so who do you think were among the regulars? It was all going on, but quietly. They were all over the rooms in South Queens, actually. But these guys did protect their turf, and if you were a regular who didn't cause any trouble, you were protected as well if you were on their turf.

The troublemakers were the ones lowest on the totem poles --- the wannabees who maybe knew somebody, or worked for somebody in a low capacity. I remember one time in the early 80's, I was being harassed by one of the low-life wannabees. He had a serious disrespect for women, and the filthy trash that came out of his mouth threatening me was disgusting. I couldn't take it anymore, so I went straight to a regular who I knew was high up on the totem pole and I said to him, "You tell me --- should I stop coming here? Because, I can't take the harassment anymore."

He said, "You stay right where you are. I'll take care of it. Next time, if this ever happens to you again, let me know right away." From the next day- on, the trash-talking lowlife was quiet as a church mouse and hardly spoke to anyone again. And he avoided me like the plague, as the saying goes.

 

[DynoDan]

My father’s hall had pool tables, sold soda pop and those old Stewart sandwiches that were heated up in the device provided by the sandwich guy and a cigarette machine. There were 2 pay phones and a pair of bookies who set up shop there and paid my father a kick back. Everything was driven by action of some sort.

Most 50s small town poolrooms also had soda fountains. A small coke cost a nickel. Most usually had an ongoing 9-ball ring game you could join, though with the better players, you often had to pay for a dozen+ money balls before your turn came around, and you were usually hooked then, so you paid for another dozen before you could finally see your ball.

 

[alphadog]

Most 50s small town poolrooms also had soda fountains. A small coke cost a nickel. Most usually had an ongoing 9-ball ring game you could join, though with the better players, you often had to pay for a dozen+ money balls before your turn came around, and you were usually hooked then, so you paid for another dozen before you could finally see your ball.

Good times indeed.