Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Really Old Bowling Alleys-- Part 2

Three restored lanes built by the Brunswick Balke-Collender Co. are America;s oldest operational lanes.  Student bowlers sit on a wooden ledge at the back of the lanes and hop down, reset the pins and return the balls to their wooden and metal rails.  Now, that is old school, kind of like the Wrigley Field scoreboard.

I can remember being in a bowling league back in the late 70s with neighbors and we had to enter scores manually, then, it was done electronically, no doubt cutting down on some cheating.

Tenpins didn't have standardized rules for equipment or play until the American Bowling Congress was founded in 1895.

The Holler House in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was built in 1908 and its two basement lanes are still set by hand.

Bowling's heyday is considered to be the 1950s and 1960s.  Television made superstars out of the professional bowlers.  There were as many as 12,000 bowling alleys across the United States, with just half that number remaining today.

The largest bowling alley is the 90-lane Thunderbowl in Allen Park, Michigan.

The, There Were Those Really Smelly Rental Shoes.  --DaCoot

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