Old school pool room

zeeder

zeeder

Will queue for cues
Silver Member
I haven’t been playing much but the last few outings have been at a pool room that’s been open for over a hundred years (est 1884), Booches in Columbia, MO. It’s a pretty small place but they have a 10’ billiards table, two 10’ snooker tables and three 9’ pool tables. Here’s the table I was playing on yesterday:

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The tables actually play really well. The only things that take some getting used to are the tiny rails and the fact that they’re angled down some so bridging on the rail is sometimes wood on wood. It’s definitely interesting playing on antique tables. I also took all three of my cues out to directly compare them. I enjoy all three and it was cool to feel the differences back to back.

The Joey is definitely the stiffest and it took a little bit to get used to the butt taper as seems to get narrower at the but end. The Brent Summers is thinner and lighter than I’m used to but it’s still a really solid feel. I need to change the tip though as it’s too soft for me. Lastly, there’s my JMW which just feels like home lol. I have managed to put some scuffs in the finish, I think with my shoes, but it’s not a display piece so I don’t mind it looking played. I was going to take a new group picture but I forgot. I may take my good camera today and see if I can get some decent pics. Here’s a couple I took of the JMW between racks after taking pics of the table:

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If ya see Whitey Walker or Joe Wooford tell em I said hi. If ya see Lutman....ya see lutman. :D
 
Make sure you have a cheeseburger (two, actually) while you're there.

And, NO SNIVELING! (I have a booches' t-shirt that says so).

I spent many a day there in the 70's when I should have been in class at Mizzou. :thumbup: But I remember it back then being called "Club La Booche."
 
sjb said:
Make sure you have a cheeseburger (two, actually) while you're there.



And, NO SNIVELING! (I have a booches' t-shirt that says so).



I spent many a day there in the 70's when I should have been in class at Mizzou. :thumbup: But I remember it back then being called "Club La Booche."
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I had a couple cheeseburgers yesterday. Today I had lunch at Shakespeare’s!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I tried a bit of snooker today and about 20 minutes worth of 3-cushion. After a couple racks of solo snooker I started working on just trying to straighten out my stroke as this let me know how lazy my stroke and aiming has gotten! At the end, I racked the reds and practiced a bit of one pocket.

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The tables look like the Brunswick 'Kling' model, close to the top of line back in the day! Very nice.
 
Looked briefly and don't see any cigarette burns on the rails. They must have been real strict to avoid those. Nice old room!
 
mr3cushion said:
The tables look like the Brunswick 'Kling' model, close to the top of line back in the day! Very nice.
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Like said,Booches has been there since dirt. First table is a 10' Billiard table.
Plays great with new cloth. Unfortunately its the first table right next to the burgers being fried. If you know the table it would be a great table to hustle anyone.

Love Booches but terrible at pocketing balls and then there's the first table that reminds me I can't adjust 2 diamonds.

Don't not miss going there if in Columbia. Great burgers served on wax paper. Not kidding, they are good.
 
Quesports said:
Looked briefly and don't see any cigarette burns on the rails. They must have been real strict to avoid those. Nice old room!
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I'm guessing the rails have been refinished at some point over the past 30 years or so, around the time most rooms started forbidding cigs being laid on the rails. Used to be standard practice anywhere you went. When I was out scuffling back in the early to mid to late 70s, almost EVERY table in every room had neat little burn marks, side by side, up and down all four rails. Kind of like "Kilroy was here" for pool players...
 
zeeder said:
I haven’t been playing much but the last few outings have been at a pool room that’s been open for over a hundred years (est 1884), Booches in Columbia, MO. It’s a pretty small place but they have a 10’ billiards table, two 10’ snooker tables and three 9’ pool tables. Here’s the table I was playing on yesterday:


The tables actually play really well. The only things that take some getting used to are the tiny rails and the fact that they’re angled down some so bridging on the rail is sometimes wood on wood. It’s definitely interesting playing on antique tables. I also took all three of my cues out to directly compare them. I enjoy all three and it was cool to feel the differences back to back.

The Joey is definitely the stiffest and it took a little bit to get used to the butt taper as seems to get narrower at the but end. The Brent Summers is thinner and lighter than I’m used to but it’s still a really solid feel. I need to change the tip though as it’s too soft for me. Lastly, there’s my JMW which just feels like home lol. I have managed to put some scuffs in the finish, I think with my shoes, but it’s not a display piece so I don’t mind it looking played. I was going to take a new group picture but I forgot. I may take my good camera today and see if I can get some decent pics. Here’s a couple I took of the JMW between racks after taking pics of the table:

960cc0d4ccf153c8ed091a1b5adabad3.jpg


Nice lizard skin wrap on your cue. I have the same wrap on my Joss, both Meucci's and the McDermott. My Matty ( the one I''ve had by far the longest, since 78 ) has an alligator wrap I put on myself. The original linen wrap was a bit too aged. I replaced it @ a year or so ago. I like linen but I'll really never have anything but leather wraps anymore.
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Merleti said:
Very cool. Cue looks a little newer. But very cool table. How often do you hear that?
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Yeah, I received the cue in 2007, the tables are more than a century older!

Michael Andros said:
Nice lizard skin wrap on your cue. I have the same wrap on my Joss, both Meucci's and the McDermott. My Matty ( the one I''ve had by far the longest, since 78 ) has an alligator wrap I put on myself. The original linen wrap was a bit too aged. I replaced it @ a year or so ago. I like linen but I'll really never have anything but leather wraps anymore.
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Thanks, I really like the feel of lizard. I had linen on some of my first cues but I don't really like the feel/slickness of linen and need some sort of leather or wrapless nowadays.
 
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