Hurricane Sandy Relief Fundraiser @ The Purple Rose!

    The devastation brought upon us by Hurricane Sandy, will never be forgotten in New York. Hurricane Sandy will be written down in the history books, because New York has never experienced any storm that did this amount of damage. People that were affected by the storm and lost more than valuable objects. They lost essentials like their homes and relatives because of this natural disaster. Many of these families were without warm clothes, electricity, gas and food because of the damages of the hurricane. 

    The Purple Rose Billiards team decided to get together and collect clothes, food and money to try to help as many people as we could. We did not think that many people would even want to contribute, but to our surprise the turnout was amazing. Many people came in with bags and bags of clothes to donate. Clothes with the price tags still attached to them. We raised $250.00, which went to purchasing cleaning supplies and much more. Even though we have lost every game in our APA season; this just goes to show the values of our fellow people of New York! 

ANOTHER DEFEAT FOR THE PURPLE ROSE....

    The Purple Rose team is on a losing streak but that is not the issue. The team is giving up and losing hope in us as a group and in themselves. When the team found out we were playing a bar located in Bay Ridge on 8015 5th avenue, Brooklyn, New York, 11209. The team already decided they lost from the beginning and to make matters worse than they already are - key players never showed up again. I know that I am not the best pool player in the league, but on the days we play I try to make sure I win at least one game. We have added a new player to the team and his name is Rob. He is a very good pool player, the only thing is that he gets nervous and misses easy shots, when he gets excited. He won is first game, but we lost the entire serious with only three people on our team with one win each.

    No Quarters is a bar that became very popular in the neighborhood and was even aired on a reality show on the Oxygen channel. The reality show's main character was one of the bartenders from No Quarters Bar, by the name of Joey Lynn. She did a horrible job showing Bay Ridge as her home. The show was basically over high school drama that kept going even after graduation. Many people in Bay Ridge dislike her her not because she had her own show but the way she made the neighborhood look; even though the show was cancelled because of no one watching it. This bar is also known for Big Ang from mob wives, who is always visiting the bar and hanging out with the customers. The actual service of the bartenders are good only on a busy night. When it is dead the bartenders really don't interact, they disappear for 15 minutes at a time; where no one is behind the bar and they are constantly on their phone. The bar is medium size; with a grape color purple on the walls and pirate themed decorations. The people are not so friendly, but their pool team is very good. I recommend this bar only if you maybe want to run into a local celebrities and bad service.

                               

Defeated once again @ P.C.'S

    Once again ladies and gentlemen we have been defeated by the other team! The score was no where close and yet we still had fun. The bar is located at 7215 5th Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. The bar is a long and spacious, with the pool table located in the back. When we got to the bar 5 minutes late because we were missing team members. We had only three players when we got there and were waiting on two more players, but the team was nice enough to let us start with three instead of four. The first game right from the start we lost because the guy got the eight ball in on the break. I saw my team mate's face as she lost and I just decided to walk away. As I walked away to check the bar I realized their location was a good one. They are located on a crowded avenue that always has a crowd walking by because it is an avenue forshopping. Their paint was was a good choice to match the awning. They had a bowling game that looked cool because of the big screen and a karaoke/Juke Box. The bar had an older crowd and the bartender was a very nice lady. If you tipped her well she looked out for you with the price and buy backs. There was not that many people, but this was the first bar I walked into and was able to sit down and talk to everyone for long periods of time - without people staring at me. I do recommend visiting this bar if your ever on 5th Avenue in Bay Ridge.

FORFEITING WITH STYLE!!!!

     This week at Purple Rose we might have to take a forfeit because our players decided to call out- therefor leaving us stranded. The rules of the APA league is the team needs at least 4 to start and two to play. That's what the guy in charge said during lasts week's game. I myself take partial blame I could not play because I was sick. The other person that could not make it - later arrived at our bar to hang out before the time the league would have began. The construction is almost done and the difference is highly recognizable. The walls are totally different colors and the position of the furniture will be changed. The bar isn't closing instead they are working piece by piece to change the look - without having to close. Closing the bar would cause the business to lose revenue and if customers see a closed bar, they go to another bar to spend money. 

                                                                                                 Before

After

American Legion

    This week, the Purple Rose plays the American Legion with  no wins on record. Most of our team don't show up and in a way that's good for the players that do. This means more playing time for those that are here to play. The place looked kind of vintage but in a heroic war veteran style. The juke box played CDs of classics sung by Dean Martin, Elvis and Johnny Cash.   The people were friendly but the only way your allowed to stay in an American Legion is if your invited by one of their active members. The reason is because their members get certain perks for it being a part of a private club. We lost again even though the games are getting tighter and tighter. To play on the table is cheap; still charging 50 cents a game. In other places it is at least a dollar to play a game. If your ever invited you should definitely take the opportunity to go because its very peaceful, the people are very friendly, relaxing music and the cheapest drinks you can find.

