Pink Galleon owners return to roots with Cape Girardeau billiard hall
Posted Friday, May 2, 2008 @ 04:54 pm

Two Southeast Missouri natives who live in St. Louis will bring their unusual brand of pool hall and arcade to the Town Plaza in August or September.
Christopher and Lisa Seib have been operating Pink Galleon pool halls in locations in St. Louis since 1993, Christopher Seib told me Friday afternoon. Their business, which they describe as "upscale billiards and games" derives its name from the pink felt on the pool tables and the Mediterranean theme (from Spanish galleon) of the decor, he said.
"We've got the hottest pink felt on our pool tables that someone can make," Christopher Seib said.
There are two Pink Galleon locations in St. Louis, one in Creve Couer and one on Butler Hill Road in the South County. They chose Cape Girardeau for their new location in part because of ties the region — she's from New Hamburg, he's from Poplar Bluff and they both attended Southeast Missouri State University — and in part because their son and district manager, Travis Seib, suggested that Cape Girardeau is as close to his headquarters in Hillsboro as another potential location in St. Peters, Mo.
Don't let the word "upscale" fool you, Christopher Seib said. It doesn't, in this case, mean expensive. Instead, he said, it means a clean place, not "a smoky old pool hall" with style, not just beer signs for decorations.

"The pink, when ladies come in, immediately tells them we are not a smoky old pool hall," Seib said. "It gives us more of a nightclub look."
Another draw to Cape Girardeau is that the renovation of Town Plaza is moving ahead and the Seibs know at least one principal with Greater Missouri Builders.
There will be food, a doorman to keep those under 21 out and, perhaps, in time, a dress code, Christopher Seib said.
"We are like an adult Chuckie Cheese," he said.
To put it another way, he said the Pink Galleon is known in St. Louis as the Cadillac of pool halls.
Make that the Pink Cadillac.

Several alert readers, who I am always anxious to hear from, have called me excited about a billboard on Wililam Street near Broadview. The billboard, they told me, announces the impending arrival of a Rain Forest Cafe, the theme restaurant with locations in 16 states.

Like everyone else, the I was awakened when the Earth gave us a little wiggle this morning.
I was sprawled across the bed, legs sticking out of the covers for the cool air, when the when the vibrations started. I rolled over, saw that the TV (which is always on for background noise) was playing a test pattern and thought "That's odd.

When I last heard from Sam Alsmadi, owner of the former Lewis & Clark Cafe that will become Mediterranean on Broadway, he was happy he had found a new location and hoped to open by March 1.