If you lived in the Lorain area back in the 1960s and 70s, and were in the mood to go bowling, you had a lot of choices. Everybody no doubt had their favorite bowling alley.
Not belonging to a league, my buddies and I had to find a place with open bowling. We would go far and wide in our search; Andorka Lanes on Lorain's east side; Shoreway Lanes in Sheffield Lake; Lake Erie Lanes in Vermilion; Aqua Marine Lanes out in Avon Lake; I even remember going to Broadway Lanes (in the basement of the Broadway Building) at least once.
But the one that I (and other west-siders) probably went to the most was the one closest to home: Rebman's Recreation.
Unlike many of the businesses that I write about, Rebman's is still out there at the south end of Oberlin Avenue and doing well. But originally it was located at 1040 Broadway (across from Lorain Monument on the other side of Broadway – now lost to the underpass).
Here's an ad from the September 8, 1947 Lorain Journal announcing its opening.
But with the beginning of the new year in 1955, the new lanes on Oberlin Avenue were almost ready for their grand opening. Here's a schedule that ran in the Lorain Journal on January 7, 1955 mentioning the opening day for the 'new establishment.
And here's the Opening Day ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on January 14, 1955.
I posted a July 1958 ad for Rebman's promoting its Acme Automatic Pinspotters back here.
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As I reminisced back here, bowling was kind of important in the Brady family. My parents met while bowling. They bowled in a BF Goodrich league. And Mom tried to make bowlers out of my siblings and me by signing us up for a Saturday morning league at Shoreway Lanes.
I even took bowling as one of my physical education requirements at Ohio State (along with ice skating) and bought an engraved ball after college. But unfortunately, bowling was never something that was right up my alley.
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