Planned Opening of Billiard Hall Opposed : Northridge: The building is less than 200 feet from a school. But the owners say their Devonshire Street establishment will attract 'yuppies and families.'

Planned Opening of Billiard Hall Opposed : Northridge: The building is less than 200 feet from a school. But the owners say their Devonshire Street establishment will attract ‘yuppies and families.’

By CAROL WATSON

June 1, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Parents nearly everywhere worry about their children being exposed to alcohol, drugs and acts of random violence. In Northridge, they are panicked over pool.

Homeowners, parents and business owners fear that the Billiard Connection, scheduled to open on Devonshire Street in three weeks, will attract the above-mentioned evils--and more. After all, as the Music Man sang in the Broadway show, trouble starts “with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for pool .”

“You remember the song about River City?” asked Philip Dye, administrator of a nearby private school, referring to the billiards-fearing fictional town in “The Music Man.” “That’s us.”

People have voiced fears that the pool hall will lure “the wrong element”--loiterers who would get into drunken brawls and leer at the female summer camp counselors around the swimming pool at Pinecrest School-Northridge, which is less than 200 feet away.

An anonymously produced flyer circulating in the area of suburban ranch homes warns: “THERE IS A DANGER LURKING. Are you aware that what the owners claim to be the WORLD’S LARGEST POOL HALL is about to open?”

In fact, the Billiard Connection is a more modest establishment that hopes to ride the crest of a wave of renewed interest in pool, a pastime that has in recent years found fans among young, style-conscious professionals seeking an alternative to nightclubs.

The business’s owners say the image of pool halls as dark, smoky dens where cutthroat gamblers ply their trade is outdated. The swanky billiards clubs of the ‘90s, which are popping up from Orange County to Pasadena to the Westside, feature elegant antiques, Sinatra tunes and valet parking.

“People get crazy ideas about having bikers outside and drunks, fights and brawls,” said Larry Bezman, general manager of the Billiard Connection. “We’re talking about yuppies and families.”

Bezman said the two-story, 8,000-square-foot hall will have 25 pool tables and a video arcade with 20 games. A dining area will offer cappuccino, deli sandwiches and all the European pastries “the heart desires,” he said. Coffee aficionados from the area will no longer have to venture to Ventura Boulevard for an espresso.

The family-owned business, which will be open daily from noon to 2 a.m., will provide an inexpensive form of entertainment for a range of customers, including couples on dates and parents bonding with children, Bezman said. Table time will cost $6 to $8.50 an hour, depending on how many people are playing, he said.

An armed security guard will be on duty, and video cameras will allow rooms to be monitored for signs of gambling, fights and theft, he said. In addition, Bezman said he is willing to refrain from serving beer, the only alcoholic beverage to be sold, until after the elementary school closes each day.

The hall does not have a conditional-use permit to sell beer, and Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson said he will oppose the issuance of one. The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has already received six letters and four telephone calls expressing opposition to an alcohol license. The hall will open whether it gets those permits or not, Bezman said.

Lee Fall, an X-ray technician in a doctor’s office in the adjacent Granada Hills Medical Plaza, said: “This is not a good thing to have right next door to us. Everybody in the building feels that way.”

One letter of opposition submitted to the ABC was from Pinecrest, which serves 900 students from preschool through sixth grade. Dye, who oversees the school and 12 others in the chain, said Pinecrest has been besieged with hundreds of calls from parents, who pay about $400 a month per child for tuition.

The parents’ concerns included fears that “pool halls would bring in a less desirable element with the gambling and the drinking,” said Dye, who admitted that he had a pool table at home.

“Billiard halls have a bad reputation,” said Maria Seery, a nuclear medicine technologist with two children attending Pinecrest. “I thought it was kind of awkward going in so close to a school.”

Then, there’s the whole summer camp problem.

“There are going to be young girls in bathing suits in the pools,” Dye said. “They’re going to feel conspicuous.”

Some nearby homeowners are also upset.

“I’ve been around too many places in my lifetime that had pool halls and alcohol,” said Bob True, who lives about a block away. “It’s always a fight.”

Parking is also of concern to nearby residents and businesses. Bezman said customers of the Billiard Connection will be able to park in a lot one door down that serves several other businesses in the area.

Mauricio Guardado, manager of La Fiesta restaurant, which is also next to the pool hall, said he would wait before making a judgment.

“It could be beneficial for us,” he said. “It could bring more people in the area.”