Hot Shot Billiards, at 91-20 150th St. in Jamaica, is celebrating its first anniversary this week in the site of a…
By Courtney Dentch
An old Jamaica furniture store may have made way for a new business last year, but you can still find tables in the new establishment.
Hot Shot Billiards, at 91-20 150th St. in Jamaica, is celebrating its first anniversary this week in the site of a former furniture store, said Carla Rodriguez, the pool hall’s owner.
The parlor opened June 2, 2003 and has already replaced its 8-foot green felt-covered tables with the more professional-sized 9-footers, and Rodriguez hopes to start running tournaments soon, she said.
“We’re still fixing up the tables,” she said. “We’re always doing something here. You have to keep moving.”
Rodriguez, who lives in Jamaica, started the pool hall from scratch with her husband and help from their families, she said. The business grew out of the couple’s passion for the game, she said.
“I love to play the game of pool, along with my daughter and my husband,” Rodriguez said. “My husband got the idea to open a pool hall.”
But the transition from a vision to a reality was a long one, she said. The couple spent a year searching for a location and many they looked at needed too much work, Rodriguez said. Finally they found the old furniture store that was leaving the site at 91-20 150th St., she said.
“There was absolutely nothing here,” she said. “There was no door, just a roll-up gate. The floor had a big hole in it.”
Before the couple could start renovations — with help from Rodriguez’s brother in construction — they had to receive approval from the community and the city to change the zoning for the place, she said. There was no real objection to the plan, but the permits still took nearly a year to obtain, she said.
“Waiting for the approval took the longest,” she said. “It was frustrating because we still had to pay rent on this place but we couldn’t start the work.”
But last June the hall welcomed its first customers, Rodriguez said. Now Hot Shot has a good number of regular players, she said.
“Everyone who comes in here, you basically know them,” she said. “Sometimes you get one or two people who you haven’t seen before, but they usually come back.”
The billiards parlor has a few foosball tables, video games and a jukebox for those taking a break from the game. Rodriguez also runs a snack bar with a small menu, including beer and wine, she said.
Rodriguez and her family, who help out a lot, are working on fixing up the new 9-foot tables and once that is finished, Rodriguez wants to start a weekly tournament for the players.
“People do come in here and ask, ‘are you doing tournaments?’” she said. “I eventually want to move on to that.”
Rodriguez, who worked at a marketing firm in New Jersey before opening Hot Shot, enjoys the change from a two-hour commute to walking to work, she said.
The pool hall is open from noon to 2 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and from noon to 4 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Rodriguez said.
“Sometimes if we have a good crowd we’ll stay later,” she said. “We always have people here.”
And those people have been attracting more players as word of the hall spreads, she said.
“People walk from Parsons Boulevard,” she said of the subway and bus stops about 10 blocks away. “They tell their friends and they come down, which is such a good thing.”
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
