By Heather Aveson |
Its the early 1950s. Its Saturday night. You’re looking for something to do with your sweetheart, a group of friends, or your sweetheart and a group of friends. You might head over to the movie theater to catch On the Waterfront or High Noon, but you may be just as likely to gather up the group and head to a local bowling alley. And you’d have plenty of choices. In the 1950s there were lanes in just about every town Waltham, Woburn, Burlington, Winchester, Cambridge, Somerville, and yes, even Lexington.
Bowling in Lexington
The Lexington Bowladrome was located downstairs at 1690 Mass Ave in Lexington Center, more commonly known as the building where Decelles used to be.
Frank Armstrong, veteran salesman at Michelson’s Shoes, remembers being a pinsetter there as a young teenager in the mid-1940s. If you were setting up, you’d sit on a board straddling two alleys with your legs tucked up. You had to keep your eyes open because sometimes pins would fly up or the balls would fly up. If a pin hit you, the bowler might slide a nickel or dime down the alley. Frank got paid six cents a string to set the pins and return the balls in those days. So the nickels and dimes came in handy when he headed back to the nickel coke machine that dispensed 6 oz. glass bottles. Frank says it was mostly men in those days, “After the war it was a place for guys to go.
Or you might have gone to the iconic Wal-Lex, just over the line in Waltham. At its height in the early 60’s Wal-Lex offered 60 lanes of candlepin bowling, roller-skating, billiards and mini-golf. Dave Breton grew up at Wal-Lex. He started bowling there in kindergarten and took a part time job as soon as he was old enough. He bowled in an adult league there until Wal-Lex closed in 2002, and still has a great love for the place, Wal-Lex had a lot of leagues. After it closed some of the bowlers went other places, but a lot of people just gave up. It was a shame because now the kids have nothing to do. I still have the key to the front door in case it comes back.
Game Over
The Lexington Bowladrome and Wal-Lex weren’t alone in closing their doors. Alleys in Burlington and Winchester are also gone. Bowling hit hard times in the 70s and 80s as American life began to change. John Leverone, Manager of Lanes and Games in Cambridge, has followed its ups and downs over the past 34 years. When I was kid in Arlington there were buses that came around and picked us up and brought us here to bowl after school. Now there are more and more organized sports competing with bowling. There were also a lot fewer women working outside the home and they made morning leagues popular. Men usually worked an 8 hour day, finishing up around 5pm, leaving time to spend a few hours a week bowling on a league. Although statistics show a steady decrease in league play, the Bowling Membership Organization estimates there are still close to three million Americans participating in league play.
A League Of Their Own
I caught up with several leagues while visiting local bowling venues. And from what I saw I’d join any one that would have me. Bowling is about so much more than scores. There is friendship and camaraderie, friendly competition and in many of these leagues, a rich history, all of which are integral to enjoying the sport itself.
Vinnie Logrippo and Charlie Tayor go for a strike.
Sacco’s Bowl Haven in Davis Square was a traditional family owned alley for 70 years. Last summer The Flatbread Pizza Company took over the business creating an eclectic blend of old and new. You can sit in one of the original vinyl upholstered bowling benches and enjoy trendy and delicious pizza cooked in a clay and brick oven just across the bar from ten lanes of candlepin bowling. No computerized scoring here. Get out your pencils and mark the frames, spares, and strikes yourself. Wednesday afternoons at 1pm you’ll find the Somerville Senior Center League gathering. Many members of this co-ed league have been bowling for decades. And it reminds me that league play was often a company or club activity. Vinnie Logrippo is an outgoing guy, the unofficial greeter and ready with a story. I used to be in a steel company and we played other steel companies. Then at the end of the season we had a big party. We had strippers and somebody watched the door to make sure no one came in. Charlie Taylor is a little more reserved. He’s collecting dues, so I ask him where the money will go, prizes? No prizes, he says, they’ll host a banquet at the end of the season. But, no strippers.
Over at the Woburn Bowladrome on a recent Thursday night, I am welcomed by members of the Town Line Ladies. In the 1970s it was a group of Winchester friends, families and gal pals. It began as a way to get out of the house for a few hours. They’d bowl and then they’d play cards, says Joan Brownell. Her mother was an original Town Line Lady. Member Joyce Granara has been bowling for 60 years, and her daughter, Terri represents the third generation of bowlers on this league. The league moved to Woburn after the Winchester lanes closed and has expanded their membership to ladies from other local towns. Linda Durant of Lexington Financial Group is a newbie, joining just this season. They’re a great group of women. Once you start bowling with them you’re hooked, even if you do have a 61.9 average. They’re just so supportive. It’s just fun.
