Pool Rooms
Do you remember any of the many pool rooms that were once in Ellwood City? Some of the popular pool rooms included Palace Poll above what is today the Emporium. Mike’s pool room was on Fifth Street between Lawrence avenue and Bell Avenue. Mike’s was owned and operated by Mike Heron and home of the after school dollar Charlie games, which Memories regular R. Scott Mackey recalls could get a little heated.
Boris Simoff (of First Street Bakery fame) owned the pool room on Lawrence Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets, which in its prime was managed by local standout players like Don Humphrey and Gary Beatrice, among others. Ray Rocco owned the small three table room at the corner of Fourth Street and Lawrence Avenue, which later became the ‘O’s annex (when there was an ‘O’).
There was also a fifth room on Lawrence Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets, The Colonial, managed by Betty Wimer and her husband Don. Betty also ran Mike’s before it was called Mike’s in the late 1950′s.
Pool rooms are or were back in the day an active part of the city’s subculture. Today there are currently no open rooms in town, only pool leagues sponsored and held in the local taverns. There have been a lot of great players from the Ellwood City Area including the most recent ‘A’ players Don Humphrey, Gary Beatrice, Richard ‘Chuch’ Tribuzzio, and Al Mann among others.
Even in the earliest days of Ellwood City, our town was known for great billiard players. In 1902 Bill Clearwater won the World Pool Title and repeated the grand feat in 1903. Bill’s daughter Margaret (Babe) Clearwater was also an expert shooter. Babe became so good that she earned a match with the World’s Woman Champion, but was unable to claim victory. Before becoming Internationally known Bill managed a pool room on the first floor of the Opera House building (later the Moose Hall). The pool room took up the area many of you might remember as Edelman’s Shoe Store.
If you remember the many pool rooms in Ellwood or recall the great players from our area, we would enjoy hearing your memories. Please share them below or email them to me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com
A majority of the information in this post was supplied to me compliments of R. Scott Mackey. Thank you
My parents did a good job. I don’t remember any of the pool rooms and didn’t know there was a “subculture” in the city until reading this memory. Thank you R. Scott Mackey for your many contributions to our home town’s history. Later in life, compliments of skills I learned while at Penn State, my brother-in-law and I managed to shoot pool and win enough from the table to make it up to his friend’s hunting camp for the weekend. What I would like to say “thank you” to is the citizen who provided the photo with the W.T. Grant Co. sign in the foreground. The Coca-Cola “Bowling” sign has a bottle below the logo, without words, letting you know it is served that way inside, ice cold. The amount of foot traffic on the sidewalk, and the wide sidewalk itself, show you what “going down town shopping” meant before the word “mall” was born. The “Demas Grill” sign, if you had one made today, would cost you a small fortune to get someone who knew how to shape the glass tubes and create business-specific neon art with multi colors. Look at the awnings. You can find them today wrapped around a Walgreen’s but you won’t find customers standing underneath them window shopping. Form gave way to function in the 50′s, back when you could find a Studebaker on the street. Shade the merchandise in the window, provide shelter if it rains, and give your store front entrance an ambiance that will make the passers by come inside and take a closer look at the merchandise. Park right outside. No need to trek in from some asphalt parking lot full of shopping carts. Look at the signs. They tell you a lot. Refreshment, recreation, food, clothes, and entertainment available all in one place. It’s the kind of home town that earned a veteran’s page where folks are proud to post their “memories.” It was, and always will be, America during its finest hour. Thanks R. Scott Mackey.
I am not sure that “subculture” is a proper description since it can produce negative connotations. In reality (at least in early to mid 60′s) the pool rooms owned by Mike Heron and Boris Simoff were places where most of the older high school gents would meet and have a few laughs and shoot some pool. It was common to meet friends there during breaks or weekends home from college. My father was appalled that I would frequent such establishments. I’m sure that other adults in EC at the time felt the same way.
However, it was more like a club-house atmosphere. Of course there was on occasion a few “seedy” characters that would appear, but those were exceptions. I have a lot of fond memories of those pool rooms.
Dave Awasome comment on Ellwood it was so true thanks for posting that Danny
Love the photos — it made me remember Edelman’s shoe store and the Moose Club. I used to buy most of my shoes from Jackson’s further up on Lawrence Avenue, but did get some at Edelmans. Also remember Grants and Edmins just down from that. Edmins was very small in size but had great clothes. Then they moved near to the corner of 5th and Lawrence.
I also remember the pool room at 4th & Lawrence,but I also remember it being a laundromat either before and after the pool room. I remember because it was 2 doors down from the barber shop.
Hey Dave, I lived at 405 Lawrence Ave. and would say “I’m going downtown” which was down the street. How funny now!thanks for that Dave.