to all pooljunkie and players i am very sadened to bring you this news. i live in merced ca and have played at my local hall the Merced Billiard Club for over the last 4 years. well in an abrupt county and legal decision the owner of the hall was striped of his lease and forced to close down. now some of you may not care at all thats fine. but you have understand that for the last 4 years i saw the owner, my friend pour his heart and soul in this place and just had it yanked away from him in a heart beat. everyone can brag about their own hall but this place was so good that it didnt even deserve to be in my town. he had a kim steel table with an espn tv set up and a us open diamond table with tv balls that were like no other. i feel so helpless because a place and an owner that truely loved this sport and did everything possible to make you better, will no longer be around..... what will i do, where will i play i dont know.... i dont know if i want to play again anymore, because i feel like my heart just has been ripped out of my chest. even better it feels like my best friend has just died............................................................. ladies and gentleman POOL HAS JUST DIED...
The Death Of Pool
- Thread starter pooljunkie0082
- Start date
You don't give details, but it sounds like a real problem with local government. I have had the unfortunate experience of serving on a local planning and zoning board. I live in an area that is much more conservative and leery of government than the average place in California, but i can assure you the people who called themselves "conservatives" were really communists. Seriously, they bought in to every collectivist idea imaginable and were very much against the rights of individuals. I hope this decision motivates you to start taking steps to limit local government drastically. Local government is a huge threat to individual liberty. If it wasn't a government problem the situation is different of course. Sorry about your pool hall.
pooljunkie0082 said:
First of all, PJ0082, sorry to learn of this. I'm not sufficiently aware of the facts or legalities to have any view on whether there was proper justification for the actions of the local governemtn, so it's tough to comment one way or another on whether there was impropriety here. It sounds like you had a great place to play pool.
It's always a shame when a business providing a product or service that you love in a way that you love goes out of business. Most of us, myself included, who've played pool for decades, have seen some great places to play pool close down, and it always hurts. Nonetheless, we always find somewhere else to play, because we love pool.
I am saddened to learn that you are toying with the idea of giving pool up, and hope it's just an emotion of the moment. Pool will give you years of joy if you stick with it. Stay the course --- find a new poolroom in which to play.
pooljunkie0082 said:
Please tell us the whole story. Many places have laws that regulate pool rooms, parking, and so on. That is just the way it is. I would never open a place if I had to begin applying for variances or the city already had a dislike for pool rooms, you are just looking for trouble. The first time your air conditioned drips on the sidewalk or there is a parking problem they start giving you a hard time. Who needs that when you are trying to run a business.
PJ,
I wish yours was the only story of its kind I've heard lately. The closing of any pool room is a reason for "us" to be sad.
I've thought about opening a room here in Rochester. My home town is located "over the hill" here. They are somewhat careful as to who they allow to do business. Our population is around 120 thousand. Monroe Community College is within it's borders. There is not one Mickey D's, Burger King, Wendy's, etc in the entire town. Lots on the borders, not one inside. It seems you must have table service to be in the food service business. Sounds odd, but true. Didn't waste my time with them.
The next town south has the Rochester Institute of Technology within it's borders. Population roughly 70 thousand. It has automotive row and multiple retail plazas. Suburbia as we've come to know and love it. An acquaintance of mine attempted to open a gentleman's club. OK, its a strip bar. No ordinances against that type of business existed. It still cost him $150 thousand in legal fees just to open. One year's potential business was lost fighting. I asked about a family oriented, high end, limited access billiard room. They didn't want me either. I gave up rather than fight. It wasn't worth it. I could never recoup my legal costs. I guess we all have sad stories.
I wish yours was the only story of its kind I've heard lately. The closing of any pool room is a reason for "us" to be sad.
I've thought about opening a room here in Rochester. My home town is located "over the hill" here. They are somewhat careful as to who they allow to do business. Our population is around 120 thousand. Monroe Community College is within it's borders. There is not one Mickey D's, Burger King, Wendy's, etc in the entire town. Lots on the borders, not one inside. It seems you must have table service to be in the food service business. Sounds odd, but true. Didn't waste my time with them.
The next town south has the Rochester Institute of Technology within it's borders. Population roughly 70 thousand. It has automotive row and multiple retail plazas. Suburbia as we've come to know and love it. An acquaintance of mine attempted to open a gentleman's club. OK, its a strip bar. No ordinances against that type of business existed. It still cost him $150 thousand in legal fees just to open. One year's potential business was lost fighting. I asked about a family oriented, high end, limited access billiard room. They didn't want me either. I gave up rather than fight. It wasn't worth it. I could never recoup my legal costs. I guess we all have sad stories.
cardiac kid said:
Des Moines has been without a pool hall for over 4 years. A half a million people in this area and not one 9 foot public table! NOT ONE in Polk county.
Since Don McCaughey closed his place (McCoy's), we pool players have been stuck in bars.
He had a new building all picked out, spent thousands fixing it up, THEN the local govvarmits told him his parking was not right or possible.
So he found another beautiful building and the local govvarmits told him he needed 7 (!!!) stalls in the women's bathroom! I said if only there were that many women coming into a poolhall, what a deal that would be.
He's still looking for a place and I'm still jonesin' for some 9-foot play. Meanwhile, there's a ton of landlords looking to make some cash. And those govvarmit fools wonder why, and express "concern" about the young adults leaving this state....geez!
I do whatever I can to dismiss the "authority" of these, as someone else correctly identified them, communists. It's a struggle, but one where pool can, again, be a leader.
