Any bowlers on TBD?

[Another Fan]

I saw a bowling alley I went too quite a bit growing up closed recently.  While I hadnt been there for years that did make me feel a little sad.

 

 

In middle school we had a club in school where we'd go to the lanes after school like twice am month or something like that.  Fun times.  We used to even have other kids birthday parties at the lanes sometimes.  Bowl, play arcade games, and watch MTV.  Back at the age well before teenagers lose their innocence.  

 

 

It's a hobby I wouldn't mind trying to take up again someday.  I have heard though Buffalo is/was a big bowling town with a number of alleys?  

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

There were many parish halls that had their own set ups of lanes!  As I entered the workforce in the late 1970s, many older coworkers had 'stuck pins' on old manual equipment when they were young.  So many commercial operations too, that simply died out due to waning participation and the land becoming more valuable for other use.  Any locals remember RocMar on Grant and Amherst Sts.? (Tops built one of their first bigger markets here, in response to the Wegmans incursion into WNY)  Allied on East Amherst St?  I recall ending up at a second floor set of lanes near Bailey and Kensington years ago when our Kensington YMCA's bus canceled our weekly league visit to BowIadrome (Kensington and Fillmore).  Sheridan Lanes in Amherst was one of the first with a non-wood lane surface on some of their lanes; it ended up being taken over by an automobile dealership.  I did send an email to Steve Cichon a year or so ago regarding a list of past Buffalo lanes, he never did get back to me.  Probably still finding lanes.

Bailey Bowling Academy.

Voelkers (Amherst St. and Elmwood Ave.)

Manor Lanes, Grand Island Blvd., Tonawanda.  Still operating, never heard a bad word regarding this establishment.

 I remember the Lancaster N.Y. Moose Hall had I believe 6 lanes up on the second or third floor.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Ridgewaycynic2013

[Augie]

Bowling alleys and ice skating rinks were part of growing up in Buffalo. My misspent youth had to take place somewhere, and they seemed like the best options. Later came the back seat of a car. Sexy, I know. 

 

My father took me to his bowling league one night when he rolled a 288.  I think that is all strikes with a single spare mixed in late. He could also shoot one helluva game of straight pool. I was not a first generation degenerate, apparently. My parents got a pool table for my dad, and to see what kind of misfits I was hanging out with. Teenage boys love pool tables. I have one in the basement today. 

[qwksilver]

I'll admit to spending way too much time in alleys as a kid. I did manage to finally retire from the "sport" for about 5 years, then was pulled back in for a few more till Covid shut it down. This time it has stuck. I miss the competition of leagues but 35 weeks in a row for a league is just not going to happen.

Bowling alleys in South Florida are also disappearing just like they are in WNY.

 

LAMP : I once rolled 2 300's in the same night  

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

13 minutes ago, qwksilver said:

LAMP : I once rolled 2 300's in the same night  

We don't care how large your 'bombers' are, Catherwood, it's the quality of the ganja that makes the smoke...😉

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Reflecting on qwksilver's thoughts, when you tell me I have a 35 week commitment to league play, it takes some of the fun out of it.  If I feel like throwing a couple of games at 5 pm on a weekday, that has an element of spontaneity I like.

 I also recall DMing with Yoloinohio about how they have 10 pin duck pin his way.  I also would like to try the candlepin version (New England and Atlantic Canada).  I have bowled many a game of Canadian duck pin, which is the pin point value version.

[Augie]

2 hours ago, qwksilver said:

I'll admit to spending way too much time in alleys as a kid. I did manage to finally retire from the "sport" for about 5 years, then was pulled back in for a few more till Covid shut it down. This time it has stuck. I miss the competition of leagues but 35 weeks in a row for a league is just not going to happen.

Bowling alleys in South Florida are also disappearing just like they are in WNY.

 

LAMP : I once rolled 2 300's in the same night  

 

We had friends in Hilton Head who joined a league and found out the hard way how long those seasons can be. They would BEG us to fill in for them! 

 

Congrats on the two  300’s in the same night. I’m guessing A) you had bowled before, and B)you didn’t celebrate TOO much with alcohol after the first one, or the second one never happens. 

 

 

.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Augie

[qwksilver]

31 minutes ago, Augie said:

Congrats on the two  300’s in the same night. I’m guessing A) you had done it before, and B)you didn’t celebrate TOO much with alcohol after the first one, or the second one never happens. 

Thanks! There were always a couple of beverages but It was a mixed couples league so the wife could drive home. Yes had several before that, so really not much celebrating until the 2nd one that night. 

