pool hall

Bethany: We ensconced ourselves in a booth in the charming area between the charming bar and the charming pool hall — the building here dates from 1908, and that McMenamins signature vintagey thing just fits like a glove, feeling legitimately classic rather than like set dressing.

Ten years ago, the town had little to offer tourists and did little to promote its connection to the author, beyond a museum and a pool hall that called itself Macondo Billiard, after the name of the fictional town in “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”

“When you leave Pacoima, nine times out of 10, you don’t come back,” Cárdenas told me last fall at Myke’s Cafe, a Pacoima pool hall turned hip Mexican American diner that features photos of him and Padilla near the entrance.

As Ernest sits in a pool hall/barbershop, investigators descend on the space to surround him.

The movie also contains staged footage, including arguably cheesy Midwest-law-enforcement world building: Two detectives who help break the case are introduced while killing time in a pool hall.