Jeff Livingston
pooljunkie0082 said:
If pool has died, then let's try a few reincarnation tactics. I did a little research and discovered a few poolrooms that I'm guessing aren't too far away from where you live. My findings:
Merced
Ferroni's Golden Cue Billiards
2223 Yosemite Pkwy
(209) 383-9429
Fresno
Diamond Billiards
4113 W Swift Ave # 103
(559) 276-9000
Fresno
Rack Family Billiards
4678 N Blackstone Ave
(559) 222-1222
Santa Clara
Santa Clara Billiards
4525 Stevens Creek Blvd
(408) 296-3333
Hope this helps.
OldHasBeen
Tom Ferry
What A Shame!
Before starting my adv biz, (14 yrs ago) I spent over 3 years trying to open a poolroom here in St. Louis County. I spent over $12K in legal fees and countless hours trying to convince all of these municipal kings & queens that it would be a beneficial business for there community. Finally, I gave up. My conclusions are:
They are all afraid of the stigma they know only from the "Hustler".
" " " " " doing something different even though it makes good common sense.
The ONLY way to deal with them is from a power base. In other words - Have someone "IN" with you who is either "One Of Them" or someone with big $$$ that they respect and will listen to.
Instead of trying to avoid the Old Poolroom Stereotype - Sell It!
Sell it as a place that will be respectable & up-scale but will lend itself to the nostalgia and memorabilia aspect of the game.
AND FOR YOUR ATTORNEY - CALL THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY (in this particular little Kingdom) AND LET HIM SUGGEST A GOOD P&Z ATTORNEY.
DUH !!!
Before starting my adv biz, (14 yrs ago) I spent over 3 years trying to open a poolroom here in St. Louis County. I spent over $12K in legal fees and countless hours trying to convince all of these municipal kings & queens that it would be a beneficial business for there community. Finally, I gave up. My conclusions are:
They are all afraid of the stigma they know only from the "Hustler".
" " " " " doing something different even though it makes good common sense.
The ONLY way to deal with them is from a power base. In other words - Have someone "IN" with you who is either "One Of Them" or someone with big $$$ that they respect and will listen to.
Instead of trying to avoid the Old Poolroom Stereotype - Sell It!
Sell it as a place that will be respectable & up-scale but will lend itself to the nostalgia and memorabilia aspect of the game.
AND FOR YOUR ATTORNEY - CALL THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY (in this particular little Kingdom) AND LET HIM SUGGEST A GOOD P&Z ATTORNEY.
DUH !!!
Locally, we had a nice 22-table room with a good restaurant and bar, and a separate room for league play/tournaments. Never gave the local police any trouble, not an action room but a nice quiet place to play.cardiac kid said:
Burned down last February and the owner has been trying to get started on a rebuild ever since. The local gov't has been raising all sorts of hoops - it was part of a strip shopping center (same owner) and now they say the undamaged half of the shopping center (a real estate office and a hair salon) has to be raised to the new codes, more and handicap restrooms, etc. before he can rebuild the pool hall. He is still fighting, but it's a legal nightmare. We're all hoping he doesn't throw in the towel, but it don't look good.
Walt in Va
sjm said:
I am from Modesto and was sorry to hear of the demise of Merced Billiard Club. I have been there on a handful of occasions and had always been treated with respect by Bob. A couple of my friends have had lots of success against the Feroni boys, another pretty good player named Russell and some of the other Merced players. I used to gamble with an Asian named Arly several years back. You guys should get in your cars and drive a half hour to Modesto. Championship Billiards has a great tournament on Monday nights. James Harris was there on Monday night, if you see him tell the younger swish says hi...Hope to see you there! 
Playsome said:I am from Modesto and was sorry to hear of the demise of Merced Billiard Club. I have been there on a handful of occasions and had always been treated with respect by Bob. A couple of my friends have had lots of success against the Feroni boys, another pretty good player named Russell and some of the other Merced players. I used to gamble with an Asian named Arly several years back. You guys should get in your cars and drive a half hour to Modesto. Championship Billiards has a great tournament on Monday nights. James Harris was there on Monday night, if you see him tell the younger swish says hi...Hope to see you there!
first i hope not a demise but a relocation. second i happen to go to modesto quite frequently. and i am the one who drove james up on monday, so i was there too. so i will definately see you again real soon......
chefjeff said:Des Moines has been without a pool hall for over 4 years. A half a million people in this area and not one 9 foot public table! NOT ONE in Polk county.
Since Don McCaughey closed his place (McCoy's), we pool players have been stuck in bars.
He had a new building all picked out, spent thousands fixing it up, THEN the local govvarmits told him his parking was not right or possible.
So he found another beautiful building and the local govvarmits told him he needed 7 (!!!) stalls in the women's bathroom! I said if only there were that many women coming into a poolhall, what a deal that would be.
He's still looking for a place and I'm still jonesin' for some 9-foot play. Meanwhile, there's a ton of landlords looking to make some cash. And those govvarmit fools wonder why, and express "concern" about the young adults leaving this state....geez!
I do whatever I can to dismiss the "authority" of these, as someone else correctly identified them, communists. It's a struggle, but one where pool can, again, be a leader.
Jeff Livingston
Jeff...Be patient! Marc Oelschlager (sp.?) has received all of his permits and is opening a beautiful new room in Des Moines, with plenty of 9' tables within the next few months. This has been 'on the drawing board' for a while now, but everything is done, and he has a projected opening date of late fall 2004.
Randy G and I will be doing a 3-day Cue Tech pool school there early next year.
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com