Secaucus Fats
Banned
Last night I went to a pool hall in Garfield, NJ.
The room is a hole in the wall type of joint. You could drive right past it and not notice it's there. The only signs are one wooden sign perhaps 2'x5' that says "Pool-Bar" in black letters on a faded white background and one old beat up Pepsi sign that says the same at the bottom under the Pepsi logo.
Stepping into this place is like stepping back in time. I asked the bartender how long it has been there and he told me it was going on sixty years. Sadly, it was obvious to me that it had seen far, far, better days and is on its last legs.The neighborhood too, has seen better days and it is plain to see that this is an economically depressed zone.
The tables are old and have signs of age and wear accumulated over the many years, but they all seemed to be restorable. And what a mix of tables!They have two Brunswick Arcades, four art deco style commercial Victors, another Victor styled somewhat like the Brunswick Arcade (but without the inlays on the legs and sides, four Nationals, four GC III's, and one Brunswick (I forgot the model name but it was their top of the line before the GC). The cloth on the GC III's was worn threadbare, and the others have cheap fuzzy cloth.
The tables spoke to me of a different time, of a bygone era, of games of straight being played for money into the wee hours of the night, of smoke hanging thick in the air, and men cussing and sweating, of wolves and lambs, sharks and marks. The place was an all male preserve, as evidenced by its lack of a ladies room, and I doubt any self respecting female would want to spend time there even today. A clean glass for your beer is about as upscale as it gets there. Oddly enough I was not put off by the sad state of this place, but rather, I was fascinated by its ties to the past as a living piece of history.
I plan on going back, and when I do, I'll take my camera with me so I can share some photographs with you.
BTW- can any of you old timers share some information regarding Victor and National tables, and your impressions / opinions of them? I would certainly be most appreciative. I tried searching on Google but came up with nothing of any real substance.
The room is a hole in the wall type of joint. You could drive right past it and not notice it's there. The only signs are one wooden sign perhaps 2'x5' that says "Pool-Bar" in black letters on a faded white background and one old beat up Pepsi sign that says the same at the bottom under the Pepsi logo.
Stepping into this place is like stepping back in time. I asked the bartender how long it has been there and he told me it was going on sixty years. Sadly, it was obvious to me that it had seen far, far, better days and is on its last legs.The neighborhood too, has seen better days and it is plain to see that this is an economically depressed zone.
The tables are old and have signs of age and wear accumulated over the many years, but they all seemed to be restorable. And what a mix of tables!They have two Brunswick Arcades, four art deco style commercial Victors, another Victor styled somewhat like the Brunswick Arcade (but without the inlays on the legs and sides, four Nationals, four GC III's, and one Brunswick (I forgot the model name but it was their top of the line before the GC). The cloth on the GC III's was worn threadbare, and the others have cheap fuzzy cloth.
The tables spoke to me of a different time, of a bygone era, of games of straight being played for money into the wee hours of the night, of smoke hanging thick in the air, and men cussing and sweating, of wolves and lambs, sharks and marks. The place was an all male preserve, as evidenced by its lack of a ladies room, and I doubt any self respecting female would want to spend time there even today. A clean glass for your beer is about as upscale as it gets there. Oddly enough I was not put off by the sad state of this place, but rather, I was fascinated by its ties to the past as a living piece of history.
I plan on going back, and when I do, I'll take my camera with me so I can share some photographs with you.
BTW- can any of you old timers share some information regarding Victor and National tables, and your impressions / opinions of them? I would certainly be most appreciative. I tried searching on Google but came up with nothing of any real substance.
