bowling alley. Opened on July 14, 1951 it had 4 lanes and used human pinsetters or "Pin Boys".
To this day Pin Boys are still employed to return the balls and set the pins. It is one of the last remaining alleys in North America to do this.
From the mid 19th century to as late as the mid 1950's indoor bowling alleys had manual human pinsetters. In the late 50's alleys started to change to automatic pinsetters, seen by league bowlers as more reliable than their human counterparts. Lewis Hine took this photo in 1910 in Brooklyn, N.Y. of the pin boys at work. |
time was 15 cents. Pin boys also got to bowl for free, something that still happens to this day at the Youbou Lanes.
or speeding balls. Same goes for the the bowlers they have to make sure there no legs showing behind the
pins before they throw their next ball.
Southport Lanes and Billiards in Chicago is another one of the only remaining North American bowling alleys to employ Pin Boys. Made by the Schlitz Brewery in the late 20's it also has 4 lanes. It is still a popular hangout that was once a speakeasy and a brothel. Photo by Mark Susina TV image myfoxchicago.com |
operation. There is 10 and 5 pin League Bowling, Saturday Licenced Adult "Toonie nights", Friday Family
"Loonie nights", Youth Bowling and also Birthday or Special Events Bowling.
For more info http://www.cvrd.bc.ca/index.aspx?NID=402