The last time I went bowling, it was sometime in the late 90s. Pins were drunkenly struck at the late 66 Bowl and their weekly Rock ‘n Bowl show that I often attended, despite not being punk or rockabilly. The band onstage was Pulpit Red, of course—it was always fucking Pulpit Red—and they tore the place apart as usual. If anybody knows whatever happened to those dudes, let me know.
Nearly twenty years later, that wonderfully rancid scent of that old bowling alley is long gone, iconic neon sign and all. Losing 66 Bowl was such a 7-10 split to me and my then-Saturday night plans, I recently realized I haven’t been to any local lanes until a week or so ago when my ladyfriend and I had a perfectly chaste outing at Heritage Lanes, 11917 N. Penn, near the Big Ed’s.
A popular place for sanctioned ball-heavy pin-knocking, it was sometime around 9 p.m. and the inside of Heritage was mostly darkened, the black lights shining on the lanes for their weekend Glow Bowl, a phosphorescent evening that cost me somewhere around $35 for a party of two to play.
While I was somewhat taken aback by that hefty admission, it was for unlimited games—how many could one man really play though?—and included the ill-fitting shoe rental and that foot-spray stench that brought stinging mists to my middle-aged eyes.