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Also this issue: Heir to the Air Got Gore? Icepack |
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October 31-November 6, 2002
naked city
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Buffalo Billiards
Three and a half years after taking over Old City’s most valuable spot -- the mammoth light-supply shop (hello, Len Reisman!) on Chestnut -- Buffalo Billiards finally opened doors two weeks ago, making it downtown’s first real pool hall. Growing up with a pool table and a craps table in my basement, this inveterate cue-carrying, billiard-hustling pool punk is pleased as Jackie Gleason to see 10 green velvet pool tables lined up like suckers for my taking. As a night owl, I’m even more pleased to see a pool parlor looking groovier (with better ventilation and designer drinks) than Mosconi’s on Oregon Avenue. From outside Buffalo, there’s a dimly lit glimmer behind its bow windows. Bustling floor one is all exposed brick and heating pipes, with design courtesy of Travis Smith of Good Eye 20th Century Interiors. This floor is cool in rusty and dusty kitschy/found stuff: antique sofas and outdoorsy western artifacts like snow shoes, deer heads, antlers, canoes, hobby horses, mini tepee villages, cowskin fur-trapping coats, antique sewing mannequins and minnow baskets. Beyond the great outdoors is the ’50s cowboy kitsch of retro battered motel signs painted by D.C. artist Paul Erlenborn, featuring Marlboro-esque men and the women who love them.
The red saloon-style bar (designed and created by Stephen Pelszynski and Chris O'Connor) is covered with old postcards, Buffalo nickels, Indian head pennies, old western albums and surrounded by bolted red leather bar stools. Going upstairs, despite a giant metal wall-hanging of Lee's overalls, is a more cosmopolitan experience. The silver and black Metropolitan Lounge is a refined bit of '40s Deco decor, with vintage club sofas and chairs upholstered in sumptuous velvets, mismatched aluminum office chairs and a bar of multicolored mosaic tiles. Art Deco mirrors, celebrity black-and-whites and old '40s cityscapes line an exposed brick wall, looming coolly over hooded billiard tables. Ultimately, what Buffalo Billiards offers Old City is a sort of proletarian panache, a stylish but populist gaming/dining environment where you could feel comfortable drinking a brew or sipping a chilled martini.
Buffalo Billiards, 118 Chestnut St., 215-574-7665.
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