(very)table

Every once in a while I come across an invention that makes so much sense I wonder why it hasn't been thought of before. I thought this was a rather jaw-dropping work of design: the (very)table from French billiards manufacturer Chevillote. At first glance it appears to be a pool table that comes with a simple set of panels that are placed on top to convert it into a desk or dining table when not in use. But upon closer examination it's a truly brilliant mechanical innovation. You see, the table features a clever crank device that, when turned, simultaneously raises the rails away from the playing surface at the same time it lowers a ball-retrieval rail system underneath. What's even more incredible is that the table comes with a set of pocket adapters/plugs that allows the pool table to be converted into a carom table! I'd always wondered if such a device existed (see 6-7 in photo above). I am not able to find the MSRP on this, but I'd be surprised if it's less than $2000. It's designed by Bernard Moise, whose work looks to be pretty innovative. The "game area" measures 74 x 37 inches, which is 6.16 x 3.08 feet. So by that measure, a bar table indeed. It weighs about 660 pounds, so that would seem to be sturdy but who knows. I'm guessing you could seat 8 people fairly comfortably around the table (perfect for a league team). The same video from the link above is also on YouTube. You can find it here.

SoHo

The boundaries of SoHo, as defined here, are Canal to Houston, and Sixth Avenue to Lafayette. So, besides Toad Hall, this is the only other (bar) pool table that I know of in SoHo proper. It's at a place called Milady's, located at Prince and Thompson Streets. I had long been aware of both Milady's and Toad Hall. But last year I came across the website of an architectural photographer who had taken a killer photo of a full-size pool table in really chic nightclub-type place. The caption for the photo simply read "Soho" (lowercase h). I was dying to know where it was taken, especially because the photographer was based in New York. So I called him up and asked. Unfortunately, it was not on Mercer or Greene as I had hoped. It was taken in London.

I've never played on the table at Milady's, but I have been to the bar a few times. Not too long ago I stopped in, but the place was packed and I left. I was walking by recently and shot this picture through the window. At least there's a person in the photo. I've been in a rut lately where I go to check out a pool table and nobody's playing. I'll post some of those pictures soon.

Toad Hall

If ever an award was given to "Best Pool Bar in New York" then Toad Hall would be a serious contender. One thing I really like about it is that, in addition to the pool table being way in the back, it's in its own room that is elevated a few steps. So you can look in from outside and still see whether anybody's playing. I've dug up about as much as I can online regarding the bar. Although little was said about the pool table in particular, I couldn't find a single negative comment anywhere:

"Best bar on earth, friends."
"Good old-styled bar."
"Can I have a neighborhood bar in Manhattan while living 220 miles away? Apparently I can."
"You don’t have to be here every day (or even every other week) to be recognized & welcomed as a regular."
"A haven from SoHo's fashionista set."
"A mixture of youthful pub-crawlers and older stool-warmers."
"One of the last righteous bars that still exist in Soho."
"Local stalwart."
"Hip but not too hip."
"Not fancy & not seedy, either."
"Capacious but cozy all at once."
"Organic."

Regarding the pool table, Shecky's writes: "We don’t know what the owners of Toad Hall are more obsessed with, frogs or pool. But it doesn’t really matter, because we’re obsessed with Toad Hall. Trophies are posted in large quantities around the huge cushion-lined back room’s pool table, while Kermit look-alikes are tagged on any empty space available." A little blurb in Zagat's mentions "great late-night pool games." I agree with this last one. I got utterly annihilated late one night by a man who I could've sworn was working with a backer. Another time I played a woman who I suspect was holding back her speed. She put me in this stranglehold stalemate situation where she froze my solid to the 8 ball in the jaws of a corner pocket and made it so I couldn't break them apart without sinking the 8. The 8 was sinkable from a certain angle, and she of course got it. We had been chatting during the game and after she won she nonchalantly asked me "Do you do headshots?" In hindsight, her question reminded me of this. Most of my pool-playing experiences have been afternoon practice sessions, when the place is quiet. Playing during the day is a very pleasant experience, as the table is bathed in daylight coming down from an overhead window.

Photos at the Elbow Room in London

A very big thank you goes to Justin Carter of London for his interest in my photography. Carter is the brainchild of a highly successful group of establishments in England that combine elements of a bar, nightclub and pool hall. It's called The Elbow Room and there are five locations. Three are in London (Westbourne Grove, Islington and Shoreditch), one is in Bristol and another is up in Leeds. Carter contacted me last month after coming across my blog, complimenting my photography. We kept in contact and when I shared with him my idea of having a pool table delivered to a photo gallery showing my work, he offered the next best thing: to display some of my photos on the wall-mounted lightboxes at the Islington Elbow Room. So I emailed him the files, 12 of which he sent to a lab to have outputted onto translucent sheets. Because so much of the photos is nothing but black space, I decided to go for impact and crop them tight, into squares, to fill up all the space of the 435x435mm lightboxes.

One look at their website will give you an indication of how classy these places are (see below).The origin of the Elbow Room is rather funny. As the legend goes, Carter's idea came about when he was in Los Angeles in the 90s. Apparently he was at an upscale nightclub playing Kiefer Sutherland in 9-ball and "took him to the cleaners" ("a good potter but hopeless on the safety"). He came back with the idea and eventually the first location (Westbourne Grove) was opened in 1995. It went on to win Bar of the Year at the London Restaurant Awards the next year. "The idea was a simple one - to provide a stylish, yet relaxed place to play pool, creating an environment far different from the dingy back room of a pub, where your only opportunity for pool enjoyment was to try and beat the local 'meathead' in a winner-stays-on format." Sounds a lot like Sophie's. Speaking of, on a totally coincidental side note, Carter informed me that Elbow Room interior designer Paul Daly took one look at one of the photos and immediately recognized it as being from Sophie's, where he used to hang out when he lived in New York in the late 80s.

Another Night of Pool

As promised, here is another edit I put together using my little toy camcorder. I think it came out much better than my first attempt. For one, I had a lot more video to edit from (several nights worth). Also, the audio on this camera transfers into iMovie so that's a major plus. However, depending on my proximity to the jukebox speaker the volume on this video is all over the place. The music itself is quite varied as well. A very protean soundtrack with everything from Sam Cooke to David Bowie.

Sophie's photo roundup part two

I haven't been taking as many still photographs the past few weeks. I have, however, been shooting some more video clips with the camcorder and am close to having another YouTube compilation posted before long. In other news, I have something very cool in the works: a rotating display of several of my pool photographs. They've been printed as transparencies for wall-mounted lightboxes at an upscale pool hall in London. More on that once the final details are in place. Until then, here are a few odds and ends from Sophie's: