Local ballers play in a three-on-three tournament on the brand-new basketball half-court behind Cobblestone’s pub in Forest Hills. Forum Newsgroup photo by Luis Gronda.
In addition to grabbing a drink and watching the NBA playoffs on television, one Forest Hills bar is now letting its patrons shoot some hoops for themselves.
Cobblestone’s Pub, a sports bar that calls the long strip of Queens Boulevard its home, has recently opened a half basketball court behind the bar, which was previously used mainly as an employee parking lot.
The court is considered regulation-sized with free-throw and three-point lines, and padding behind the hoop to help with player safety. It is painted blue and orange to mimic the court at Madison Square Garden.
Peter Massaro III, who co-owns the bar with his father, Peter Jr., said they opened the court because they wanted to do something that other establishments aren’t, and to really utilize the available space behind the pub. He also noticed that many of his customers enjoy playing basketball.
“Often times you’ll come across guys that say ‘Hey, I’m a ball player, let’s go down to the park’,” said the younger Massaro, who lives in Astoria. “It’s a way of doing something active within the bar.”
And since the court opened last week, bar customers and ball players have been clamoring to play on the brand-new surface.
Cobblestone’s has started a three-on-three 32-team tournament that has been
Peter Massaro III, co-owner of Cobblestone’s Pub, stands in the basketball half-court that the bar opened last week. Forum Newsgroup photo by Luis Gronda.
running in conjunction with the court opening.
Teams pay $150 to get into the tournament. This covers a red and white jersey for each player and referee fees for the games. The team that wins the tournament will get a cash prize of $1,000.
Massaro said that the fee the teams pay for the tournament is only to cover the costs associated with running the court and that they don’t want to profit from having the games there. He added that the hope is that having the court will bring more business into the bar itself.
“That’s where we want our profit to come in, we don’t want to make anything off the basketball court itself,” he said. “The court is just something we’re doing for the community.”
Chris Hazen, one of the guys playing in tournament games that were held on Monday, June 11, said that he signed up for the league after one of his teammates, a coworker who goes to the bar on occasion, found out about the court.
He said he was surprised about how nice the court was when he first saw it.
“It’s one of the nicer courts I’ve seen,” said Hazen, who lives in Ossining and works at the Forest Hills Towers right across the street from the bar. He scored 13 points in his team’s 21-13 victory.
As for how much it cost to put everything together, Massaro said the court cost about $15,000 in total and took about nine months to build. He said they had to refurbish the whole area including repaving the asphalt so that it’s ideal for playing basketball on. The rim itself cost $2,500, according to Massaro.
Regarding future plans for the court, Massaro said they plan on holding another three-on-three tournament later this summer. The current tournament is expected to end on June 29 and the next one will start on July 9.
He also said that they hope to hold a free tournament for local youth groups. Massaro coaches CYO basketball at Sacred Heart School in Glendale. He said that he wants to hold a youth tournament for the kids as a way of giving back to the community.
They are also looking for an artist to decorate the walls surrounding the court. If you are interested, call Cobblestone’s Pub at 718-263-9754.
By Luis Gronda
