4 Corner Billiards, Bridgeport, CT

With our kids headed to Rockin' Jump for a couple of hours with our church youth group last night, Sally and I decided to shoot some pool.  A quick search turned up 4 Corner Billiards in downtown Bridgeport as pretty much the only pool hall within easy driving distance of our house.  We decided to check the place out and make a date of it.

Rack 'em up!

4 Corner Billiards is right downtown in Bridgeport, Connecticut, across from McLevy Green and just down from the city's Government Building.  That puts it within easy walking distance of Bridgeport's Metro-North station, and indeed, I spent a good fifteen minutes trying to convince my beautiful wife that we should take the train there instead of driving.  Parking in downtown Bridgeport isn't always easy.  However, that would have cost us time, and after all, the kids were only going to be at Rockin' Jump for a couple of hours at most.

4 Corner Billiards in downtown Bridgeport, CT.

4 Corner Billiards, per Yelp!

As it happens, we found parking pretty easily--right on the street.  We didn't even have to pay.  Bridgeport's electronic parking meters informed us that parking was free on Saturday night's until 8:00 am the following morning.  We wound up parking right on McLevy Green, directly across from the Government Building.  I told Sally, "I'll bet the City's lawyers come over here and shoot pool every night after work."

My grandfather taught me to play pool when I was a kid visiting Tennessee in the summer, and later, my buddies and I played a lot back when we were in high school as well.  But that was decades ago.  As I told Sally, I know how to make most of the shots, but that's not the same as being able to actually make them.  Sally said something similar, but I'm not sure where she learned to play.  I have this vision of my wife shooting pool with the other teachers after the school day back when she taught in the South Bronx, but somehow, I think that's more fantasy than would-be history.

About to break

Sally shoots!

4 Corner Billiards is in a former bank building.  It's an intimate space with exposed brick siding and maybe seven or eight tables, along with a number of flat screen TVs hanging from the walls.  There's now a bar where the teller's counter used to be, but the vault door is still in place, though the vault itself now serves as a sort of backroom lounge area, also with its own TV.  A main TV hung above the bar.  They were showing both basketball and the NFL Playoffs last night, and I noted a sign that advertised Sunday Direct Ticket during the regular season.

They rent tables by the hour.  Sally and I settled in and played four games over the course of about 90 minutes.  I got a gin & tonic and then an IPA; Sally got a large chardonnay.  All of that ran us $29!

Sally with wine, a happy combination.

The lounge area in the former vault

Obligatory couple selfie

We had a blast.  I won't say that either of us shot particularly well, per se, but I made a few shots that I didn't think I was going to make.  My problem was more that I couldn't reliably make the easy shots than that I never made any complicated ones.  Sally held her own, too, and in the end, we split the night at two game apiece.  I scratched on the eight twice to give Sally her wins.

Overall, 4 Corner had a good crowd.  Collegial and friendly.  We talked to some of the other guys shooting, and after our game, the owner gave us a little tour.  They've been open for a year, and he said he's opening a real lounge soon next door.  He's hoping to have jazz nights. 

Personally, I just want to go back and shoot some more pool.