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

AMF Bay Shore Lanes

Truth told, despite the pull of certain forces, your Bowling Bandit does not make it to the Westside very often. Thus, it was a surprise to end up in Brentwood, early one Saturday morning, in the company Señor Delphi and Smudge. After fueling up at the delicious Amandine Cafe (highly recommended) a decision was made to do something unusual: bowl a few frames before 11am! Morning bowling, a splendid idea. Splendid not only because the idea involved bowling, but also because of the nifty bowling-drinking loophole created. Loophole: it is acceptable, almost expected, to drink beer while bowling. Therefore, it is acceptable to drink beer while bowling before 11am! Genius.

Back to the Westside, where our party strolled into AMF Bay Shore Lanes. Bay Shore is located on Pico Blvd near Main Street, in Santa Monica. Nearby landmarks include Santa Monica High and the ever formidable RAND. Bay Shore is a high-class AMF geared towards family-friendly bowling by day and tween/teen/twenty-something bowling on weekends and evenings. We stepped up to the desk and *bam* were immediately greeted by staff. At $5 for shoe rental and $7 a game Bay Shore doesn't come cheap, but with a remarkably clean alley, new equipment, and quality staffing you do get what you pay for. Weekdays before 5p, games are $5.75.

In walking from desk to lane we passed no fewer than three birthday bowling parties, all entertaining large masses of children. We also noted a metal ramp contraption which stood at the foul line of one of the lanes. This ramp is for the youngest of bowlers who have trouble hurling the bowling ball; youngsters push the ball off the ramp where it picks up good speed and then travels pin-ward and smashes the pins. Extremely customer-service-oriented bowling staff assisted each party grabbing errant throws, fixing incorrect pin counts, and retrieving balls that hit the sweeper bar with vigor.

As we queued up for our round of pin-punishing, Respect (Aretha Franklin), Livin' on a Prayer (Bon Jovi), and then Celebrate (Kool & the Gang) played over the sound system. It was clear from the get-go that this was Smudge's day, and possibly assisted by the early hour of the day, she spanked Señor Delphi and BB into submission with a 128 and then an overwhelming 150, big game Smudgie!

With 24 lanes, clean, well maintained, kid-friendly atmosphere, killer location, and newer equipment Bay Shore is always a nice place to roll. While it lacks the unique flare of either Shatto or PV Bowl, Bay Shore delivers consistent bowling in the Santa Monica price-range. If you find yourself in the neighborhood, consider a visit.

AMF Bay Shore Lanes
www.amf.com/bayshorelanesca/centerHomepage.htm 
234 Pico Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 399-7731

Hours and Prices
Mon - Thurs: 9a - Midnight
Fri - Sat: 9a - 2a
Sun: 9a - Midnight

Shoes: $5
Game: Weekday $5.75, Nights / Weekend $7

P.S. Has anyone eaten at Michael D's Cafe inside Bay Shore?

Jewel City Bowl

Superbowl Sunday. In many people this day stirs desire to watch gifted professional athletes compete at the highest level of football. For the Bandit and Crew desires were stirred in an altogether different direction. Instead, our team broke from the proverbial huddle and descended on Jewel City Bowl.

Entrance to this majestic bowling gem reveals a sparkling clean, colorful, and superbly maintained alley. As our eyes adjusted from the bright SoCal daylight, huge pastel-like graphics of bowling balls and pins “exploring the jungle and having adventures” revealed themselves on the far wall. Flashbacks of mind-bending college activities immediately glitted through this Bandit’s mind.

With Miley Cyrus's “Party in the USA” doing something quite distracting in the background our crew chose the $28 p/hr all-you-can-bowl deal. The positive spin on this deal being Jewel City prorates the 2nd (or 3rd) hour. If you have 4 people and are bowling 2 or more games the hourly rate with the pro-rated extra hour is the cost-effective choice.

On to the bowling, where W, and his crazy-right-hook-curveball, took home high-game honors banging down 125 pins. Kit-Kat posted a solid 117, while Smudge and I spent the game in the gutter. Calamity joined for the next round and we found ourselves comfortably situated around the cozy restaurant booths situated at each lane.

Other enticing elements of Jewel City include the “Java Hut” with what appeared decent grade coffee, an espresso maker (yes, really!), and a fancy professional coffee grinder, a solid pro shop with good selection plus lockers for use (not quite Buffalo ’66 style but this is Glendale), and best of all, $12 pitchers of beer. What to avoid: the sweet potato fries which arrived with an inexplicable white cheese topping and the unsavory reheated frozen pizza.

