El Billar, Northern Nevada's first Latina-owned pool hall, opens its doors in Carson City
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Tue, 06/11/2024 - 10:10am
Billiards is a family tradition for Crystal Sandoval. While she was born and raised in Carson City, as well as a Carson High graduate, her parents are immigrants: her father was born in Honduras, and her mother in Nicaragua, and they had run a billiards hall in Nicaragua for years before coming to Carson City.
"When the whole family came over to the states, they brought the idea to me to continue the family business, since they had it for a long time," Sandoval said.
After discussions with her husband, Sandoval decided to open her own pool hall in her hometown, which is how El Billar (pronounced bee-yar) was born. Her husband owns Carson Auto Body, and Sandoval is a real estate agent by day, so owning a bar and billiards hall is a first for both of them.
"We put our heads together, we put our funds together, and we opened this up," Sandoval said. "We both thought it would be great to follow the family business."
The pool hall offers six identical eight-foot Brunswick tournament pool tables, along with a full bar and several flat screens for sports viewing. They've been open for about a month, but have already been busy. They plan to open tournaments within the month.
"We have draft, we have all the liquors; we love our tequila here, and our rum," Sandoval added. "We have a lot to choose from."
Sandoval didn't know she had become the first Latina billiards owner in Northern Nevada until Carson City Community Development Director Hope Sullivan, who handled the permitting and liquor license, researched it for her.
"I had no idea, but it's very cool," Sandoval said. "I feel accomplished; before all this, before I was a real estate agent, I worked for the courts right after high school. I got my bachelor's in law with an emphasis in law enforcement. So this is completely different from what I had wanted to do before. It's challenging because people come in here and they see that I'm young, and that I'm a woman running a bar, and they say, 'You're the owner?' And I just say 'yeah.' I have fantastic employees, and I have a great team behind me which is so important to get this thing going."
El Billar is located at 208 E. Winnie Ln. Sandoval joins a number of Hispanic- or Latino-owned businesses in the Winnie Lane shopping center. The other businesses include San Marcos Grill, La Santaneca Salvadoran cuisine, La Tapatia Ice Cream, El Torito bakery and butcher shop, and Miami Vibes.
While it wasn't necessarily planned that way, the business owners are all very supportive of each other within the shopping center.
"San Marcos especially sends so many people our way," Sandoval said. "We all know each other now and support each other's businesses."
While El Billar may sport a Spanish name, the pool hall is for everyone.
"We want to make sure the community knows that everybody is welcome here," Sandoval said. "Everybody is invited; we play all kinds of music from classic rock to Spanish, we have people from all walks of life who come in."
The hall opens everyday at 4 p.m. and typically closes around 11 p.m. except on Fridays and Saturdays where they will stay open until 2 or 3 a.m.
