BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: Mighty Fish on August 04, 2013, 07:48:05 AM
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A Florida bowling center that opened its doors in 1958, celebrates its 55th year in business ...
http://www.examiner.com/article/sarasota-lanes-celebrates-its-55th-year-of-business-highlights-recalled
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It's great to see a bowling alley stay open that long but I wonder how many bowling alleys have closed in that area and others over the last 55 years.
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There has been 4 centers that have closed down in the Venice/Sarasota/Bradenton area that I know of. I bowl at this center & the new owner is doing a great job turning this center around to be a premier bowling center in the area.
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Only 3 full time centers open in our town where we once had 7. Two of the 3 are 50+ years old.
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There are at least 3-4 centers around here that I can think of that have been around 50+ years. AMF Thruway Lanes is the biggest of those, which has held numerous PBA tournaments and tv shows over the years. It's also one of the top 3 maintained centers in the area.
Sad thing is that a few centers have shut down around here since the early 1990's. 1 of the early casualties around 1993 was Suburban Lanes in Amherst, NY. That place was located next to the Boulevard Mall and survived 36 years, having opened in 1957. The mall bought the property and it is now a Michael's craft store, Buy Buy Baby, and the Buffalo Athletic Club. The reason is that the mall now gets about 4-6 times the rent that the old center had.
The others just had a decline in bowlers to where it wasn't possible to remain open. I would have wanted to bowl at Southside Lanes in Buffalo, NY once before it shut down several years ago. That place held numerous tournaments throughout the years.
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Oh,
I was on holiday and walked in to this center just recently.
Had a lovely talk with Gil Sliker(?) a bowler I had seen on TV when I was a kid!
I would have loved to watched or met Plowboy being a hammer fan for a long time!
Regards,
Luckylefty
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Should have messaged me, we could have met up for a practice session... Maybe next time, Lefty...
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LuckyLefty, does Gil Sliker work at that bowling house or does he just bowl there?
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Gil Sliker works at Sarasota Lanes... Still has that smooth form he has always had! Amazing bowler to watch!
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Gratz to them! Shockingly enough around the Nashville/Middle Tennessee area there are probably more bowling alleys that when I was a kid, with very few that have closed down.
Now thats not to say that some wouldn't be better off closing down simply due to how crappy they are ( my hometown one has been the pits for ages) or they need some serious work.
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Plowboy300, it always seemed to me that Gil Sliker had one of the best attitudes of any pro bowler and even though he didn't win a lot he was quite often in the hunt. Great to hear he's still around.
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ArmourBoy, good to hear that bowling is still doing okay in your area.
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Gil Sliker works at Sarasota Lanes... Still has that smooth form he has always had! Amazing bowler to watch!
Dear Plowboy300:
It's good to hear such nice comments about Gil Sliker, who has been a good friend ever since he moved to my area more than three decades ago. And, in fact, for a time, Gil worked at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, where I worked for more than four decades. Gil's a great man and still a great bowler.