Gable House Bowl

It's Smudge here. In the waning days of vacation, one tends to get a bit grumbly and there is no better antidote than to pick up the nearest bowling ball and chuck it at some pins. The Bowling Bandit and I visited Gable House Bowl in Torrance to do just that and I was surprised to find one of the most welcoming alleys in town tucked away in otherwise unassuming environs, surrounded by office parks and strip malls galore.

Upon walking in to the building on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I was pleased to find a bright airy space instead of the usual dark cavern . Initially, we were told it would be a half hour wait, but after wandering around for fifteen minutes outside and then checking back in, we found our name had already been called and were put on top of the list for the next available lane. We were assigned to lucky lane 13 and the attendant tried to give the Bowling Bandit complimentary socks with the rental shoes, which he gently declined--but it is good to know that if you show up in flip flops, you are covered!

When we got to our lane, the first thing I noticed was that this was definitely not an AMF bowling center--no fluorescent lights and balls, but rather cream and teal blue beach scene backdrops across all of the lanes. The forty gleaming, polished, nick-free lanes have a huge, open feel to them. Each set of two has a table and chairs with a table you can eat at right behind your lane, too!

The ceilings are extremely high with exposed air ducts and metal rafters lending a warehouse-y feel and the whole place was immaculately clean. It was unusually quiet when we were there, with no music playing at all. When we bowled, the only sounds were the Bowling Bandit's pins flying and crashing everywhere. Then a loud rumbling signaled that the 1960's era "bowling machine” was doing its work and putting all the pins upright again. New Brunswick ball returns quickly sent back the ball. Speaking of bowling balls, there was a huge selection of every finger size, weight, and color imaginable, without the usual color-coded divisions. It was more like an Easter egg hunt, searching until finding the perfect ball to chuck down the lane. Our Bandit scored well, carrying him to the highest scores of the day for both games.

It was not busy during our visit, but there was a large birthday party going on, with an upstairs room for the festivities, and quite a few families rolling games as well. Another welcome surprise was the environmental consciousness of the entire establishment, with recycling boxes behind each lane, no-flush urinals, and to our shock (and delight), solar panels covering the building’s entire roof which are able to provide all the power to the alley during the day, and even make a surplus to sell back during some slow weekdays. Back to the bowling, though--there was an auto-coach on the television screens which provided instructions of how to pick up the pins missed on the first throw, and although this didn't help me on what was a decidedly off bowling day, it was a nice feature.

Other notables included a bar that we did not check out, and a Pizza Hut express/snack bar combination with an extensive menu. The arcade had an assortment of pinball machines, video games, and Dance Dance Revolution, where I watched a kid work up a sweat with the fastest footwork I have ever seen. He was a blur, and quite a crowd gathered with their mouths hanging open in incredulity. At the end of our play, the friendly staff asked if we had fun, and were very helpful in answering our myriad questions. In case you were wondering, Gable House owns the entire mini-mall plaza. It appears family-owned and operated, and the whole experience made me feel at home. We will come back here and play again soon!

Gable House Bowl
www.gablehousebowl.com
822501 Hawthorne Blvd
Torrance, CA 90505
(310) 378-2265

Hours and Prices
Mon-Thurs: 9a - 2a
Fri & Sat: 9a - 3a
Sun: 7a - 1a

Shoes: $4.50
Game: Weekdays $3.75, Nights $4.75, Weekend $5.00

El Dorado Lanes

It should come as no surprise that this Bandit much prefers the local, unaffiliated lanes, to the monster that is AMF (American Machine and Foundry, creator of the first automatic pinsetter). Well, never say never; thanks to our Alaskan guest, visiting by way of Mexico, we found an AMF worth its lane grease: El Dorado Lanes. El Dorado is located in Westchester, CA near LAX and just down the road from Loyola Marymount University.

Our crew of three arrived ahead of Monday’s rush hour and waited until 5 pm for Dollar Mania to begin. The usual Dollar Mania deal is touted: $5 entry gets you $1 shoe rental and unlimited $1 games. Monday equals “deals” at the El Dorado and for those hard-core bowlers there is another super-special running from 3:30p-5:30p featuring unlimited bowling.

We passed a couple of minutes in the large bar adorned with an exposed, red brick wall and 70’s wood paneling, reminiscent of low-end Vegas. A jukebox, French bartender, chilled Patron shot machine, and one lonely pool table completed the scene. $5.21 gets you a 16oz Budweiser in the shape of a bowling pin! $6.75 for a 20oz New Castle on tap.

At 5 pm sharp we hit the mostly empty lanes. Emptiness did not last long as the alley filled up quickly with a mix of folks including LMU students, die-hard bowlers, kids, single moms, and small groupings of balding men. We are pleased to report a nice mix of races and ethnicities present, lending a balanced feel to the Monday evening crowd.

On to the bowling where the words from "The Big Lebowski" rang true: “Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, well, he eats you.” Your Bandit was spanked into submission by his female counterparts: a 148 first game garnered last place, with Smudge knocking down 151, and AK Mama pummeling an outing high of 153 pins. The next three games were dominated by the Alaskan, as there must be something in the water up there (see full scoring below). Props to the ladies who rolled extremely strong games.

Other details about El Dorado include the typical AMF setup replete with fluorescent flying pin backdrop, new, fast ball-returns, a wide open feeling, and 32 well maintained lanes. Helpful staff also provided an interesting piece of information. Look far down the lane on the gutter rail and you will notice a small piece of plastic on top. Housed in this plastic is a camera with a mirror that feeds information to screens above each lane. That is how the automatic scoring works and why it is sometimes wrong -- the camera gets tricked!

Final verdict on El Dorado: this is an AMF lane that kicks butt and we love it. Will we be back? Definitely!

El Dorado Lanes
www.amf.com/eldoradolanes/centerhomepage.htm
8731 Lincoln Blvd.
Westchester, CA 90045
(310) 670-0688

Hours and Prices
Mon-Thurs: 9a - 11p
Fri: 9a - 12a
Sat: 9a - 1a
Sun: 9a - 11p

Shoes: $4.50
Game: Weekdays $4.50, Nights / Weekend $5.75