Bowling alley closing, so I went shopping.

hucklebuck73

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So here on the base I work at they are tearing down the old bowling alley. My chief knows the guy in charge and lets him know I'm into those type of items. So I go over there and talk to the guy and leave with these:

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As you can see by the second pic they are AMF, Ive been trying to find out some info such as year about them but nothing as of yet. The guy also said I can go back after they sell the chairs and all and take all the carpet I want....Its like Christmas for me. The carpet is in good shape and has the bowling pins and balls with little shapes all around. It'll look good in my small arcade. These benches are so cool.
 
Jake, Those benches are awesome and exactly what I am looking for. If you can get any more items of that vintage, benches, stools, ashtrays. etc, LMK.
 
I've been looking for a tele-score unit for years. It's the old school score keeper tables that projected to the ceiling.

If they have any PLEASE let me know
 
I have fond memories of going to the bowling alley on base as a kid.
I'd go nuts on a shopping spree in that place, especially if it has some of the older stuff like those benches.
 
Thanks guys and I'll check on the items yall are asking about. I asked first about any games, to be honest I was hoping for a dark hidden storage room full of the games they have had over the years. Only to find out they were all leased and he has no idea where they are, I'm still looking into that though. The place is old with some updates such as tables and vending stuff for parties. I'll be pulling up about every square inch of carpet that I can when it comes time, and Look for anything else that I can grab....
 
I have wondered if anyone has attempted to build a single lane alley in a home, using the entire pinsetter equipment from an old bowling alley. Probably not worth the effort but would be a hell of a project. Not sure how long that would be. I did get an old set of pins from a local alley I grew up going to.
 
Sure you could do it pretty easily, all the lanes run pretty independently anyways, that's how they can make them have as many or as few as the building holds. I'll bet somebody's done it.

BTW, a lot of bowling alleys actually use vintage equipment. They made some certain pinsetter back in the 50's that was really robust and they still make parts for it, so many times when a new bowling alley opens it buys the equipment out of a closed location.

Brunswick has their own brand of pinsetters too, but they wear out after about 15 years.

The lanes themselves used to be wood, but they wear over time and are usually capped off with synthetic tops that don't wear very easily.
 
The bowling alleys if they're original wood are worth big $$$. I don't remember the type of wood used but some people pay a lot for original floors.

I knew a guy who was a bit of a wood eccentric....he purchased several lanes of vintage bowling alley wood and installed it in the floor of his yurt. It cleans up super nice and after a bit of polish....wow.
 
The bowling alleys if they're original wood are worth big $$$. I don't remember the type of wood used but some people pay a lot for original floors.

I knew a guy who was a bit of a wood eccentric....he purchased several lanes of vintage bowling alley wood and installed it in the floor of his yurt. It cleans up super nice and after a bit of polish....wow.

I bet that was nice. I toured a guy's yacht which seemed to have a ton of woodworking, fancy cabinetry and flooring, and it was mostly teak. A guy who is into woodworking + yachts probably has very deep pockets!!
 
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