Booches
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Booches is a bar, restaurant, and pool hall on 9th Street in downtown Columbia, Missouri. Established in 1884, it is the oldest pool hall in Columbia. It is located near the University of Missouri and has traditionally been frequented by college students. In 2016, Booches was inducted into the Boone County Hall of Fame by the Boone County Historical Society.
The hamburgers that the restaurant produced were listed in USA Today as one of the best in the country in 2000. They were also praised by the publication again in 2005 and by Sports Illustrated in 2019.
Overview
Booches, established in 1884,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="CBTimes 2008">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Simonds 2004"/> has had six locations in downtown Columbia. Since 1928 it has been on 18th and has been on 9th Street.<ref name="McKinney 2016">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is the oldest pool hall in Columbia and has full-sized pool, snooker, and three cushion billiards tables.<ref name="CBTimes 2008"/><ref name="Stern Stern 2017"/><ref name="Pham 2012"/> Booches serves food, as its hamburgers, which are served on wax paper, were listed in a 2000 report in USA Today as one of the best 25 in the United States.Template:Refn In 2005, Jerry Shriver of USA Today included Booches' hamburger on the list of top 25 dishes from his "Down-home Dining" project.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2019, Joan Niesen and Laken Litman of Sports Illustrated named Booches' hamburgers as the "#1 Greatest College Town Eats" in the nation.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Booches is named after its founder, Paul Blucher Venable, who was nicknamed "Booch" as a child by writer Eugene Field.<ref name="Missouri 2014">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Redohl 2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Opened as a male-only establishment,<ref name="Pham 2012"/><ref name="Redohl 2013"/> during the times of racial segregation in the United States, the establishment would not serve African Americans.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="main">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> By the 1970s it would serve both, and the venue gained a liquor license in 1982.<ref name="Pham 2012"/><ref name="Redohl 2013"/>
During the mid to late 1970s, the then-owners of Booches edited and published four issues of the Review la Booche, a nationally published literary journal.<ref name="Braden 2016">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>"David Ignatow Papers, 1929 - 1994". University of California, San Diego library. Retrieved November 8, 2017.</ref> The journal featured poetry, prose, sketches, and photographs by John Ciardi, William Stafford, Elton Glaser, Frank Stack, and Richard Eberhart, along with local and regional contributors. The review was revived in 1990 for a fifth and final issue.<ref name="Braden 2016"/>
Booches is located close to the University of Missouri,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and it has traditionally been used by University of Missouri and St. Louis Cardinals sports fans.<ref name="Simonds 2004">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Missouri 2014"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It has been described by some in contemporary times as a dive bar and a melting pot.<ref name="Melville 2012"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Booches was inducted into the Boone County Historical Society Hall of Fame at the Walters-Boone County Historical Museum in 2016.<ref name="Sanderson 2016">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In popular culture
Booches was included in the film Norm, which aired on ESPN's SEC Network.<ref name="Walljasper 2016">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Lewis 2017">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Norm depicted the career of the former University of Missouri basketball coach Norm Stewart, who was a regular patron of the establishment.<ref name="Walljasper 2016"/><ref name="Lewis 2017"/>