In the meantime, Mennis has set up a GoFundMe hoping to scrape together a sum to help support the staff as they look for their next gigs. Nikolakakos and his daughter, Anna, who helps run the business, could not immediately be reached for comment. She chuckled: “They’d all get mad at him.” “He played backgammon with all the old men and beat them out all the time,” Mennis, the manager, chimed in. “We all grew up together over there,” said Andres, who learned to play Greek backgammon at the pool hall when he was 22 years old. He began working at the pool hall as a busboy when he was 17. I’m not gonna say who I blame but I just don’t blame him.”Īndres, a 34-year-old cook from Ecuador, also said he was worried about how he was going to find a job with the closure of the place due to his immigration status. “George’s like another dad to me, as weird as it sounds … I don’t even think he understood half the things that were going on, you know, it wasn’t even him dealing with the courts,” Tellez said. Though, like many of the workers, she also emphasized her closeness with other staffers as well as with Nikolakakos, adding that she wishes him no ill will despite the sudden closure that has left her and others in limbo. That includes 32-year-old Jana Tellez, a single mother who has worked at the billiards cafe since she was 15. ![]() “Because I know the people long time, and because he closed and he told me the same day.” It’s pretty sad,” said Patino, who has worked at the pool hall for 13 years. Luisa Patino, 37, had been back on the job for only three days after a three-month sick leave for breast cancer when she found out that the business was closing. All said they had expected that any closure would be postponed for at least a few more months as the court case dragged on, and as they had hoped for a lucky break. Speaking to THE CITY on Monday, several longtime employees shared feelings of loss and confusion over the pool hall’s closure, as well as worries over their future. ![]() But an appeal process stalled the eviction for about six months following the court decision, until a judge last Tuesday declined a motion from the business asking the landlords to show cause. Enter an open, light-filled retreat with pine floors and high ceilings with wood beams to discover a gourmet kitchen, dining area, family room with pool. When THE CITY visited last year, longtime patrons entertained each other over games of pool or Greek backgammon, bantering with workers over $3 coffees between rounds in the manner of old friends.Ī Queens judge first ruled in December of last year that a warrant would be issued for the pool hall’s eviction as a result of about $440,000 owed by the business in back rent since March 2020, according to court documents. The neighborhood mainstay has also been a favorite gathering place for Greeks in Astoria and beyond. Other notable players including Efren Reyes, Shane Van Boening and Ronnie O’Sullivan have also graced the tournament tables at the family business that operated out of a low-key block on Astoria’s bustling Steinway Street. In its 33 years, the billiards cafe has been the home of Earl Strickland, who served as the in-house pro between 2011 to 2018 and was considered one of the best nine-ball players of all time.
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