Memory Lanes
I can't believe B and I have lived here for almost 1 year (just a couple days to go) and we haven't been to a bowling alley. Til last night, that is. We walked over to Memory Lanes, which had been closed when we moved in but re-opened sometime in the spring after renovations. It's a little less than a mile from our house.
Bowling alleys are a big deal out here. Before moving, we had read about the most well-known bowling alley in Minneapolis, the the Bryant-Lake Bowl in Uptown, and we still need to check that one out. But we figured we should check out Memory Lanes first since it's so close to us. And yes, in the previous two sentences I linked to both bowling alley's websites. I'm pretty sure that none of the bowling alleys in Rhode Island and few in Pennsylvania have their own websites, although please correct me if I'm wrong. The Bryant-Lake Bowl has its own freakin' Flickr group.
Well, we didn't know about Memory Lanes's website before we headed over there last night. We had just seen it in our strolls around the neighborhood and decided to spend Friday evening there. I pretty much wanted to check it out just based on its punny name -- inside the bowling alley is also the Flashback Cafe Bar & Grill. So we strolled over at about 8:30 Friday night, but to our surprise there was a $5 cover to get in. We kinda balked at this, both because we are cheap and because we did not expect to pay a cover to get into a freakin' bowling ally. So we headed across the street to the Hexagon Bar to have a beer and discuss.
I had mentioned the Hexagon Bar in my post on meat raffles, but B and I had never been there. It had a rather rough crowd. B remarked that this was the first time in a long time that she had been the only woman in a bar. We sat at the bar and ordered two Miller Lites -- and the bartender served them to us in red plastic party cups. No one else was drinking from party cups, and B later said that we were clearly being treated as tourists among the regulars. It didn't help that I was carrying around a plastic grocery back with my bowling shoes in it. Oh well. A scary dive bar in Minneapolis ain't got nothing on a scary dive bar in Philadelphia or NYC!
OK, so we drink our beers and decide that we need to stop being cheap and just pay the $5 cover.
Turns out the cover is for all the bands that are going to be playing all night. There was a big stage erected over 4 or 5 of the middle bowlng lanes, with a grungy/hard rock band wailing away people standing/dancing right in front of it, on the actual bowling lanes. And a few people were bowling away to either side of it. Weird.
I found this picture of the Memory Lanes stage on Flickr:
The coolest part of the place was the decor. Everything was very clean and shiny and new, which we always like. But everything also had a nifty 60s feel (kinda like the Voodoo Lounge in Las Vegas that we went to after our wedding reception). B described it as "retro Jetsons," which is funny because this morning looking at the Memory Lanes website the first paragraph is:
Anyway, we had a beer at the bar, then took a stroll around the place. A lot of people were sitting at the booths behind where you sit when you're bowling, so we grabbed one of those. We got a waitress's attention and I ordered a burger and B ordered fried ravioli (diet's out the window for the 4th of July weekend). But as we ate and watched the bands play, we noticed that fewer and fewer people were bowling; everyone was watching the bands or just "hanging out" instead, like the place was primarily a bar and not a bowling alley. It wasn't even a super-young crowd, either -- there were plenty of folks our age or older. By the time we were done eating, only 3 or 4 out of the 30 lanes were actually being bowled on. B remarked that a group of folks at her work were discussing organizing a bowling night, and one of her friends (a guy, even) said that he'd be happy to go but probably wouldn't bowl. B said she thought that was odd when she heard it but now she understood. But we decided that since we haven't bowled in forever, we didn't really want an audience, so decided to return to bowl on some other night when everyone else was actually bowling too.
Well, like I said, bowling alleys are a big deal out here. A night at the bowling alley is far more of a hipster, see-and-be-seen thing than we could've guessed. Other cities have night clubs, Minneapolis has bowling alleys. I guess this is a good thing, I'm just still having trouble wrapping my head around it.
