I was surprised to learn that Vancouver has forty-odd billiard and pool halls — shows how often I frequent a pool hall. One of the largest is Guys and Dolls Billiards (2434 Main Street, East Vancouver, 604-879-4433), boasting “11-9 Ball Gold Crown” and “five Riley snooker tables.”
Downtown, there’s the funky Automotive Billiards & Café (1286 Homer Street, 604-682-0040), and licensed Commodore Lanes and Billiards (838 Granville Street, 604-681-1531), with twenty tables.
A number of Commercial Drive coffeehouses long frequented by Italians and Portuguese have pool tables, including Joe’s Café (1150 Commercial Drive, East Vancouver, 604-255-1046). Greeks on the west side tend to frequent, with others, Kitsilano Billiards (3255 West Broadway, 604-739-9544).
Bowling lives, and aside from the underground Commodore Lanes, there’s the five- and ten-pin Grandview Bowling Lanes on Commercial Drive, not far from the SkyTrain mega-station (2195 Commercial Drive, East Vancouver, 604-253-2747). And in Kitsilano, the Varsity-Ridge 5-Pin Bowling Centre (2120 West i5th Avenue, 604-738-5412) keeps rollin’ on.
If your thing is lawn bowling, you’ll find one of the most spectacu¬larly sited greens in the world (truly) and congenial players (of all ages) at the Stanley Park Lawn Bowling Club (near the park entrance on Beach Avenue, 604-683-0910).
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