The Crescent Billiard Hall in the 1920s. The balconies were used for Mardi Gras parade viewing and parties dating back to the 1860s. The Canal Street balconies were removed in 1930 to comply with a new city ordinance designed to help facilitate pedestrian traffic on the increasingly busy street.
Originally constructed in 1826, the building at Canal St. and St. Charles served as office space and a hotel before 1866, when A.W. Merriam opened the elegantly outfitted Crescent Billiard Hall upstairs. After Merriam’s death in 1874, Joe Walker took over management and it continued to be a hub of social activity, with billiard games, exhibition players, and scores from various sporting events around the country received by telegraph and posted on a 50-light scoreboard.
In 1916, Oakley Harris took over Crescent Hall and ushered in an exciting but troubled time, with frequent and illegal gambling charges brought on by Police Superintendent Guy Molony.
While Harris was a well-liked and successful businessman, he was also known for his big weakness: women. He would shower ladies with lavish gifts of cars and jewelry and attention, and ultimately, his lothario ways led to his death in 1928. After telling his common law wife that at 37 she was too old for him and he was instead going to marry a 20-year-old, she shot him in his bathroom as he was bathing a sick baby chicken. On his deathbed, he said: “She was justified, don’t prosecute her.” They did, but a jury found her not guilty.
After Oakley’s death, his brother Tom Harris took over operations at the Hall. During the next five years, the rounds of raids and gambling arrests continued, and the quality of the clientele of the Hall fell lower and lower. In 1933, unable to meet the rent payments on115 St. Charles, Harris moved the Hall about 12 inches uptown to 117 St. Charles, gambling – incorrectly – on better luck and lower rent. It closed shortly after.
In 1936, a group of investors took over the original location of the Crescent Billiards Hall and renovated it into a glamorous lounge with two bars, dinner service, and a dancefloor. Accents of cream and chrome dominated the décor, and the billiards tables were covered in rich purple felt. They stayed open until 1947, when gambling was ruled illegal in the city and the Hall closed. In 1950, the Pickwick Club moved in and remains there today.
