Lake Erie Lanes Article – April 7, 1959

1962 Phone Book Ad

If you grew up in the Lorain area, there were a lot of choices if you wanted to go bowling, including: Rebman’s on Oberlin Avenue; Andorka Lanes on the east side; Broadway Lanes in the basement of the Broadway Building; Aqua Marine Lanes in Avon Lake; Shoreway Lanes in Sheffield Lake; and Lake Erie Lanes in Vermilion. There were also opportunities to bowl in some of the social clubs, like the American Slovak Club.

Driving out to Lake Erie Lanes was probably one of our last resorts, because it seemed so far away. But it is one of the survivors of the group mentioned above.

Lake Erie Lanes was still under construction when the article below ran in the Lorain Journal on April 7th, 1959.

There’s one historical note in the article, which states, “Lake Erie Lanes will provide a much needed recreation spot for the community, which has been without a bowling alley for the past 10 years. Until that time, two lanes were in operation at Furguson’s Recreation, operated by the late E. C. Furguson.”

Lake Erie Lanes had its Grand Opening a mere four months later on August 22, 1959.

Around 2017, Lake Erie Lanes became Pence Lake Erie Lanes.

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I’ve written about bowling many times on this blog, including a post about Sully Bates, the Sheffield Lake resident who invented two bowling grips, and one about Rebman’s Recreation and its Automatic Pinspotters.

Lake Erie Lanes Ad – August 21, 1959

To close out the week and linger in Vermilion one more day, I thought I’d post the above vintage ad. It's for Lake Erie Lanes, and it ran in the Lorain Journal on August 21, 1959 – 56 years ago this month.

The ad announced the bowling alley's upcoming Grand Opening on Saturday, August 22, 1959. 1957 BPAA Champion Jean Schultz and 5 Times World’s Individual Champion Ned Day were the featured celebrity bowlers on hand to add some star power to the inaugural proceedings.

The ad has a nice roll call of the various companies that were involved with the construction, financing and outfitting of the building, including Crow Lumber, Wolf Electric, Dick West Plumbing, Oberlin Avenue Carpet Shop and Spaid Insurance.

It’s hard to believe that the facility has been there that long, especially since the building looks fairly modern. But with so many area bowling alleys gone (Broadway Lanes, Shoreway Lanes, Andorka's, etc.), it's nice to see that Lake Erie Lanes is still thriving out there on U.S. 6 in Vermilion.

Lake Erie Lanes was one of the places where I bowled with my buddies in high school, especially when we couldn’t find any open bowling in Lorain. (I’ve mentioned before that I was in the lounge at Lake Erie Lanes watching the 1978 Gator Bowl when Woody Hayes punched the Clemson player.)

The building looks pretty different from the architectural rendering in the ad; I can’t remember if the entrance was remodeled at some point.