Let's go bowling! Brunswick Bowling Golden Era Video


bob

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This has nothing to do with model trains, but it's a fun video. The recent promo video for the railroad crossing rubber flangeway system I posted reminded me of this one a bit, same chipper upbeat voice, telling you just how wonderful the product is.


This is promo for Brunswick Gold Crown Bowling lanes. For me, it's a real trip down memory lane. My local bowling alley had everything you see in this video. Every last bit of it. The pinsetters, the lanes, the ball returns, the racks, those plastic chairs, scoring desk and overhead systems, complete with ashtray and beer holders of course, ball lockers, clothing lockers and even the matching ball washer. Apparently the guy who built the place watched this video in 1958, said 'Give me one in Coral (Orange), 20 lanes worth!" and built exactly what is shown in the video. It almost could have been filmed there, but it's obvious most of this is in a studio. If they'd have made a matching toilet, we'd have had it!

What's funny is that in the 1960's, when I was a kid, the place already seemed "dated". The plastic benches and bright colors screamed "modern" but in a George Jetson type of way that already seemed out of date even though it was probably less than 10 years old by then. As far as I know, it's how the place looked until the day it closed though I vaguely recall them may have gotten computer scoring systems at some point. Then again, I moved away in the 1980's and don't think I ever visited the bowling alley again.
 
We still have some houses like this in some of the smaller communities in the state. We regularly compete in tournaments all across the state and you never know what the lanes will be like in some really small towns.
 
I'm guessing it would be rather expensive to upgrade, and there's really no reason to do it if the existing equipment is working well. Besides, these days this stuff would have a cool retro feel.
 
Our local Bass Pro shop has one of these underwater themed alleys. Pretty crazy looking. I've never been there.

 
I couldn't bowl on lanes like this. Too dark. I do not look at the pins. I bowl marks on the lanes which can't be seen on dark lanes like this.
 
I think they may be brighter than the video makes them appear, but they're not really for serious bowlers, they're mostly for kids who want "swim with the sharks" and bowl with balls that look like eyeballs.
 
At the house that we bowl league at on Friday nights, they have what they call Galactic Bowling. The lights are turned off and they have a laser light display rotating lights all over the lanes. Glad this all starts when out league bowling is over. It would drive me crazy.
 
We have one of those places too. They cater to serious bowlers, but they also do the black light stuff and bumper bowl for kids. It's pretty popular I hear, probably a lot better patronized than most bowling alleys these days.

 
Here are the lanes we bowl at in Reno at the National Bowling Stadium. Only part of them can be seen. 80 lanes. Should be down there in August for nationals.

Reno 3.jpg


Picture 001.jpg


The staduim photo taken from our room at the El Dorado casino/hotel.
 
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