Main Street Musings: Gino's Pool Hall

 A few days ago I saw an interesting discussion on the "Memories of Raymond, Illinois" Facebook page about the Pool Hall, and I thought folks might also be interested in this encore Throwback Thursday post, Gino's Pool Hall, originally published in December, 2014.    

From the May 4, 1967 issue of The Raymond News:

A small paragraph about Gino's Pool Hall appeared in the Raymond Centennial booklet published in 1971, "Mrs. Luisa Casolari operates the pool hall since the death of her husband, Gino, some years ago. She has remodeled the building, added air-conditioning and new fixtures, and provides a pleasant meeting place for the young people of Raymond." 

Although the pool hall closed when I was still in my early teens, I have lot of great memories of hanging out there (much to my Mother's chagrin). To this day, when I hear songs on the radio by Led Zeppelin or Foghat or Lynyrd Skynyrd (on the oldies station of course), I'm immediately transported right back to Luisa's, and I expect to hear the solid crack of a good break at any second.   

Luisa Casolari

Luisa did not speak English very clearly, and despite the communication barrier, she loved all the kids in town and everyone loved her. She was certainly a memorable character in the history of Raymond. 

One spring, not long before she closed the pool hall and returned (I think) to Italy, she gave me a card along with this photo. On the inside of the card she had written:

Happy Easter

Happy Spring

Happy Happy Everything.

I think of Luisa every year at Easter and sometimes in between.