Business was good at the Arizona Pool Room when this photograph was taken about 1912. The pool hall was just a block south of the Pima County Courthouse, at 99 West Congress Street in the heart of the Tucson business district, and was a popular spot for socializing. Today, the area where it once stood is the site of the Pima County Courts and Administration complex.

Frank Kalil, the gentleman standing at the left of the photograph with his hand on the table, owned the Arizona Pool Room. The men by him appear to be playing a game of carom billiards, which was popular in Europe and Asia at the time. It was played on a pocketless table with two cue balls, one for each player, and one or two red object balls. In the most popular game — straight carom billiards — points were scored by caroming, or rebounding, the cue ball from one object ball to another.

Frank Kalil was a Lebanese immigrant who worked his way to the United States when he was 12 years old. After arriving in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he began working to save enough money to send for his parents, brother and three sisters from the old country. In 1902, he was finally able to send for them. Six years later, he married Annie Haddad and the following year he set out for the West with his wife and his newborn son.

In 1910, having settled his family in Tucson, Kalil opened a cantina in Cananea, Sonora, Mexico. One of his regular customers was Pancho Villa, who was raiding up and down the border, fighting for Mexican independence. It wasn’t long before Villa’s raids made running a business risky, and after a warning from a Mexican general, Kalil returned to Tucson. Soon after that, he opened the pool hall.

He was proprietor of the Arizona Pool Hall from 1911 to 1912. Later he owned a fruit, cigar and confectionary business, and the American Dry Goods Company. In 1923, perhaps seeking opportunity in a larger city, he moved his family to Los Angeles, where he operated a grocery store for 10 years. Later he moved to Georgia and operated two variety stores with his son Fred.

Near the end of World War II, the family returned to Tucson and opened a liquor business. As a sideline, they started a bottling company in 1948. Today, Kalil Bottling is a major bottler of soft drinks—under brand names such as Dr. Pepper, Canada Dry and RC, and is still run by family members.

For many years, Frank Kalil served as a translator at the Tucson Courthouse when cases involved Lebanese-speaking people. He died on June 20, 1972, on his 87th birthday.

Arizona Capitol Times archive. Photo courtesy Arizona Historical Society, Tucson.