A GENUINE CLASSIC By Anthony Stoeckert Lee Simon had been in the pool business for decades when he established the second and current version of Buffalo Billiards in Petaluma, Calif., in 2011 after operating the original Buffalo Billiards destination in Cotati, Calif., which he opened in 1992. He calls his current location a “hobby” and “semi-retirement gig.” However, it would seem that his current enterprise has become much more than a casual endeavor. 32 | BCA INSIDER • NEW YEAR ISSUE 2022
Decades of hard work and dedication have gone into this hobby, and it’s safe to say that Buffalo Billiards is the result of years of work and represents Lee Simon’s vision of an ideal pool hall. “I had my recipe planned and written out as early as 1976,” Simon says. “It just took a really long time to get there. And it takes money and it takes help, and I didn’t have either of those for most of my career.”
