HEAR THE ROLL, the crash, the mechanical reset. Smell the shoe deodorizer and the odors it canât beat. Heft the battered polyurethane orbs, taste the cheap beer and pizza, and gaze upon the rows of glistening lanes. Now look upâaway from the long lines of polished woodâto the missing sections of ceiling. To the exposed wires. To the water-damage stains.
North Portlandâs Interstate Lanes used to house two long walls of bowling lanes. League players with determined faces would spin heavy balls across the vast room, while their jovial companions traded statistics over $6.75 pitchers of PBR. The entire congregation wore matching shirts.
One of a handful of Portland bowling alleys known for its league bowling, Interstate closed at the end of April to make way for apartments.
But while Interstate is gone, the alley was hardly alone in facing a new landscape. The bowling alley has long been part of American life, but now, itâs entered a different era: Unable to depend on leagues for the majority of their revenue, alleys have shifted their businesses to attract more casual players. Alleys are no longer crammed with regulars who roll at their own pace and keep careful track of which pins fall. These days, alleys have made room for younger players who forget their scores as soon as the 10th frame closes. But what does it mean for bowling that its most devoted players are seeing their longtime haunts turned into neon-filled, glitter-splattered nightclubs?
BOWLING PRIDE
IN HIS 2000 BOOK Bowling Alone, political scientist (and, apparently, bowling aficionado) Robert D. Putnam noted that Americans engage less in social communities than they once did, leading to decreased participation in all sportsâexcept one. Putnam noted the surprising fact that in 2000, bowlingâbowlingâwas one of the most popular sports in America.
Sixteen years later, more Americans than ever are bowling, but fewer are participating in league play. During the 1980s, according to Bowling Alone, the number of casual players grew by 10 percent, while the number of regular players fell by more than 40 percent. That shift took a big chunk out of alleysâ profitsâwhile league bowling still exists, it often does so in alleys that are poorly maintained and struggling to stay in business.
âTraditional centers try to rely on leagues for about 70 percent of their bowling revenue,â says Bob Farmer, the general manager of SE Powellâs AMF Pro 300 Lanes. After picking up the sport at 15, Farmerâs been a bowler for more than 40 years, and his stomping grounds at AMF are definitely traditional, offering 36 lanes and league play seven days a week.
âYou know, there was a time that bowling kinda looked like it was leveling off,â Farmer says. âBut in the last two years, weâve actually seen growth in our leagues.â Thatâs great for Farmerâs alley, but the news is bittersweet: The increased business at AMF is a result of two other Portland alleys failing. âHollywood Lanes closed,â Farmer says, referring to the former alley thatâs now a location for the Orchard Supply Hardware chain, âand Interstate Lanes closed. With both of these lanes closing, the leagues had to find somewhere else to go.â
Bryan Smith is a member of one of the leagues forced to find a new home. âI started bowling really early on, because of my father,â Smith says. âHe was a professional on the senior tour, and managed an alley just north of Pittsburgh. Any time of the day, I could walk in and see it packed with league players.â But as an adult in Portland, Smith has watched interest in league bowling decline. âNowadays,â he says, âplayers are more casual.â
That hasnât dampened Smithâs enthusiasm: From September through April, he bowls with the PDX Pride Bowling League, which is made up of adults from Portlandâs LGBTQ community. âThere are about 30 teams,â Smith says, then smirks. âIâm on a team of six, and weâre called Reactive Balls.â Other team names include Stiff Competition, BILFs, the Glory Holey Rollers, and the Cucumber Kamikazes.
âThe hope is to get better, sure, but also just to blow off steam during the week,â Smith says. During the active season, the league meets every week at AMF, with players tracking their scores from game to game, month to month, year to year. Thatâs the kind of thing that doesnât happen at Portlandâs more popular alleys.
BOWLING... IN THE FUTURE!