[BillsPride12]

I bowled in leagues for many years when I was growing up...great memories!  There were two main bowling alleys in my town and one of them is closed and the other had previously been closed but then reopened under a different name awhile back and is still going strong today.  For awhile I had a group of co-worker friends where we would go out on a weekly basis to different bars in the area for Thursday night football and we would do the bowling alley once or twice a season which I always liked but that eventually died out as the group fell off once a lot of people started switching companies.  

 

I would say generally speaking Buffalo is definitely a bowling town 

[ExiledInIllinois]

https://www.ranker.com/list/best-bowling-movies-list/ranker-film

 

Bowling movies ranked!

 

11. Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama

 

12. Buffalo '66

 

 

 

 

[BillsPride12]

1 hour ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

https://www.ranker.com/list/best-bowling-movies-list/ranker-film

 

Bowling movies ranked!

 

11. Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama

 

12. Buffalo '66

 

 

 

 

Kingpin or The Big Lebowski for the #1 spot is such a toss up....both are absolute classics with an entirely different feel to them

[That's No Moon]

I bowled in a league in college, but I also tore my rotator cuff as a senior in HS.  Bowling really pisses my shoulder off.  I sucked it up in college, but now? Nope.  And no I never got my shoulder fixed.  I never had a period of time in my life where I could do that long of a rehab without my dominant arm.

[Rat-boy]

My brother was a bowler...for the Indian national cricket team. Does that count?

[Wacka]

Cheektowaga still has 3 alleys. Spare Time (which wasPark Lane in the past) on  William St., Broadway Sports Center, and Airport Lanes which is at the end of the main runway of the airport on Genesee.

[RichStadiumGuy]

20 hours ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

There were many parish halls that had their own set ups of lanes!  As I entered the workforce in the late 1970s, many older coworkers had 'stuck pins' on old manual equipment when they were young.  So many commercial operations too, that simply died out due to waning participation and the land becoming more valuable for other use.  Any locals remember RocMar on Grant and Amherst Sts.? (Tops built one of their first bigger markets here, in response to the Wegmans incursion into WNY)  Allied on East Amherst St?  I recall ending up at a second floor set of lanes near Bailey and Kensington years ago when our Kensington YMCA's bus canceled our weekly league visit to BowIadrome (Kensington and Fillmore).  Sheridan Lanes in Amherst was one of the first with a non-wood lane surface on some of their lanes; it ended up being taken over by an automobile dealership.  I did send an email to Steve Cichon a year or so ago regarding a list of past Buffalo lanes, he never did get back to me.  Probably still finding lanes.

Bailey Bowling Academy.

Voelkers (Amherst St. and Elmwood Ave.)

Manor Lanes, Grand Island Blvd., Tonawanda.  Still operating, never heard a bad word regarding this establishment.

 I remember the Lancaster N.Y. Moose Hall had I believe 6 lanes up on the second or third floor.

St. Gerards Church at Bailey & Delevan had a few alleys... we lived right across the street from it and I stuck pins there in the late 50's and early 60's. I used to "hop alleys" for double pay when enough kids didn't show up to set pins and walked out of there with close to three bucks a few times after a night of league bowling... about a buck in pay from the church and then another buck or two in tips from the bowlers! That was like mega-bucks for a young kid back then!

 

I remember we used to warn each other when the power bowlers were on the alley so we could get out of the pit area... some of those guys would make the pins fly over the little wall between the alleys back there and into the next lane... Good times!

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

26 minutes ago, Wacka said:

Cheektowaga still has 3 alleys. Spare Time (which wasPark Lane in the past) on  William St., Broadway Sports Center, and Airport Lanes which is at the end of the main runway of the airport on Genesee.

What was the fairly large lanes on the north side of Walden Ave., between Harlem Rd. and 'da Truway'?  I think a Basil dealership took over the property not too many years ago.

Edited August 7, 2023 by Ridgewaycynic2013

[Wacka]

That was Thruway Lanes. Snow collapsed the roof and they rebuilt.  Used to have the PBA tour through there.  My friend won the amateur title of the Pro-Ambthere one year.  Got in it by winning  the title at his  local lane (Broadway Sports Center).  The amateurs would  bowl with 3 different pros  and the  combined scores determined the winners. He won $1500 back in the  late 70s. We partied that night.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

1 hour ago, Wacka said:

...Airport Lanes which is at the end of the main runway of the airport on Genesee.

A previous employer hired a bench hand whose uncle was a manager at Airport.  It wasn't long until the employer had a Wednesday afternoon turnkey league package running; seemed to be enjoyed by participants.  We had a lot of fun 'busting the chops' of hourly workers who ended up on the plant manager's teams.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

A friend would have an annual reunion of a softball team at his cottage.  Someone in the family worked at a bowling alley, and the annual bonfire always included pins that had been deemed unusable for play.  Lord knows what chemicals were in the coatings on those pins. 😁

[\GoBillsInDallas/]