Bowling Architecture & Culture, Old & New

October 12, 2017 2:31 PM

These extravagant alleys in Germany might be found in a Wes Anderson movie. Though the bowling culture has declined precipitously in Germany, several of these alleys are still pristine. Here in the US, there's a mostly forgotten set of alleys in the basement of churches, many also forgotten church alleys.

However, there is a sort of renaissance going on in a few places, and a few ornate alleys have been renovated, such as this one in Los Angeles steampunk revival, where an hour's play on Saturday night will cost you $70 (for six people) and there are crafty eats and drinks.

posted by MovableBookLady (30 comments total)

Autoplay video in first link
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 2:32 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

“Fuck it dude, lets go bowling.”
posted by Fizz at 2:38 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Sorry about the autoplay. I forgot about it.
posted by MovableBookLady at 2:51 PM on October 12, 2017

Actually, I don't get autoplay of any kind on any of the links. Hmmm.
posted by MovableBookLady at 2:57 PM on October 12, 2017

...might be found in a Wes Anderson movie.

Coen brothers, surely.
posted by The Tensor at 2:57 PM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

Single-lane bowling alleys!

How can I renovate my house to make room for one of these?
posted by GuyZero at 3:13 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

There's a lovely (but expensive!) alley/bar in the Roosevelt in LA called The Spare Room. A lot of crown prince of bowling's Chris Hardwick's All Star Celebrity Bowling episodes were filmed there.
posted by elsietheeel at 4:25 PM on October 12, 2017

Single-lane bowling alleys! How can I renovate my house to make room for one of these?

I grew up down the street from a house that had a single-lane bowling alley in the basement and it was awesome.

Brunswick Corporation had a plant that made bowling equipment in the city where I grew up and this house had an amazing historic iron pin-setting press they had made and a breathtaking hand-carved wooden ball return rail. We would take turns being the pin setter and after the bowler had bowled, whoever was setting pins would place the ball on the return rail at a height of about 4 or so feet above the ground. Gravity would cause the ball to roll down a ramp, in the process giving it enough momentum to continue towards the head of the lane. When it got there, a curve in the wooden rail would use the last of the momentum from the ramp to flip the ball up and over and deposit it on a wooden rack where the bowler could retrieve it for the next throw.

Even at 9 or 10 years old we recognized the whole setup as ridiculously cool. But you might not want to build such a lane unless you also possess the saintlike patience of the mother of the family to whom the house belonged -- because every kid in your neighborhood WILL want to come over and play in your basement.
posted by Nerd of the North at 5:33 PM on October 12, 2017 [15 favorites]

I love the colours in those german alleys! It almost looks like you could swim down to the pins.
posted by rodlymight at 7:17 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yeah, those German lanes are gorgeous. Stunning. Do want.
posted by Windopaene at 9:36 PM on October 12, 2017

Pfft! Do they have 5 pin? Toronto has basement 5 pin!
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:37 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

The downstairs student bar at the Roncalli-Kolleg student housing in Munich had one of these Kegelbahns, just a single lane in its own tiny room with forest green painted walls.

It wasn't American-style tenpin, it was German-style nine-pin with the strings at the top to reset the pins and bright pink 6" bowling balls. The area above the pins had a board to show you which pins were knocked.

The place was built in the late 60s so it had that very lived-in German student-run bar feel. Every wall thick with years of cheap paint and wood paneling.
posted by JauntyFedora at 9:57 PM on October 12, 2017

...might be found in a Wes Anderson movie.

Coen brothers, surely.

Paul Thomas Anderson.

(I'm finished.)
posted by Sys Rq at 9:59 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Single-lane bowling alleys!

How can I renovate my house to make room for one of these?

What worked for a guy near here was founding General Motors Canada. Perhaps try something like that?

