Bowling has been a regular topic on this blog, although it's been a while since I've been in a bowling alley myself.
I've posted the ad announcing the switchover to automatic pinsetters at Broadway Recreation (April 1956); a 1958 ad for Rebman's AMF Automatic Pinspotters; an ad for the grand opening ad for Lake Erie Lanes in Vermilion (August 1959); an article from 1963 about Sheffield Lake's Sully Bates, who invited some popular bowling grips; and an article about Frank H. "Hank" Andorka from 1964.
Well, add to all that the Grand Opening ad for Sheffield Lake's Shoreway Lanes, which appeared in the Journal back on August 29, 1962.
The new facility boasted 24 Brunswick Automatic Pinsetters; a billiards room; cocktail lounge; snack bar; kid's rumpus room; a meeting room; and free baby sitters!
I've mentioned before on this blog how my parents first met in a bowling alley in Avon Lake, and how they bowled in a BF Goodrich league (the Tuesday Twosomes). They also tried to make bowlers out of my siblings and me, signing us up for a Saturday morning league at Shoreway Lanes in the late 1960s. (It was another attempt (like Saturday morning art classes) to keep us away from the TV set.)
The best part of those Saturday mornings at Shoreway Lanes was the hot dog after bowling, with those good, toasted New England buns, washed down with a Coke. It's odd to still remember how good those hot dogs were, fifty years later.
Unfortunately, we weren't all that good bowlers as kids and I don't believe any of us turned into great bowlers as we got older – although we kept trying.
Automatic pin setting was a big advancement in the 60's. When my Dad was growing up he was a pin setter at one of the local alley's and, if he did a good job, the bowler would toss a quarter down the gutter to him when he was done.
ReplyDeleteI also bowled in a Saturday morning league as a kid. Us neighborhood kids bowled at Rebmans. Parents took turns car-pooling us there. It stuck with me as I bowled in a men's league for over 25 years.