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
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
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