Booches is a
bar,
restaurant, and
pool hall on 9th Street in downtown
Columbia, Missouri, that was established in 1884. At over 140 years old, 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 at the Walters-Boone County Historical Museum.
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 was established in 1884,[1][2][3] has had six locations in downtown Columbia. Since 1928 it has been on 18th and has been on Ninth Street.[4] It is the oldest pool hall in Columbia and has full-sized
pool,
snooker, and
three cushion billiards tables.[2][5][6] Booches serves food, as it's 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.[5][6][7][8][9] In 2005, Jerry Shriver of USA Today included Booches' hamburger on the list of top 25 dishes from his "Down-home Dining" project.[10] In 2019, Joan Niesen and Laken Litman of Sports Illustrated named Booches' hamburgers as the "#1 Greatest College Town Eats" in the nation.[11]
Booches is named after its founder, Paul Blucher "Booch" Venable, who was nicknamed "Booch" as a child by writer
Eugene Field.[12][13] The restaurant has gone through many owners in its time and was a male-only establishment until the 1970s.[6][13] During the times of
racial segregation in the United States, the establishment would not serve African Americans.[14][15]
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.[16][17] 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.[16]
Booches was inducted into the
Boone County Hall of Fame at the Walters-Boone County Historical Museum in 2016.[22]
In popular culture
Booches was included in the film Norm, which aired on ESPN's
SEC Network.[23][24]Norm depicted the career of the former University of Missouri basketball coach
Norm Stewart, who was a regular patron of the establishment.[23][24]