Thursday, May 17, 2012

Phone photo 1521


The Olympic Club woodstove and poolroom, Centralia, Washington

From what I have been told, my grandfather basically lived at a pool table here in the 1930s-1950s. He "owned" the table closest to the stove (although I'm sure that original table has long since passed on).  This place was pretty much a seedy dive when I first visited it in the 1970s, but it has since been McMenaminized just like the Spar in Olympia and many other Washington/Oregon local icons. This place includes a family dining area in a room where I formerly observed old guys in fedoras smoking cigars and playing cards. The Wm. Hoss building is next door to the McMenamins complex.