Game Under Construction

     This week, we are playing a home game. No Quarters bar came to Purple Rose to witness a bar under construction. The bar had under gone renovation in the back room, where the pool table and dart board is located. There was a big plastic tarp hanging as a wall dividing the two sections. The Purple Rose team knew the bar was under renovations but we do not want other bars to know what changes we plan on doing, so we did not say anything. A bar called Murphy's had a recent reopening after long time closure. Many of the neighborhood residents would most likely go and check it out. To avoid losses we decided to wait a couple of weeks to give their bar enough time for the neighborhood to re-familiarize themselves with the new look in Murphy's Bar. The teams played on the pool table in the construction zone. Purple Rose had another loss but we kept our integrity despite the other teams un-sportsman like conduct. I will stay away from further details to prevent problems with the other bar. There will be many changes to our bar as the season progresses. Lets hope that with a new change, more wins will follow.

                                           

Kelly's Tavern - First Lost Of The Season

The bar we play against; with a chance to critique was Kelly’s Tavern – located on 9259 4^th Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, 11228. The bar is a large with entrances located on parallel sides of the block. Hardly missed by their all green sign and wall and they are the only green bar on the block.  As the team arrived, I went to take a quick photo of the place and I realized how awkward this is to just go in a bar and take pictures.

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There are two sections when you walk into this bar. On the right, there is a long bar with an older look and feel. On the left, there is a game room with darts, pool, racing car and other games. The walls looked freshly painted, with a selection of golden yellow and purple colors. The colors matched the room and made it look fun, but yet there was no relations to the color outside or to the rest of the bar. The Bar is long with a vintage type design the drinks a very cheap. Most of the people that were there - including the staff were extremely friendly and social. 

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The Purple Rose team experienced their first lost in the pool season to leave the bar tired and disappointed.  Lets see what happens to the rest of the season and what bar comes next! 

League and Project Upset!!!

The season was supposed to start on Wednesday, September 12^th. The people in charge of the league had some mix up so they postponed the first day for the following week – September 19^th. We had a meeting with the guy in charge to declare the rules of the APA (American Pool player’s Association) League and her let everyone one know he did not want last season to happen again. The meeting was held at the Purple Rose Bar, so there is nothing new I can really write about to critique because I did it in the previous entry. After the meeting we insisted on practicing as a team and talking about other ways to deal with cheating teams.

Some of the teams in many of the bars have a tendency to try to twist the rules in their favor or even distract the other team in order to gain a win. For some of these men and women billiards is there life and they get very mad when they lose. Some even to the point of using discriminant and prejudice slurs toward the winners. That can only be handled by the team captain or the bar owner if he or she wants to remove the player from the season or even there team in the league. There are no rules against yelling and cursing your opponent; it mostly falls in the area of sportsmanship.

Purple Rose Bar is going through changes at the moment and the owners are revising the pricing, creating menus and changing staff. The bar season will start picking up and the recreation of the bar is looking good thus far, but the changes will not be noticed until the big changes are completed toward the end. Keep up with the blog to see how the team is doing or the update about other bars in the area.

Introduction - Purple Rose bar

The Purple Rose is a bar located at 7217 8th Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y., 11228 in Bay Ridge. The bar has a billiards team that plays in the APA league on Wednesday nights. This gives the bars a chance to make money on days that are not so busy. All teams eventually have to travel from bar to bar to participate in the away games. This gives me the opportunity to go to many bars and critique them. Most bars offer the same things, like alcohol and music. Many bars try to incorporate events on specific days that will attract customers. What I will be doing is traveling from bar to bar every week with the Billiards team; to critique each bar on its looks, drinks, people, fun level and etc. Lets start with Purple Rose Bar since it is the home base bar for me.

Purple Rose is located off the main avenues, right near the highway. There is always parking spot within 1-2 blocks radius. The problem is that it is not located on a main avenue and to find it for the first time sometimes become difficult because the two way street turns into a one way. The only time there is a cover charge at the door is when there is a fundraiser going on by a private party. The bartenders are all very social and targets to bring in different crowds. During the day there is the older crowd that comes in to watch sports and drink. Purple Rose has the cheapest prices for drinks in the area; top shelf is only $7 and the drinks are not watered down. There are three 42” flat screen televisions, pool table, dart board to go a long with the nice size of the bar. On Wednesdays the pool team gets together to practice for the league, which will be starting September 12^th 2012 at 8pm. Thursdays there is a beer pong competition that just ended and is now recruiting more players for the one coming up in October. Every Friday and Saturday there is a DJ and drink specials.

There will be guest DJs and Bartenders in order to attack different crowds and gain customers that will become regualrs. The people are friendly and it has become more like a family environment. Customers stop by just to say hi and try to help out in the bar. There is a lot to do here and a lot of opportunity to incorporate more. Lets see what happens after the changes. The bar just started to go through renovations, which will take up to two weeks. The paint will go from a tan color to a lavender purple. The lighting will change to a more dim colorful setting and games like the Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 will be installed. There will also be furniture changes but I will post the outcome at a later date.