Sarah Anne Lloyd, 2010.The Watering Hole:

Temple Billiards, 126 South Jackson Street, PIONEER SQUAREThe Atmosphere: Temple Billiards seems pretty claustrophobic, but high ceilings and two upstairs lounges present more than enough elbow room to facilitate the bar’s six pool tables. The decor itself is a sleek blend of dive bar and upscale, combining exposed brick, soccer club scarves and neon signs with modernist lighting, a few hints of marble and one of the most painstakingly neat chalkboard menus I’ve ever seen. There’s a degree of innate sleaziness that comes with every pool hall (personally, I blame Tom Cruise), but owner/barkeep Rolando Salinas said one of his most important goals with Temple was to form “a place where a woman could feel comfortable walking into at 1 AM.” Despite residing in a neighborhood that’s long been painted by certain Seattle politicos as some sort of amoral mixture of 1970s Bedford-Stuyvesant and downtown Kabul, it’s hard to feel any sense of danger whatsoever at the Temple.The Barkeep: Rolando Salinas was a graphic designer (explaining the chalkboard’s magnificent typography) before he became sick of life behind a computer screen. Knowing he’d need a job where he could socialize, Rolando got together with a few friends to start the enterprise that now rests at Jackson and Occidental. Surviving both ends of the dotcom bubble, Rolando is now the sole acting owner of Temple Billiards.The Drink: Rolando was instantly skeptical of me asking for his favorite drink, saying most people who ask what’s good here are just looking for him to lie and then make them something sweet with vodka. He’s run afoul of so many people asking him to “surprise them” that he pretty much refuses to improvise unless he’s given a base liquor at the very least.Although Rolando stopped drinking over a decade ago, he professed a weakness for whiskey while he did. When I asked him how he’d prepare whiskey for an enthusiast of the spirit, he said he couldn’t think of anything better than bourbon neat.The Verdict: Basil Hayden isn’t going to transform into something exotic and new here, but Temple Billiards is a great place to be a passive whiskey-sipper. The pool hall has stood as sanctuary through an extremely fast-paced decade while its surroundings were nearly eviscerated by short-sighted city planning and shameless opportunists. If you’re looking for a clearer picture of the modern Pioneer Square rather than fearmongering tripe, Rolando and the myriad of lawyers, architects and other locals that make up Temple’s patrons have seen it all from the ground level.