Or you could always just be the President of the United States of America. The current White House lane was installed by Nixon in 1969, but the famous photos of him bowling were taken at Truman's lanes -- count 'em: two! -- which were moved in 1955 from the White House to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to make room for mimeograph machines. Kennedy ditched the mimeos and made that the Situation Room. And if you think it's odd that the Situation Room used to be a bowling alley, you'll never guess what the Press Briefing Room used to be.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:43 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

The downstairs student bar at the Roncalli-Kolleg student housing in Munich had one of these Kegelbahns, just a single lane in its own tiny room with forest green painted walls.

Back in the 80's the Rathskeller at SUNY Albany there were a couple of lanes right outside the bar.
posted by mikelieman at 10:51 PM on October 12, 2017

Makes me think we should do an LA meetup at Highland Park Bowl.

Wow, that place has been upgraded since the last time I was there in...holy crap, 1987?
posted by The Tensor at 11:26 PM on October 12, 2017

There was a dingy little two-lane alley in a bar a few little towns over from where I grew up. Nobody really cared about teenagers going into bars at that particular time or place, so if the regular bowling alley was full we would just hop back in the car and go to Erma's.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:40 PM on October 12, 2017

Great photos, and I'm shocked to learn that the person running Messy Nessy is a location scout for Wes Anderson, in the way that one can be shocked by things that seem a little too on the nose to be really possible. I became aware of the site from an earlier mefi post just within the past few weeks, and it has become a favorite stop of mine very rapidly.
posted by Ipsifendus at 4:25 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

"Bowling architecture is like fishing religion.
On a bicycle."
-- Frank Zappa Martin Mull Gloria Steinem Elvis Costello Charles Harris Thelonius Monk or Vique in a pique.
posted by Herodios at 5:23 AM on October 13, 2017

It looks like St. Ann's in Peoria still has its lanes open--I'll have to check that out.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:29 AM on October 13, 2017

The church my wife grew up in (in downtown Pittsburgh) had a bowling alley in the basement. Was turned into a basketball court when she was in high school.
posted by k5.user at 6:52 AM on October 13, 2017

The church basement bowling alleys are amazing.
posted by thursdaystoo at 7:39 AM on October 13, 2017

There was a crappy little bar in my college town with a 4 lane bowling alley. No one was ever there bowling but I liked to go and would often convince my friends. However, I was the only person who knew how to calculate scores (thanks, middle school gym class!) so I was kept very busy. It was definitely not as beautiful as these German ones. Very cool.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:33 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

> I'm shocked to learn that the person running Messy Nessy is a location scout for Wes Anderson,

They aren't. They are just a self professed location scout, in the tongue in cheek manner of me saying I'm a Mezcal Inspector.

I have another part-time job that nobody knows about. It doesn’t pay very well because … well, technically my “boss” doesn’t actually know I hired myself to do the job. But whenever he decides he needs me, I’m certainly ready and waiting.
posted by mrzarquon at 10:38 AM on October 13, 2017

Metafilter: scouts for Wes Anderson and mezcal inspectors.
posted by k5.user at 11:21 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Aha. So, "too on the nose to be really possible" was, in fact, too on the nose to be really possible. Alas.
posted by Ipsifendus at 12:26 PM on October 13, 2017

Makes me think we should do an LA meetup at Highland Park Bowl.

Well, we will never do another Seattle meet up at the long gone Imperial Lanes, that is for sure.

Which means West Seattle Bowl has the last lanes standing inside city limits.
posted by y2karl at 2:37 PM on October 13, 2017

Yeah, there were at least two of these in the town where I grew up (and still live), and I think at least one, maybe both, are still operating.
posted by hwestiii at 3:47 PM on October 13, 2017

There was a bowling alley in the basement of the church where I would go to Girl Scout meetings! I had no idea that was a Thing -- it had been long-abandoned by the time we go there, which I guess would have been the late 80's or early 90's. It was a huge treat to bowl at the end of a meeting. Nothing worked, so most of the troop was stationed at the one end to reset the pins and roll the balls back, while only two or three girls played. (I think it was only a single-lane alley.) Pin Duty was the most fun, of course.
posted by kalimac at 10:07 AM on October 14, 2017

The lighting and composition of these are amazing. Excellent work from the photographer and content team
posted by jasonindesign at 2:42 PM on November 9, 2017