PORTLAND'S TWO MOST POPULAR alleys are near the city center, and they donât offer league play. At Punch Bowl Social, inside Pioneer Place, itâs a matter of space. A Denver-based chain with six locations across the country, Punch Bowl built its Portland spot with only 12 lanes, intending its bowling alley for casual use. Meanwhile, in Inner Southeast, Grand Central Restaurant & Bowling Lounge faces a different issue when it comes to hosting leagues.
âThe problem weâve found,â says Grand Central General Manager Willie Krause, âis if I have a bowling league thatâs every Monday night from 5 to 7 pm, and Grimm calls me and says, 'Hey, we want to come buy out your building on Monday night,â well, then Iâm stuck, and I donât get to have those corporate events... and those are hard to pass up.â
Whatâs also hard to pass up is profit from hungry and thirsty customers. Itâs not happenstance that bowling isnât the focus of the cityâs two most popular bowling centersâthe sport isnât mentioned at all in Punch Bowl Socialâs name, and it comes after ârestaurantâ at Grand Central, which in 2008 was revamped from an old-school alley into a slick, TV-filled incarnation by Portland bar-and-restaurant company Concept Entertainment.
âWhen you look at the food and beverage part of it,â says AMFâs Farmer, âI would say the open bowlers probably spend more than the typical league bowler.â
In other words, the sport is just another thing to do with friendsâafter the chicken Caesar salad, before skee-ball, and between arcade games. âThey want an experience,â Farmer says. âA lot of the younger [players]âyou know, mid 20s to early 30sâfind bowling is a great way to go out with friends [and] couples and just connect.â
THE LEAGUES ABIDE
SO MAYBE BOWLING isnât necessarily becoming less social as league play declinesâitâs just that the nature of that social activity is changing. Places like Punch Bowl and Grand Central are popular because they offer dark lounge settings, corporate events, and are more welcoming to people whoâre just looking to hang out. But is there a way for bowling alleys to accommodate these casual players as well as longtime league players? A new alley in Portland is hoping to strike that balance.
âWe opened just two weeks ago. Itâs gone really well. Weâre kind of a hybrid,â says Tom Burke, owner of KingPins at 3550 SE 92nd. KingPins is in the former location of AMF 20th Century Lanes, which closed in July 2015. Burke and his business partner, Jon Tang, own another alley in Beaverton, Sunset Lanes. âWe would anticipate, based on our other location, that the league play will be about 40 percent of our total bowling revenue,â says Burke. âSo not a majority, but still a significant part of our business.â
In addition to hosting leagues seven days a week, KingPins is outfitted with a 4,000-square-foot room full of arcade video games, plus an eight-lane bowling lounge designed specifically for casual play, which is tied to a sports bar. As far as the alley where leagues play, Burke installed an upscale food and beverage operation, complete with servers catering to each lane.âWith all those things,â he says, âwhile we still do league play, weâve built a facility that encourages the casual guest just as well as the league player.â
That means that while Portland has four bowling alleys, KingPins joins only one other in offering league play: AMF, Farmerâs reliable old spot that hosts Smithâs PDX Pride Bowling League. AMF is also home to the hard-rocking, long-running Portland Metal Bowling League, as well as games run by Recess Time Sports Leagues, the company behind Portlandâs adult kickball, dodgeball, and ping-pong leagues.
But all of Portlandâs bowling alleys will continue to face increasing competition for entertainment dollars and real estateâwhich means theyâll all have to look to casual players to stay in business. Bowling is no longer synonymous with middle-aged guys in matching shirts, fastidiously counting pins as they shatter, get raked up, and set again.
Still, whatâs new isnât necessarily worseâitâs just, you know, new. As long as Portlandâs alleys can balance the needs of longtime regulars and more casual players, those alleysâand their leaguesâwill abide. Letâs just hope the old-school bowlers can get used to hearing a tone of ironic detachment whenever someone says, âFuck it, dude. Letâs go bowling.â