Since 1978
We opened on Peach Street in 1978. The name comes from the tables.
- Opened
- Dec 1978
- On Peach Street
- 47 years
- First Tri-State Open
- 1986
- Regulation tables
- 17
01 · how it started
47 years on Peach Street
Every regulation table in here is a real Brunswick Gold Crown. That is where the name comes from.
Andy’s came in 1985 and the Bullfrog in 2008, so the building grew around the floor rather than the other way round. The pockets are still cut tight and the slate is still levelled on a schedule. That part has not moved since the first night.
02 · from the archive
Pictures we kept
Tap a photo to see all of it.
Our sign on Peach Street. Putting the new sign up in 2008.
Howard Vickery took the first Tri-State Open in 1986. Pat Howie won the second, a year later.
03 · the long version
What happened, and when
1978
We open
December 2, 1978 — we open at 3866 Peach Street with twelve nine-foot Gold Crown tables. We wanted Erie to have a room built around serious pool.
1981
Irving Crane plays here
Irving Crane — World Champion and Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer — comes in and plays an exhibition match.
1982
Danny DiLiberto visits
Danny D, one of the top players of the era, plays here. He is part of a wave of road players coming through Erie — Earl Strickland, Bob Ogborn, Marvin Henderson, Bugs Rucker.
1985
Andy's opens next door
After three tough years, Andy's Ale House & Grill opens in the space beside us, named after our first food service manager, Andrew DiVecchio. We still use Drew's recipes.
1986
The first Tri-State Open
Our inaugural Tri-State Open Nine-Ball tournament, won by Howard Vickery of Columbus, OH. Around eighty players enter.
1987
The second
Pat Howie of Rochester, NY takes it. Two in two years puts us on the map for players outside Erie.
1998
We double in size
Andy's and our floor each double. We go multi-level: a sunken room, a balcony, a bar area, an open main room with high ceilings, and a front room.
2008
The Bullfrog, and the rest of the plaza
We buy the rest of Colonial Plaza. Bullfrog Bar goes in upstairs, a live music room with a 23-foot projection screen. That is the building you walk into today.
2010
The Tri-State Open goes quarterly
Winter, Summer and Fall events for non-major winners, Spring open to professionals. Four times a year, drawing from PA, OH and NY.
Today
Still on Peach Street
Seventeen regulation Gold Crown tables, BCA league nights and our break-and-run pots. Still on Peach Street after 47 years.
If you have a photograph from any of these years, bring it in.