i knew joe some but didnt know his past. other than he was a so called bad guy. he did his share of stickups and even robbed a bank. he was a hard hustler and did take home the money, especially when he teamed up with toby for their famous road trip.
'Pancho'
- Thread starter One Pocket Ghost
- Start date
One Pocket Ghost
Verified Member
Hi Nikki....I knew your father well - he was a great character for sure - it was always a fun time at the poolroom if he was there...and also, when he lived here in Chicago, I used to be his pot connection, lol...he wanted me to work for him
but I never did.....anyways, I remember you well as a little kid - saw you at Chris's Billiard's many times and would say hi to you - if I remember correctly, your Dad used to get you a rack of balls to knock around, on the back table by the wall...you probably don't remember me, but I'm including a pic of me from back then, taken at Freddy the Beard's club, just in case you do ----->Be well, Ghost
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gulfportdoc
Verified Member
Yeah, Cohen was a piece of work: a fascinating study, if you weren't trying to deal with him.You nailed it with Harry Cohen Doc. When I was just 18 years old I boarded a bus to Miami Fl. to visit a friend that was going to Miami University and hustle a little pool, it was a great trip and learning experience.
...
Yes I learned a lot from my experiences in Fl, lessons that I never forgot which actually aided me in structuring my understanding and ability to navigate through life's "choppy waters" And i'm still learning.:heh
I was surprised one time when I was practicing 3C at Chopsticks Billiards in North Hollywood. Harry actually walked over and gave me a couple of good tips about an aspect of the game. He didn't even ask for money!Those great stories about Dinti Moore's in 1962 were very enjoyable! Was the place named after the beef stew?
Freddie always talked about the Congress Bowl. Did you make it over there?I'm sure everyone would enjoy more stories from you. You actually rarely write about stories from your past; and I'm sure you have a jillion of them. Perhaps you're saving up for a biography.
~Doc
all the big name and hustlers went to florida in the winter from the cold parts of the east coast.
most stopped in to congress billiards in north miami, or cue and cushion on biscayne bld. around 80th street.
at any time mostly during the day, as the action for the players was in the bars at night beating the drunks, you could see all the best in the world there..
freddy was around some sleeping. and you could watch crazy bruce get into a game and go nuts. he drew a crowd better than fats or ronnie.
not much action between them for big money as most didnt have squat and everyone was looking for a sucker. mostly i stayed in the back and made sure i knew each one of the new faces so when i ran into them in the bar i didnt get into a head up game with them. i would also leave if any the knockers were around as they couldnt keep anything to themselves. a few would try to muscle in on your action but that happens any place. but the good bars in those days had everyone in them playing with lines of quarters around the table. you needed to win most every game as you would go to the back of the line if you lost one. still you had to stall real bad as you could find lots of side action and it would be stupid to kill it for 50 bucks. the so called good players ran out every game as they didnt want to take a chance and the quarters would disappear when they came in and two or five dollar bets became the norm.
the race track kept most of them broke and if it didnt they went to jai
alai or the dogs at night.
best action was at the miami springs hotel where all the stewardess stayed over, no pool but you get the idea.
most stopped in to congress billiards in north miami, or cue and cushion on biscayne bld. around 80th street.
at any time mostly during the day, as the action for the players was in the bars at night beating the drunks, you could see all the best in the world there..
freddy was around some sleeping. and you could watch crazy bruce get into a game and go nuts. he drew a crowd better than fats or ronnie.
not much action between them for big money as most didnt have squat and everyone was looking for a sucker. mostly i stayed in the back and made sure i knew each one of the new faces so when i ran into them in the bar i didnt get into a head up game with them. i would also leave if any the knockers were around as they couldnt keep anything to themselves. a few would try to muscle in on your action but that happens any place. but the good bars in those days had everyone in them playing with lines of quarters around the table. you needed to win most every game as you would go to the back of the line if you lost one. still you had to stall real bad as you could find lots of side action and it would be stupid to kill it for 50 bucks. the so called good players ran out every game as they didnt want to take a chance and the quarters would disappear when they came in and two or five dollar bets became the norm.
the race track kept most of them broke and if it didnt they went to jai
alai or the dogs at night.
best action was at the miami springs hotel where all the stewardess stayed over, no pool but you get the idea.
Gary Steuer
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Harvey (Pancho) Strauss was a 2 bit hustler. He hung out at Ames billiards on 43 rd & Broadway , Times Square area . Remember the Camel cigarettes sign that blew a smoke ring ? Behind that sign was Ames .
