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THE NEW
PIN-UP BOWL AND OTHER CENTERS ROLL A STRIKE WITH YOUNGER BOWLERS.
By Pam Droog Jones
Try picking up a 7-10 split with a bowling ball in one hand and
a Cosmopolitan in the other. Or bouncing back from a gutter ball
when Britney Spears is gyrating on a video screen directly overhead.
Though the juxtapositions may seem odd, Joe Edwards, owner of the
new Pin-Up Bowl in the Delmar Loop, thinks they add up to a perfect
bowling environment.
The Pin-Up, which opened to much fanfare last December,
is sparking a bowling renaissance of sorts—especially
among the younger set. |
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“I didn’t want a static atmosphere,” Edwards says.
“The videos are really stimulating when you’re bowling.”
Conceived and created by Edwards—who also owns Blueberry Hill
and the Pageant—the Pin-Up combines eight lanes of bowling
with the chic décor of a martini bar. “The Pin-Up is
a place where people feel comfortable,” he says.
Edwards salvaged the lanes and pin-setting equipment from the old
Cottonwood Bowling Alley in Glen Carbon, Ill., then kept them stored
until his building (a former carpet store) was sufficiently expanded.
The Pin-Up’s interior design—featuring original artwork
of vintage pin-up models and exquisite art deco bathrooms—is
by Kiku Obata & Company, based on Edwards’ vision.
The Pin-Up, which opened to much fanfare last December, is sparking
a bowling renaissance of sorts—especially among the younger
set. “I think there’s a new generation of people, from
children to teens and people in their 20s, getting into bowling,”
Edwards says.
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Conceived and created by Joe Edwards, the Pin-Up combines
eight lanes of bowling with the chic décor of a martini
bar. |
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Mike Bluth, general manager of the Crestwood Bowl, agrees. “Open-play-wise
there is a bowling boom,” he says. “Bowling is the number
one participatory sport in the United States. More people bowl than
play golf, and bowling is cheaper. Plus, you can bowl year-round.”
Indeed, more than 95 million people enjoy bowling in more than 90
countries on six continents. About 18,000 of them bowl regularly
in leagues in the St. Louis region’s 37 bowling centers. Thousands
more drop by for open play—and that number is on the rise.
Bluth, son of bowling hall-of-famer Ray Bluth, believes the bowling
boom also is partly fueled by fashion. “A lot of Italian shoes
have the bowling-shoe look, which sort of advertises the sport,”
he says. “You also see bowling in beer ads and ads for seniors.”
Furthermore, bowling is promoted by organizations from NASCAR to
the NFL to Nickelodeon (kids can have SpongeBob bowling balls),
and Crazy Bowl and Cosmic Bowl events attract crowds on weekends.
In addition, bowling technology makes it easier for the average
bowler to play better. Bowling balls aren’t solid anymore,
Bluth explains; they have several pieces inside that shift to help
create more hook and rotation. And the newer lanes aren’t
wood, they’re synthetic, which offers more consistency. As
a result, “averages for the basic bowler have climbed,”
Bluth says. “It’s easier than ever for the average bowler
to pretend he’s a great bowler.”
Like Edwards, Bluth sees a major youth movement in the game. “We
have 80 to 100 little kids here every Saturday morning on our junior
leagues,” he says. “We also have college leagues from
Webster University that start at 10 p.m., plus private and corporate
parties. All these things get a bowling ball in peoples’ hands,
and then they want the rest of the stuff, and they want to keep
bowling.”
Dale Bohn, executive director of the 105-year-old Greater St. Louis
Bowling Association (GSLBA), hopes the new enthusiasm for unique
bowling experiences will counterweigh the drop in traditional league
bowling.
“League numbers are going down. That’s just reality,”
Bohn says. “People don’t want to make a weekly commitment
to a league. Plus, most women work, so the daytime women’s
leagues have all but disappeared. Of course seniors are still hanging
onto bowling.”
The reduction in league members partially explains the gradual shift
from “bowling alleys” to “bowling centers.”
Bohn explains: “The bowling centers are more family oriented.
Several are even non-smoking. But you have to do what brings in
the people.”
In addition to league numbers, the number of bowling centers has
dropped from a peak in the 1970s. Bohn says that’s due to
corporate owners buying out individuals. “Bowling alleys are
very expensive, from insurance to keeping up with technology,”
he says. “People complain when we raise the price a dime a
game, but they have to realize the electric bill alone can be astronomical.”
But the good news is when the league bowlers go home, “people
are lined up for open bowl at practically every bowling center,”
Bohn says.
Despite the trendy Pin-Up Bowl, “bowling has a blue-collar
image from the 1950s, and St. Louis is mainly in that mold. It’s
an Anheuser-Busch town,” Bluth says. “Bowling is a good
family sport and a good fun sport that teaches team values. Every
kid on our junior league gets a trophy.”
THRIVES ON THE HILL
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The
Hill is well known for its colorful Italian heritage, top-rated
restaurants, enticing grocery stores...and, of course, bocce
ball. In fact, the region’s headquarters for the traditional
Italian sport is the St. Louis Bocce Club at 2210 Marconi
Ave.
Formerly offices for a piston ring manufacturer, the building
was purchased and renovated by club members in 1990. The club
features five bocce courts, plus a kitchen and banquet facility,
dance floor, bar and other amenities.
“Our previous location on Manchester at Sublette was like
a men’s club, or a neighborhood tavern,” says Dan Drago, club
president and general manager. “We have a beautiful building
here now, and the central location makes it easy for neighborhood
people to come here.”
Like bowling, bocce ball involves throwing a hard ball down
a narrow space. After that, the similarities end. Drago says
the game is not complicated, but does involve strategy and
lagging skills. “It’s like [hitting] a moving horseshoes stick,
trying to outlag your opponents,” he says.
A bocce team consists of two to eight players, each receiving
two boccia (balls). Players take turns rolling the ball toward
the pallino (the smallest ball), which has already
been thrown onto the field. Points are earned for balls thrown
closest to the pallino. In addition to rolling, players
also may throw volo style (on the fly), and may displace
the pallino or other players’ boccia.
Like bowling, bocce ball is enjoying an upswing in popularity.
Currently the club has 560 members, including two men in their
late 90s and several women, Drago says. That’s nearly a 300
percent jump in membership since the club opened. Dues are
$330 per family and every member gets a key.
“It’s a private club but occasionally we open it up to the
neighborhood,” Drago says.
When the club does open its doors to outsiders, it’s often
to help disadvantaged children have fun. Special Olympics
participants, as well as students from the St. Louis School
for the Blind, have enjoyed the clubs’ hospitality. “For the
blind kids we use a ball with a beeper, and they lag to that,”
Drago says. “For the kids in wheelchairs, we invented a chute
they can roll the ball down to lag.”
At the moment St. Louis Bocce Club members are working on
attracting the World Bocce Championship to St. Louis in 2008.
Previously the competition has been held in China, Russia,
France, Poland, Canada and the U.S.
“Bocce ball is played all over the world,” Drago says. “It’s
expanded way beyond Italy.”
The region’s headquarters for the traditional
Italian sport is the St. Louis Bocce Club at
2210 Marconi Ave. |
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Pam Droog Jones is a freelance writer based in Jefferson City,
Mo. |
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