Sure miss them old pool rooms of years long ago that seem to be gone

I love those old black-and-whites.

Not so long ago, doing some research on the Internet about pool, I came across an old black-and-white photo from a pool room in Eureka, California. It showed some gentlemen in suits playing pool, and it said at the time of the picture, which I think was in the '40s, that Eureka was a pool mecca for pool players.

I have not been able to find that picture since. If anyone can post it up, I sure would appreciate it. I'll even give you an AzBilliards Gold Star, FWIW! :D

JAM
 
quiet!

I'm with you on the noisy pool hall thing. I found a really great room across from the Tradewinds hotel in St. Pete Beach, FL. Tables could be a little nicer and the house cues are junk. But the place is relatively clean, there's a bar and snacks, the tv's are turned way down low and there's NO obnoxious music or electronic games. Places like this are very hard to find nowadays.
 
I learned to hit'em at Happy's in Greenville, NC. I was in college in the mid 80's and this was a true HALL. 18x65? You yelled "Rack!" and Chubby, with stogie in mouth would rack for you for a dime. IN THE 80's. They later went to "by the hour." "That's my Job" would be playing on the jukebox. Small, bottled Cokes were 50 cents. Draft beer was 50 cents. There founded my downfall. What a great place. Chubby, Lenny, Pokey, Little Al, Charlie, Wesley, man they all should have had on costumes. Tables from front to back, bar at the front. The times and stories coming out of that place, I could tupe for days.
 
stick8 said:
there is one in abbyville sc old tables and great hot dogs!!!and another in cordel ga same old tables great hot dogs:D :D :D :D
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Stick,
It sounds like you are a connoisseur of weenies. Must be great having all those young boys so close by at your place, lol. :D
 
Maywood Rec.

Have I out run all the old timers?? Anyone hear of Maywood Rec. out side of Kansas City ,MO. 60's- 70's.
 
stick8 said:
your speaking of mothers in the pass tense ,are they closed??
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Yes sir. Like Steve said...they bulldozed the joint for the lightrail train to run from Pineville up South Blvd to uptown. The place went downhill quite a bit after former pro Kelly Oyama sold it to Malcolm. They just owned the business and the original Mothers owner George still owned the land. When the city bought the land from George then Malcolm was suppose to move the business. He had no interest in doing that...held an auction and sold everything in the building. Presto...no more famous Mother's. I still get misty eyed when driving by the empty field now where it did reside. People have no idea of the action that was seen in that place....I can name a long, long list of absolute top men pros that matched up there. It would read like a hall of fame list. Not too mention the ladies....Kelly playing on the WPBA had a steady stream of pros coming through daily. The first place Allison ever hit a ball when she came over. Kelly busted me and Sam Monday once betting Sam wouldn't win 5 games in a race to 9 against some unknown woman with the big glasses...Karen Corr...before anyone knew her. Just too many stories...I could write a book.:)
 
Brownies in Lakeland,Fl, was before it close in 94 the oldest standing room in the country! truly an old school room till the day it died! just enough room for a few tables, action from open to close. 4 early 1900 brunswicks 4 by 8ft tables, and two 5x10 snooker tables where there was always dollar points or decent stakes golf being played! second floor poolhall with the fan in the window, no jukebox, no tvs, JUST POOL!.........jeremy
 
ironman said:
For me, the place was the Family Fun Center in Denver at 38th $ Sheridan.
The first time I walked in the place, Sam Jones and Al Hogue were playing golf on the snooker table for like $20 $ $2. Good action in 1970. Andy Hudson and Whitey Jack were playin $30 1 pocket and Danny Medina was playing Pic 9 ball, giving Pic the 5 and the break for $500 a game. In the back corner, Dave Nottingham and Joey Torman were dumping a kid who ran a gas station playing $50 sets. On the rail was Bill Ackerman, Leroy Reynolds, Jerry Lawson, Bill Barnes, and the one everyone was trying to trap, Freddie the Jap. Last but hardly least, the fatman Marty Kaman was putting a hotdog eating exhibition and nobody was about to challenge him.
The place had it all, nice equipment, a great kitchen {with one of the best chiliburggers on the planet and a miserable ***** of an owner named Jerry who once threw a meat clever at me.
Yes I miss the place and most of the above mentioned are gone and truly missed or just too pooped to pop.
Teryy Mcfadden eventually bought the Fun Center and called it Paradise Billiards until recently selling out. He too was a great owner and loved the players.
Sorry, just a walk down my own Memory Lane and thoughts about some friends I really miss.
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Was Tim Thompson around then? Did you know him? He played pretty good as I recall.
 
4th and Main was around until the early 80's in downtown L.A. Another great old style room was Glendale Billiards. You went downstairs to the poolroom. It closed in the late 80's too.

