Circa 1920 Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. Monarch Cushion 9' pool table from Janis Joplin's Larkspur, California home.

In December of 1969 Janis Joplin purchased a home in Larkspur, located in Marin County, on Baltimore Avenue. Myra Friedman's 1973 biography of Joplin, titled Buried Alive, shares Joplin's own description of the house taken from a letter Joplin wrote to her friend Linda Gravenites at the time of the home purchase. She shares that "Janis described the house in elaborate detail and also presented a vision of the serene life she and Linda could have there. A one-story house, it was on a quiet dead-end street where there was no traffic at all. In fact, the lack of noise had been the first thing Janis noticed. The huge combined living and dining room had a freestanding stone fireplace...Through an all-glass wall, you could see the sundeck, which overlooked a stream...The perfect touch was added by a beautiful old Baldwin pool table, dated 1906."

This is the table that she referred to as "The perfect touch" when describing why she bought this new home to her friend Linda. Although the details of the pool table were off - calling it a Baldwin, who makes pianos not pool tables, Joplin also stated that she wanted to get a piano, "...she would be taking walks in the woods and yoga lessons and trying to learn to play piano. Urging Linda not to laugh, she said maybe she could learn horseback riding, too! When she reflected on these possibilities and the excitement of having the house with all the peace it could bring, she was sure it would be wonderful."

Rolling Stone Magazine photographer Tony Lane, who would later become the magazine's art director, took a series of photographs of Joplin, at her home playing pool on this table with friends. Some of these images appeared in the August 6, 1970 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine to accompany the cover article titled "Janis Joplin And Her New Full-Tilt Boogie Band." The article was a review of her June 12, 1970 show at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, where she debuted her new backing band Full-Tilt Boogie. A copy of the August 1970 issue is included with this lot. Lane later shared additional previously unpublished images of Joplin playing pool on this table, shot during his visit to the Larkspur home, via an image sharing account. https://www.flickr.com/people/33109641@N06/

Rolling Stone Magazine photographer, Baron Wolman, also shot images of Joplin playing pool on this table immediately after she moved into the Larkspur home as you can see by the fact that the basement is still unfinished in his images that were shot in December of 1969. In one of his images illustrating this lot, it appears that Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug Clifford was by Joplin's side as she was about to take a shot. Joplin was known to play pool well and was said to be quite at home in pool halls. Holly George-Warren writes in her 2019 biography, Janis: Her Life and Music, of Joplin's inability to conform to the conservative 1950s Eisenhower standards of her early life in Port Arthur, Texas. George-Warren relates that her oversized sloppy masculine dress and demeanor often found her more at home hanging out with older boys, listening to rock n' roll, drinking and playing pool at roadhouses and dance halls across the Sabine River in Louisianna. In fact, references to Joplin drinking beer and playing pool appear throughout the various biographies that have been published about her life. Joplin's interest in shooting pool is another in a series of traits that cemented her "one of the guys" persona, and it comes as no surprise that she was thrilled to find a home that came with a pool table where she clearly logged many hours playing with friends.

This pool table was in Joplin's home at the time of her death and it remains in the same room of the house today. Special arrangements must be made to organize shipping this table from Larkspur, California.

Also includes: wall-mounted cue rack (visible in vintage images); four mis-matched cues; balls; ball rack triangle; and a padded table cover.

Janis Playing Pool Photo Credit: Baron Wolman / Iconic Images

Janis On Steps Photo Credit: Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy Stock Photo

JANIS JOPLIN'S

FULL-TILT BRUNSWICK