And you can’t help but get caught up in the fun these ladies are having, it’s like being at a sleepover with your BFF–there’s plenty of laughter, conversation and bowling. Joan’s got a bead on it. It’s really nice because people make connections. As we get older that’s really important. We all still the bowling, we all still love to win, but that’s not the most important thing. This league is all about inclusion. Their end of the season banquet used to include hand picked and individually wrapped gifts for every member, that doesn’t happen anymore, but they still make sure everyone is recognized. And everyone is proud of their sometimes notorious achievement. Elaine Callahan is quick to share her most coveted award. Three years ago I got a ribbon for Most Consistent for being Inconsistent. I think my low score that year was a 28 and my high score a 105. Hmmm, I could be a contender for that ribbon.
The Next Generation
If the youth are our future, then bowling seems to be in good hands. At Lanes and Games on Route 2 you’ll find a great group of kids on Saturday morning bowling in the instructional league. Coach Bill and Coach Dave, our friend Dave Breton from Wal-Lex, are on hand to give guidance and support to the approximately 12 young bowlers here this morning. And on Sunday Coach Dave will take his traveling team on the road.
The-Taranto family. From left-to-right: Marcellina, Gatetano and Isabella
An unscientific survey of the kids showed most of them enjoy bowling because it’s fun and you get to hang out with your friends. Many siblings bowl in the league together. The Taranto family of Waltham has 3 children bowling this morning. Marcellina, 12, Isabella, 10 and Gaetano, 9. I asked them what their friends thought about bowling. In general their friends are supportive, but maybe don’t get it.
Gaetano offers, “They don’t like it because they’re not good at it. Big sister Marcellina adds “My friends usually tell me it’s not really a sport. It’s the only sport I’m doing now, but I’m doing track later.”
Well, Marcellina may have the last laugh there. According to the National Federation of State High School associations bowling is the fastest growing varsity sport for both boys and girls in the country. The number of varsity bowlers at the high school level has actually doubled in the last eight years, putting it just behind ice hockey and well above crew.
And for those looking for an edge in the college admissions game, that’s right–think bowling. More than 170 colleges and universities now have varsity bowling teams and thirty-nine offer bowling scholarships. The National Association of intercollegiate Athletics considers bowling an emerging sport sending it on its way to becoming a recognized NAIA championship sport.
These junior bowlers weren’t impressed when I shared this valuable nugget with them. There was a general shrugging of the shoulders mixed with New England pride and a general response that they probably all bowl 10-pin. Implying they spoke another language. But I think I caught a glint of interest in the parents’ eyes.
The Ultimate Test
I’d spent a bit of time around bowlers during the last week. And I was getting hooked. Now for the ultimate test. How hard would it be to convince a group of friends to head out for a Saturday night bowling adventure? One call to each of three friends and it was done. We had a group of eight ready to battle it out on the lanes. For this outing we decided to visit one of the hip new upscale bowling venues in the city. When we entered Lucky Strike, part of the Jillian’s complex on Ipswich Street we were greeted by polished wood panels along the walls and a stunning arrangement of fresh cut white hydrangea, lilies and roses at the door. Inside we found subtle lighting and lounge areas with low benches. I thought I’d walked into a Sex and the City episode.
Ken Willinger of Lexington throws a strike!
Gone were the curved plastic bowling banquettes, replaced by elegant leatherette sofas facing low cocktail tables. Plasma screens lined the wall at the end of the alley, keeping score, giving bowling tips and cheering or jeering your latest roll. This was definitely not our father’s bowling alley.
After a few tentative frames we got into it, we cheered each other on and played up casual rivalries. Lexington Resident Ken Willinger bowled a suspiciously high 141 his first game and an equally overwhelming 132 for the second string. Turns out Ken’s father had owned an interest in Wal-Lex and he’d spent quite a bit of time there as a kid. Florence DelSanto admitted that the last time she’d bowled when was she and Ken were working in Moscow because there was nothing else to do. It made me think that just about everyone has a bowling story.
And our teammate Suzanne Rothschild of Arlington didn’t care how many other entertainment choices we had, she knew fun when she saw it. We should do this every month. Her husband John Baynard agreed, as long we could get bowling shirts.
As we headed out the lanes were filling up with groups of college kids and twenty somethings ready to take up where we left off.
All in all, I’d say it’s about the best eleven dollar deal around. Where else can you spend a couple of hours having a great time with friends or family, get a little exercise and wear cool shoes?