And if you enjoy Karaoke or Rock Band then Tuesday or Wednesday are your nights to visit. Also, free game(s) available if you fill out a little form on the Jewel City website.

Our rubdown: great alley, especially for families and kids; adults looking for clean, wholesome, and well-priced bowling will find themselves equally satisfied.

Jewel City Bowl
www.jewelcitybowl.com
135 S. Glendale Ave
Glendale, CA 91205
(818) 243-1188

Palos Verdes Bowl

In another lifetime your Bandit commuted daily from Koreatown to Torrance for a technology job, which is when I first stumbled upon Palos Verdes Bowl. Palos Verdes Bowl is situated in strip mall central, on a corner surrounded by a McDonald’s, an In n Out, and a AT&T mobile. Straddling the geography somewhere near where Torrance ends and Palos Verdes begins, this special alley throws down the gauntlet for bowling authenticity. Since 1958 PV Bowl has been serving up excellent lanes to the masses.

Walk in and the first thing you notice is a huge, open setup; 40 wide lanes greet you, each with lots of room for relaxing between frames. An accidental optical illusion splits the center of the alley (look for it, it’s constructed of yellow brick). Despite PV Bowl’s age these lanes are perhaps the best maintained we have used. Smudge remarked on how sturdy, smooth, and perfectly even the lanes are; your roll holds true the entire length of the lane and the retro teal ball return spits balls back with great speed.

Smudge and your Bowling Bandit ventured out to the Southland to visit PV Bowl for their unbeatable Monday night special. Nine dollars gets you shoes and all the games you can bowl from 6p-10p. With $2 hamburgers, $1 hot dogs, and $2.75 domestics as a fringe benefit you cannot beat this deal. Also, there is not any AMF mumbo-jumbo-25cents-a-game-nonsense where you really do not have enough time to get in a good roll at the “special” rate. PV Bowl is all business and we easily got in 4 games each in under 2 hours.

Your Bandit had a hot night tallying high game honors at 168. Smudge turned in a respectable 122. Other details include exposed brick walls throughout (unusual for a bowling alley), extremely powerful hand blowers (quite necessary as you beer drinkers know), and an eclectic mix of music which included Grateful Dead’s “Touch of Grey” followed by Modest Mouse’s “Float On.” This perfect blend of old and new makes PV Bowl an exceptional place to roll. And if all descriptions above do not capture your interest then consider swinging by for either Dart Night or Karaoke Night.

Our wrap on PV Bowl: bowling nirvana realized.

Palos Verdes Bowl
www.pvbowl.com 

24600 Crenshaw Boulevard
Torrance, CA 90505-5307
(310) 326-5120

Mar Vista AMF Lanes

Perhaps you have a job you love. A job you actually look forward to going back to once the weekend is over. Your Bowling Bandit does not have such a job. In a fantastic twist of irony, Bowling Bandit landed his dream job only to find it wasn’t a dream! Oh horror! As a result, Sunday afternoons can bring on a certain brand of blues. These blues arrive late afternoon and are relatively impossible to shake. They read like something between dread and outright panic. After a couple cold beverages to mull over the situation Bandit formulated a plan and took action: BOWLING!!!

With a few compadres in tow we zeroed in on the Westside and chose the AMF Mar Vista lanes. Mar Vista is a traditional AMF that has kept up with the times including a multitude of color-coded balls, upgraded lanes, uber-rapid ball returns, and brand spankin’ new scoring consoles. SuperM, Hampster, Smudge, and your devoted Bandit hit the lanes around 8pm. At that hour $6 per person lane entry gets you one game, plus $1 shoe rental, and $1 games thereafter. Translation: $8 for shoes and 2 games = Super Deal! This price bonanza is a Sunday evening promotion.

After securing the lane, we hit the bar where $5.21 got me a Dos Equis Amber. Not bad. The décor is cozy, with red vinyl booths, inviting tables, and a sturdy bar running the length of the space. If two Koreatown favorites, The Prince and The Bounty, got together and birthed a smaller baby bar with a pool table -- this bar is what it would look like.

