Lack of Pool Halls in the Coachella Valley

Dean_H · **Lack of Pool Halls in the Coachella Valley -** 10-29-2008, 08:12 PM

Greetings,

I was wondering if you or your dad knew why there isn't a decent pool hall in the Coachella Valley? I have heard different reasons such as cost of lighting, to there not being enough players ( personally think there are plenty of players). I thought I would ask you and/or your dad since you guys are plugged into the billiard scene down there.

Thanks

Dean

P.S. I have fond memories of playing at the Apache billiard club in Palm Desert when I was going to College.

Melissa Morris · 10-30-2008, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dean_H

Greetings,

I was wondering if you or your dad knew why there isn't a decent pool hall in the Coachella Valley? I have heard different reasons such as cost of lighting, to there not being enough players ( personally think there are plenty of players). I thought I would ask you and/or your dad since you guys are plugged into the billiard scene down there.

Thanks

Dean

P.S. I have fond memories of playing at the Apache billiard club in Palm Desert when I was going to College.

Dean,

I'm really not sure why there hasn't been a successful pool room in the valley over the last ten years or so. Electricity out here is very costly but I'm not sure that's the reason. Me personally I think if a room opened up in the right area out here and was ran right it would do ok. The summers would be tough but when season comes around I think it would do pretty good.

I never had the chance to play at Apache I was to young but I know my dad like it back in the day..

Hopefully one day someone will get something going out here..

rackem · 11-04-2008, 09:26 PM

I was just thinking as I drove by Morango the other day, Wouldn't it have been cool to put a room in with the bowling alley they put in the old casino?

DogsPlayingPool · 11-25-2008, 12:16 PM

I live in Southern California and have people in the desert, so this question got me to thinking and a couple of notions did pop into mind. Not sure how pertinent they may be, so I'll just throw them out there.

For one thing, the Coachella Valley is so huge! But unlike say, the San Fernando Valley, it seems everything is quite spread out, not nearly as dense. For a good hall to be successful it would have to attract players from fairly long distances and it can take quite a long time to get from one part of the valley to another, especially since there are no freeways traversing the area. Also, once out of the valley there is nothing, so there are not the peripheral areas to draw from.

Maybe more pertinent though, is that 'hidden" are probably a fairly significant number of private pool rooms in the area that work against having a good, successful public venue. More than in the city it seems that the valley has this huge percentage of gated communities. Some of these communities have billiard facilities within the gates so there is no need for these residents to leave their neighborhood to shoot pool; they simply drive their golf cart to the clubhouse. I have friends with residences in several different gated communities and the clubhouses in all of them have billiard rooms which of course, are free for the resident members and their guests. There is no reason for these folks to support a local parlor since they have built-in relationships and friendships in their own rooms, with leagues, tournaments and all else.

DogsPlayingPool

Dean_H · 11-27-2008, 09:25 PM

I am not yet old enough to have connections to gated communities out there because there mostly for the elderly.

When I was underage I could not play at Apache billiard hall. When I was out of high school but before I was twenty one, me and my friends would try to sneak in this place on hwy 111 in Palm Desert called Bananas (burned to the ground). We would get to play pool on those tables in Bannanas depending on who was working there. I also used to sneak into a gated Apartment complex off of Cook street and use my own set of balls and play on thier table.

Not to long ago there was a showroom for billiard tables in the city of LA Quinta and they had a semi pool hall by letting folks play on the tables in the back. The showroom has since dissapeared.

All4Moose · 10-26-2009, 11:49 AM

can someone explain to me how in the world sharky's is still in business???? worlds worst place to play if you actually love the game, on almost the worlds worst tables. but yet, that place has been there forever! I seriously just due to the autmosphere went over to showgirls and played on their table. its a 9 footer in need of work, but since im only in town these days for 2 weeks out of every 6 months its better then sharkys.