I remember the old Red, White and Blue poolroom in Dayton from when I was a kid. That is where I first heard the sound of pool balls clicking. It was on the second floor and they kept the windows open. Winks in Dayton was there before Forest Park Billiards. Where I learned to play. Pappy Winkler watched out for me. The place was full of outlaws, the notorious Stepp gang used it as their office.

McGirr's in New York was definitely old style, as was 7/11. There were still hundreds of places like this in the 60's and 70's when I was running around. For the most part, they all disappeared in the 80's.

One other big one I liked was the Central Club in downtown Oklahoma City. You could gamble at anything there. Pool, Golf (Snooker), Cards, Dice, Sports etc etc. Young suckers like me were welcome guests. I played all games, none very well.
 
ironman said:
For me, the place was the Family Fun Center in Denver at 38th $ Sheridan.
The first time I walked in the place, Sam Jones and Al Hogue were playing golf on the snooker table for like $20 $ $2. Good action in 1970. Andy Hudson and Whitey Jack were playin $30 1 pocket and Danny Medina was playing Pic 9 ball, giving Pic the 5 and the break for $500 a game. In the back corner, Dave Nottingham and Joey Torman were dumping a kid who ran a gas station playing $50 sets. On the rail was Bill Ackerman, Leroy Reynolds, Jerry Lawson, Bill Barnes, and the one everyone was trying to trap, Freddie the Jap. Last but hardly least, the fatman Marty Kaman was putting a hotdog eating exhibition and nobody was about to challenge him.
The place had it all, nice equipment, a great kitchen {with one of the best chiliburggers on the planet and a miserable ***** of an owner named Jerry who once threw a meat clever at me.
Yes I miss the place and most of the above mentioned are gone and truly missed or just too pooped to pop.
Teryy Mcfadden eventually bought the Fun Center and called it Paradise Billiards until recently selling out. He too was a great owner and loved the players.
Sorry, just a walk down my own Memory Lane and thoughts about some friends I really miss.
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I was trying think of the big guys name at Family Fun Center that I played over twenty years ago when I went through there with Poker Paul. It was Bill Ackerman. I beat Bill, who took the loss pretty hard, and made an appointment with Sam Jones (Cigar Sam) to put up a thousand and play the next day. He was the best golf player I ran into on that trip and I was lucky to get away losing around $400 when they closed and didn't want any more. A great golf room with other action as well. We also did pretty well at Colfax Billiards that was a few blocks away.
 
Mothers in Charlotte was downright dangerous before it closed. All the regulars knew it was best to leave before dark.:eek:
 
The old Champions Billiards in Arlington, Virginia used to be a hotbed of action day or night. Lots of roadplayers passed through there during its heydays playing the regulars with the likes of Clay,Chuck, Buck and old Tucker. Wonder whatever happened to Tucker? I wonder if he is still kicking. I can't remember exactly anymore how many tables they had but they were all 9's and kept in excellent condition. You could bet on anything there cause that where's most of the bookies used to hang out. Most of these Filipino players hung out there especially Andam. Used to play against Freddie Boggs, the Postman, and that old rascal of a one pocket player with an eternal bump on his forehead whose name I can't remember. Place was ran by old dude name Beasley, lots of teeth missing but hell of a nice guy. Used to be that you didn't know what to expect when you hang out there. One time I was there for about two to three hours and I walked out of there with at least three grand in my pocket, just sidebetting with this old dude named One Stroke. Then sometime you sit on your butt for a day and you only make fifty dollars if you get lucky. They had an exclusive action table at the back of the room where only the players and backers will be allowed and some preferred patrons.

Ahh, the gool old days of pool makes me smile especially when i remember the big scores we had during our heydays.















bayawak aka tirador
"You got the 8 for life!"
 
even the raytown mo. pool room has just put in a juke box. used to be open 365 days a year 24 hrs a day......seem some matches with the worlds best players and hustlers. tournaments...round the clock.....big time pool. located in the center of the country on the kansas city mo. city limits in a little berg called raytown. what a shame shame shame....owned by don brinks of 3 cushion fame. nothing wrong with don. best guy in the world. just the times are slipping away. the more loud stupid music they put in these places the less it's about pool.
 
GreenPoolChalk said:
Was thinking about some of the old pool room I use to play in that were pretty much all pool, and nothing else.

Sure you could by a beer, soft drink, or candy bar. Some even had those silver metal box warmer were they would put a hot dog in cellophane warper to warm em up.

But there was not rock and roll, or rap playing, and those rooms were all about pool.

Those were to good old days, and I have not run across any places like that in my travels any longer. Anyone else have those fond memories?
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Grab a tissue and read this article from the Washington Post a few years ago.

http://myweb.cableone.net/fargopage/post.htm
 
How long ago did Hollywood Billiards close in San Francisco? I visited there about 5 years ago and it was very old school. You had to walk through the Tenderloin to get there...then go upstairs to see about 20 antique Bruswick 9 and 10 foot pool tables. It just had that stale-ness of pool chalk and smoke that everyone loves.
 
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