On to the lanes, where a trippy background wall motif of purple, orange, golden, and yellow pins explodes towards the eager bowlers. Other aesthetics include many, many flat screen tvs all playing Sunday evening NFL, an amenity which garnered huge points from SuperM. Music was a resplendent mix of top-40 including “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry and a “Behind these Hazel Eyes” by Kelly Clarkson (thank you Shazzam). Not up my musical alley but entertainment nonetheless.

While Mar Vista is a traditional AMF there lies a little gem tucked deep inside. Phil Yoakum’s Bowling Supply & Pro Shop. It has been a long while since I spoke with Mr. Yoakum. But when I last did, he went out of his way to special order me a pair of pink bowling shoes, and secured the goods at the same price as Amazon, allowing your Bandit to keep the business local. Bowling balls, shoes, bags, and other rolling necessities are for sale, in all price ranges. Call for details and hours.

After a couple of frames to burn-in your Bandit found himself in the zone -- massive amounts of focus and an afternoon of drinking pushed aside those Sunday-work-is-coming-tomorrow-blues -- and he took home nightly high scores of 135 & 145.

In addition to bowling Hampster and SuperM had a chance to sample the food at Pepe’s, which is attached. Both gave solid thumbs up stating the service was down to earth and the food (BBQ Sauce Cheddar Burger with Bacon and a Tuna Melt) good. If nothing else $5 for a burger at a sit down café is easily one of the best deals around. Inside tip: opt for the ruffles potato chips over the fries.

The tally on Mar-Vista lanes: we love this spot. While it is all types of AMF, plays top-40, and does not inspire even the remotest feelings of retro-coolness there is something that just clicks. It is probably because Mar-Vista puts the bowling aspect of the alley right where it should be: first.

Mar Vista AMF Lanes
12125 Venice Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 391-5288

Hours
Mon-Thurs 9am - 11pm
Fri-Sat 9am - 1am
Sun 9am - 11pm

All Star Lanes

Sidekick Smudge here. Calamity, Donny, the Bandit, and I ventured to All-Star Lanes in Eagle Rock. We were immediately taken in by the lime green walls, accented with cream diamond patterns, which lent a decidedly vintage feel to the decor. All-star is retro without even trying -- bonus points for style right from the start. The large space, with an open carpeted area walled in by a small arcade, would be a great spot for a party or even a wedding for those who really like to roll!

The bar was dark and comfortable looking, replete with a stage that sometimes has live music acts on Sunday evenings. We saw a local crew drinking and they had big cans of Fosters, and that was good enough for the Bowling Bandit!

Up to the desk we marched and chose the hourly “lane” rate: $18 dollars (maximum 4 people) for the hour, plus $3 per person shoe rental for some shiny new shoes. I also had forgotten socks, and was able to pick up a snazzy new pair that matched the green and white theme for only $3.

With four of us on the lane, we quickly grabbed our bowling balls and it became a race against time to try to bowl two games each. Despite keeping a rapid pace and Bandit’s insistence that each bowler stand “on deck” we didn’t quite make it. Just as Calamity was about to roll in the tenth frame of her second game the lane went dark. I think it was perhaps the funny animation on the video screens lining the top of the alley, which seemed to like pointing out that you hadn’t picked up the spare more than it enjoyed announcing your strikes, which kept us from narrowly missing completion. Regardless, $4.50 a person for just about 2 games of bowling is a really good deal.

Our tally for the night, Smudge took high game honors:
Smudge: 101 & 136
Bowling Bandit: 116 & 114
Donny: 128 & 104
Calamity Jane: 78 & *103 (9 frames)

Throughout the evening we were graced with XM radio’s easy listening station, tending towards favorites such as Billy Joel and Linda Rondstadt on heavy rotation. It was a Wednesday night, and our party of four made up half of the occupancy, which was nice because there is always a thrill in having an entire bowling alley to yourself. Other details include a small arcade, (sadly, no Ms. Pacman) and a beat-up pool table. Famed indie-rock Sunday nights, where bands play in the large open area while bowlers roll the night away, also occur but have not been scheduled in the last couple months.

Our verdict: charming, retro lanes with lots of character and Foster’s big cans! Chance we will be back: definitely, and hopefully on a night with rock bands to replace some of that Linda Rondstadt!

All Star Lanes
4459 Eagle Rock Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90041
(323) 254-2579

Prices & Hours:
Shoes: $3, Socks: $3
Games: Mon-Thurs, $18 p/hour (max 4 people p/lane) or $4 game
Fri-Sun, $24 p/hour or $5.50 game