Bowling alleys are a big deal out here. Before moving, we had read about the most well-known bowling alley in Minneapolis, the the Bryant-Lake Bowl in Uptown, and we still need to check that one out. But we figured we should check out Memory Lanes first since it's so close to us. And yes, in the previous two sentences I linked to both bowling alley's websites. I'm pretty sure that none of the bowling alleys in Rhode Island and few in Pennsylvania have their own websites, although please correct me if I'm wrong. The Bryant-Lake Bowl has its own freakin' Flickr group.
Well, we didn't know about Memory Lanes's website before we headed over there last night. We had just seen it in our strolls around the neighborhood and decided to spend Friday evening there. I pretty much wanted to check it out just based on its punny name -- inside the bowling alley is also the Flashback Cafe Bar & Grill. So we strolled over at about 8:30 Friday night, but to our surprise there was a $5 cover to get in. We kinda balked at this, both because we are cheap and because we did not expect to pay a cover to get into a freakin' bowling ally. So we headed across the street to the Hexagon Bar to have a beer and discuss.
I had mentioned the Hexagon Bar in my post on meat raffles, but B and I had never been there. It had a rather rough crowd. B remarked that this was the first time in a long time that she had been the only woman in a bar. We sat at the bar and ordered two Miller Lites -- and the bartender served them to us in red plastic party cups. No one else was drinking from party cups, and B later said that we were clearly being treated as tourists among the regulars. It didn't help that I was carrying around a plastic grocery back with my bowling shoes in it. Oh well. A scary dive bar in Minneapolis ain't got nothing on a scary dive bar in Philadelphia or NYC!
OK, so we drink our beers and decide that we need to stop being cheap and just pay the $5 cover.
Turns out the cover is for all the bands that are going to be playing all night. There was a big stage erected over 4 or 5 of the middle bowlng lanes, with a grungy/hard rock band wailing away people standing/dancing right in front of it, on the actual bowling lanes. And a few people were bowling away to either side of it. Weird.
I found this picture of the Memory Lanes stage on Flickr:
The coolest part of the place was the decor. Everything was very clean and shiny and new, which we always like. But everything also had a nifty 60s feel (kinda like the Voodoo Lounge in Las Vegas that we went to after our wedding reception). B described it as "retro Jetsons," which is funny because this morning looking at the Memory Lanes website the first paragraph is:
Come visit Minnesota's newest indoor entertainment center. Memory Lanes will be like nothing seen before in the Twin Cities. Memory Lanes has 30 lanes featuring a state-of-the-art sound and light system as well as modernized scoring and furnishings. Amenities also include 2 game rooms with all the top titles to fulfill guests of all ages. Meanwhile the décor will take you down memory lane. We call it "Modernized Retro."You can take a video tour of the place at the website! (It's terribly grainy, but it does have surf guitar playing in the background!)
Anyway, we had a beer at the bar, then took a stroll around the place. A lot of people were sitting at the booths behind where you sit when you're bowling, so we grabbed one of those. We got a waitress's attention and I ordered a burger and B ordered fried ravioli (diet's out the window for the 4th of July weekend). But as we ate and watched the bands play, we noticed that fewer and fewer people were bowling; everyone was watching the bands or just "hanging out" instead, like the place was primarily a bar and not a bowling alley. It wasn't even a super-young crowd, either -- there were plenty of folks our age or older. By the time we were done eating, only 3 or 4 out of the 30 lanes were actually being bowled on. B remarked that a group of folks at her work were discussing organizing a bowling night, and one of her friends (a guy, even) said that he'd be happy to go but probably wouldn't bowl. B said she thought that was odd when she heard it but now she understood. But we decided that since we haven't bowled in forever, we didn't really want an audience, so decided to return to bowl on some other night when everyone else was actually bowling too.
Well, like I said, bowling alleys are a big deal out here. A night at the bowling alley is far more of a hipster, see-and-be-seen thing than we could've guessed. Other cities have night clubs, Minneapolis has bowling alleys. I guess this is a good thing, I'm just still having trouble wrapping my head around it.
posted by James at 10:39 AM
1 Comments:
I just find this very odd! Not sure if I would like it or not! But Minneapolis in general has some very odd things!!
Post a Comment
<< Home