Memory Lanes - Page 4

"There used to be a tailoring and alteration shop near my family home that would put your name or an emblem on your prized bowling shirt," recalls CA-Modern publisher Marty Arbunich of his youth in San Francisco. "For us kids, that touch added a whole new dimension of fun to the sport, and teased our imaginations with stardom too. And it was just two blocks from the bowling alley."

Today, bowling is rated as the country's number-one participant sport, yet most of the original Golden Age bowling centers have been lost to time, victims of changing tastes and rising property values.

"The peak glory years were so short," points out Nichols. "Covina [Bowl] opened in 1956, sets a whole new [design] standard the entire country tried to live up to." And then by 1961, the boom began to slow down—"beginning, middle, and end of the movement," he adds.

In California, approximately 150 of the 900 bowling venues built from 1940 to 1970 still stand, but in varying states of remodel and reuse. Local efforts have been made to preserve bowling centers that are threatened by closure, but most sit on valuable swaths of land that are ripe for development.

After its closure in 2017, preservation efforts helped to save the Covina Bowl, the granddaddy of the modern bowling center. There, supporters qualified the structure for California landmark status, preserving the front exterior, pyramid, and signage in their original glory. However, the building interior and lanes were lost to demolition.

Bowlero Corporation is today's largest bowling operator in the country, owning approximately 300 centers. Acquiring all the remaining AMF and Brunswick centers, Bowlero has retrofitted many with computerized scoring, synthetic lanes, and an entertainment-filled environment that is wildly popular with a whole new bowling generation.

Another entry that is setting a new standard with 21st century crowds is Highland Park Bowl in Southern California. Renovated from the ground up, the former Mr. T's Bowl is now a sight to behold and has been known to draw standing-room-only crowds.

"When we got in there, we met with someone from Brunswick about restoring our machines," says owner Bobby Green, the creative force behind the center's design. When Brunswick suggested replacing the old equipment, Green decided to take a creative turn and recycle the vintage machines.

"On the back wall, you'll see these wheels slowly spinning with pins in them," says Green. "They're from those old machines, and give the illusion of something more going on there. It's very 'Willy Wonka.'"

In part thanks to these revitalizations, what's old has become new again, opening a door to the future of bowling. And though mid-century centers are ghosts of what they used to be, in photos and memories we can still relive their glory days.

One of those lingering memories belongs to Marty Arbunich. "My dad used to bowl a lot back then," he recalls of his mid-century youth. "In fact, while I was being born, Dad was out bowling across town. When he got the phone call that I came through A-OK, he went back and bowled a 258 game!

"I guess I was his lucky charm."

Photography: Ralph Crane, John Eng, Bill Reid, Lori Newman, Syd Nagoshi; and courtesy Powers, Daly & DeRosa, Charles Phoenix Slibrary, Heather David, Tommy Gelinas and the Valley Relics Museum, Chris Nichols, Vintage San Diego on Facebook, Richland County History, Forestdweller, Rico Tee Archive