Bowling Across America

Some highlights, should you find yourself there.

Southport Lanes, Chicago, IL.
An otherwise modern bar meets the early 1900’s at one of the only remaining manually-set bowling alleys in the country. Improve your score by putting a dollar or two in the thumbhole to tip the pinsetter, who wields considerable power in deciding how many pins will fall. For the right price your next roll—even if it’s a gutterball—will knock down all ten.

Holler House, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Home to the oldest USBC-certified lanes in the country, Holler House just turned 100 in September 2008. Its 82 year-old proprietor Marcy Skoronski’s off-color jokes and incessant storytelling make it worth the trip. Two manually set lanes in the basement means Marcy may have to call upstairs to where her family lives to find someone to set the pins for you.

Mid-City Lanes, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Better known simply as Rock ‘n’ Bowl, this place beats the French Quarter, Mardi Gras, and even a jazz funeral for authentic NOLA. The slanted, poorly kept bowling lanes may be atrocious for your average, but few come here to bowl. It’s the live music—Swing, Zydeco, Motown or R&B, depending on the night—that fills the place with locals every night of the week.

Bryant Lake Bowl, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Don’t let the smoked trout and beet salad or the adjoining art theater fool you: the lanes at BLB are as down-to-earth a bowling experience as you can find. The self-service shoe rack raises the question, “did someone spray these since they were last worn?”

Yankee Lanes, Brunswick, Maine.
If a bowling alley can be a microcosm of a community, this one is it. A league of lobstermen may dominate one side of the house while co-eds from Bowdoin College drink the night away on the other. In between, angst-filled teens bowl and flirt while their parents watch out of the corner of their eyes between frames.

Bowlmor, New York City, New York.
Can bowling be swank? It can if it’s in Manhattan. Take an old time bowling alley, add state-of-the-art lighting and sound along with a menu heavy on signature cocktails and you’ll get the highest grossing bowling alley in the world. Patrons are as likely to bowl a turkey as they are to see a few cast members from SNL rolling on the lane next door.

Spare Time Lanes, Jefferson, Iowa.
The scene of the only 300 game witnessed in BOWLING ACROSS AMERICA, small town hospitality spills over from the restaurant in the front room to the bowling lanes in the back, where owners John and Vickie Woodford are quick to offer bowling tips or find the best ball for you to use—even if it’s their own.

Leilani Lanes, Seattle, Washington.
Rain-drenched Seattle seemed an ill-fitting place for a tiki-themed bowling alley, but from 1961 to 2006 Leilani filled with regulars looking for a little bit of the South Pacific in the Emerald City. Though it closed in 2006 when its owners sold to developers who made an offer too good to turn down, the palm trees and lobby fountain were highly sought-after by patrons wanting to take a memory home with them. As location of the author’s last rolls in the contiguous states, it lives on in the pages of BOWLILNG ACROSS AMERICA.