Romy’s, 4th & Main, Los Angeles
- Thread starter jrhendy
- Start date
mr3cushion
Verified Member
Frank Almanza
Verified Member
Keifer was staking MORRO against Kim Davenport for 5k and I believe Kim won.
NH Steve
Administrator
When I interviewed Norm “Farmer” Webber he told this story:
An early exhibition poster with Norm in the background setting up a shot, and baseball star Bo Belinsky in the foreground.
“Belinsky was a half-assed pool player and evidently I had gone through Trenton, New Jersey where he came from when he was a kid and I had robbed him. Then I ran into him in Vegas, and he talked me into going to LA and living in his spot and hustling all of these places that had robbed him, as a ball player. He got a picture taken of Dean Chance, himself and me in the middle with an LA Angels catcher’s outfit on, and it said Bo Belinskey, and Red Saxby, scrub catcher and Dean Chance. So when I’d go into these joints with him, and they’d accuse him of bringing in a hustler, he’d whip out the photo and say, ‘Hell no, that’s our scrub catcher!’ They’d be sitting at the bar betting twenty a game on me playing 8-Ball, and I’d be playing for ten or something, and they’re betting all they can bet! We wound up going to every gin mill that had a table in LA. I was there for six months; it almost broke up my family. I’ll never forget it.”
An early exhibition poster with Norm in the background setting up a shot, and baseball star Bo Belinsky in the foreground.
“Belinsky was a half-assed pool player and evidently I had gone through Trenton, New Jersey where he came from when he was a kid and I had robbed him. Then I ran into him in Vegas, and he talked me into going to LA and living in his spot and hustling all of these places that had robbed him, as a ball player. He got a picture taken of Dean Chance, himself and me in the middle with an LA Angels catcher’s outfit on, and it said Bo Belinskey, and Red Saxby, scrub catcher and Dean Chance. So when I’d go into these joints with him, and they’d accuse him of bringing in a hustler, he’d whip out the photo and say, ‘Hell no, that’s our scrub catcher!’ They’d be sitting at the bar betting twenty a game on me playing 8-Ball, and I’d be playing for ten or something, and they’re betting all they can bet! We wound up going to every gin mill that had a table in LA. I was there for six months; it almost broke up my family. I’ll never forget it.”
mr3cushion
Verified Member
Not to go too far off topic, but, New England had a, 'Golden Arm' player for artistic, mostly 3C in George Rippe!
We were pretty good friends.
Big hulk of a guy, also a very nice man.
He passed away about 10 years ago.
We were pretty good friends.
Big hulk of a guy, also a very nice man.
He passed away about 10 years ago.
NH Steve
Administrator
I met him — he owned a room in Lawrence I believe. Monster stroke and a mentor to many players from the area. The neighborhood got a little rough in later years. That kept me away at the end.
Last edited:
RabbiHippie
Verified Member
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2020
- Messages
- 385
Thought I'd revive this old thread full of great stories and point out an interesting post over on AZBilliards about Dean Chance and Luther Lassiter.
I loved 4th and Main LA. Why, because of all the characters who played out of the room. I have several stories but this one is interesting. Romy used to open at 9AM daily. I got there about 9:30 one morning and Romy was busy fixing cues when a man dressed to the 9's walks in with two afgan hounds. Romy and the guy shook hands and Romy told him he couldn't play because he was behind in his chores. He said play the kid......that's me. We played 3C the mans game and he beat me which back then wasn't much of a feat and when finished he gave me two passes to the Ringling Bros, Barnam Baily Circus. His name Henry Ringling North. I followed him upstairs and his Rolls Royce was waiting for him. He was the advance man for the Circus as it moved across the country. By the way, I lost the passes somewhere and never found them. Ugh.
I saw Raymond Cuelemans put an exhibition on playing Al Gold (Gilbert) around 1970 at 4th and Main. Raymond was quite the player. It didn't take a billiard player to see his greatness. Also the Thriller Album by Micheal Jackson had some scenes shot at 4th and Main around 1980? about the time it was closing. By the late 1970's it became too dangerous to venture into downtown LA and Romy had retired and the place went into disrepair and dispare. Even Morro and Ernesto didn't go down there much after 1977 or so.