They also filmed the movie The Hustler , there . Pancho hung out with
a guy named Skinny Eddie . Skinny Eddie setup some backers and then dumped on them . When they found out where Eddie was staying , in a crap hole hotel , they busted down his door and Eddie jumped from the window to his death . The jump was questionable, haha .
Harvey was from Forest Hills
They also filmed the movie The Hustler , there . Pancho hung out with
a guy named Skinny Eddie . Skinny Eddie setup some backers and then dumped on them . When they found out where Eddie was staying , in a crap hole hotel , they busted down his door and Eddie jumped from the window to his death . The jump was questionable, haha .
Harvey was from Forest Hills
Jimmy B
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Threads like this is why I joined and began visiting this MB, long ago. Since Nikki posted in this one, I'll do an excerpt from the Encyclopedia. Beard writing, of course...
"One night in Chicago, Pancho's car broke down on Maxwell Street and Halsted at 2 in the morning. At the time that was a very dangerous neighborhood. My partner, Wayne Hopkins and I rushed, both of us packing, to the rescue, only to find his 10 year old daughter, Nikki, doing a dance routine in the middle of the street, with a bevy of drunks, dopers, and gangbangers urging her on. Pancho was shouting encouragement from the sidewalk. Go Nikki go' Nikki's audience was sad to see her leave"
"One night in Chicago, Pancho's car broke down on Maxwell Street and Halsted at 2 in the morning. At the time that was a very dangerous neighborhood. My partner, Wayne Hopkins and I rushed, both of us packing, to the rescue, only to find his 10 year old daughter, Nikki, doing a dance routine in the middle of the street, with a bevy of drunks, dopers, and gangbangers urging her on. Pancho was shouting encouragement from the sidewalk. Go Nikki go' Nikki's audience was sad to see her leave"
gulfportdoc
Verified Member
Great stories, Gary. Ames was at 160 W. 44th, just west of 7th Ave., which was right near it's intersection with Broadway. Yeah, I remember that Camel sign. Great Americana.
I was only there a couple of times. I first went up there in the summer of '62 because of The Hustler having been shot there. It was exactly like it was in the movie. I fancied myself a hustler, but I got into a $1 rotation game with the off duty cook, and he busted me...
Do you remember the exact location of 711? I think it was on 46th St., but I was never in there. I played at a room that was on the 2nd or 3rd floor, I believe right on Broadway in that area, which had several bowling lanes in it, but I could never remember the name of it. I'm pretty sure Annigoni mentioned it in Playing off the Rail.
I also played at the original Amsterdam Billiards up near 78th St. I believe.
Several years later I played 3C at McGirr's when I was on the road with a band. I don't know if I ever saw Guys and Dolls poolroom.
Jeff sparks
Verified Member
I was never in any of those great old poolrooms back east... But I do so enjoy hearing about them
and the characters who frequented them back in the day… Being an ardent fan of old pool room stories,
and hustler tales, I would listen to Jack “Jersey Red” Breitkoff aka Jack Breit for hours on end… Red as he was
called, would never disappoint, he would tell his stories with great flare and enthusiasm, involving each listener
with glances that met their eyes and subtle hand touches to their shoulders as he walked about the room…
Most of Red’s stories were light hearted and comical, where the punch lines were delivered with split second timing and every single one
would bring down the house and double everyone up with uncontrollable laughter…
As well as Red played all pool games, and I mean “ALL GAMES” billiards and snooker included, story telling may have
been his long suit, he was a master at it….
Sorry for the hijack, I just wanted to further the discussion with the addition of a deserved an old friend…
Please continue….
and the characters who frequented them back in the day… Being an ardent fan of old pool room stories,
and hustler tales, I would listen to Jack “Jersey Red” Breitkoff aka Jack Breit for hours on end… Red as he was
called, would never disappoint, he would tell his stories with great flare and enthusiasm, involving each listener
with glances that met their eyes and subtle hand touches to their shoulders as he walked about the room…
Most of Red’s stories were light hearted and comical, where the punch lines were delivered with split second timing and every single one
would bring down the house and double everyone up with uncontrollable laughter…
As well as Red played all pool games, and I mean “ALL GAMES” billiards and snooker included, story telling may have
been his long suit, he was a master at it….
Sorry for the hijack, I just wanted to further the discussion with the addition of a deserved an old friend…
Please continue….
NH Steve
Administrator
This sounds like a game popular around Boston for years!
Hi Nikki - it’s been a few years since I posted about your dad and hopefully you’ll see this one. Pancho was a friend of my brother’s Angelo and Skinny Eddie. We were platonic friends. I was 19 annd my brother was 20 and I think your dad was close to our ages. We lived in the theater district so our apt was near 711, McGirr’s, Ames. I used to go to Ames with my brother so I knew most of the guys who hung out there. Pancho and Skinny Eddie used to visit us a lot. We had so much fun. Your dad made me laugh so hard sometimes that my stomach would hurt. We would play doo woo records and dance and my brother and your dad would argue about which groups recorded the 45’s. When I went to Radio City to audition for the Rockettes your dad went with me and waited outside on 51ST Street - when I came out and told him the choreographer said my kicks weren’t high enough he started making fun by kicking his legs and dancing in the street - well that made me feel better about not being hired because he made me laugh. I imagine you’ve seen the movie The Hustler. When I read your dad would say he was the best pool player when he walked in the poolroom, I wonder if that is where they got the idea for Minnesota Fsts to say that. That movie brings tears to my eyes when I remember those days. Let’s keep in touch. P.S. I married a guy from the pool rooms who also knew your dad. Marianne BiliskiHi Nikki....I knew your father well - he was a great character for sure - it was always a fun time at the poolroom if he was there...and also, when he lived here in Chicago, I used to be his pot connection, lol...he wanted me to work for him
Be well, Ghost
Actually his mother was Mexican and his dad Jewish. His dad made women’s hats in the garment district he had his own millinery business- Strauss Hats
711 7th Avenue - 50 and 7thGreat stories, Gary. Ames was at 160 W. 44th, just west of 7th Ave., which was right near it's intersection with Broadway. Yeah, I remember that Camel sign. Great Americana.
I was only there a couple of times. I first went up there in the summer of '62 because of The Hustler having been shot there. It was exactly like it was in the movie. I fancied myself a hustler, but I got into a $1 rotation game with the off duty cook, and he busted me...
Do you remember the exact location of 711? I think it was on 46th St., but I was never in there. I played at a room that was on the 2nd or 3rd floor, I believe right on Broadway in that area, which had several bowling lanes in it, but I could never remember the name of it. I'm pretty sure Annigoni mentioned it in Playing off the Rail.
I also played at the original Amsterdam Billiards up near 78th St. I believe.
Several years later I played 3C at McGirr's when I was on the road with a band. I don't know if I ever saw Guys and Dolls poolroom.
Island Drive
Verified Member
I think you might enjoy this, this is from that exact same time period.
Quotes, Evelyn Wanderone
''If fats had any mentor, it would have been Hubert Cokes''
Anyone ever teach Fats to play?
Ev said....
He understood, he had a sharp mind, if he saw a move he liked in the game, he'd practice it till he perfected it, he was self-taught. He hardly practiced at home, and Never gambled at home.
Biggest money game? Not sure, but he has played for 3-$5,000 a game. Or a pot up to $10,000 winner take all. Fats never bet his car, tho he has won a few, and as he said, ''made a few pedestrians out of em.''
Also, I said, what made him so likeable?
Ev said: he was sharp, he had something to say that wasn't a repeat of anyone else, it was always something different.
I met Pancho in Hollywood at the Billiard Den in about 1968-9 or so. He went on to manage Daisy Mays in Orange County and Tall Jeff may remember him from Daisy Mays when he was out there. Pancho told me that back in NY another nickname for him was NY Blackie. Al Bonefie also had that moniker and maybe that's why Pancho became Pancho??? Maybe someone could speak to that?
Billy Jackets
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OOps
Billy Jackets
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Is this the same Pancho that was in Chicago in the 80s? And did he have round eyes that bugged out, not terribly, but enough to notice? Thanks.
Island Drive
Verified Member
Mary Kenniston would know, she was on the road with Blackie.
We first ran into each other at the Sportsman's in New Orleans.
Best $3.95 boiled shrimp for dozen.
We first ran into each other at the Sportsman's in New Orleans.
Best $3.95 boiled shrimp for dozen.
Jimmy B
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He was in Chicago a lot then. Jay H described him as a 5'9" glob of fat shaped like a bowling pin with long slick black hair, looked and talked Italian.. Beard said he was top level shortstop but Champion speed prop/con man.
Island Drive
Verified Member
Yeah that's em.
Last time I saw him was in N. Tampa area pool room, about 8 nine yrs ago, Buddy also was also there.
Only went there a couple times, don't remember the name, remember a HUGE American flag was close by, biggest one I've ever seen.
Car Dealership.
Last time I saw him was in N. Tampa area pool room, about 8 nine yrs ago, Buddy also was also there.
Only went there a couple times, don't remember the name, remember a HUGE American flag was close by, biggest one I've ever seen.
Car Dealership.