We're back in Seattle proper for our final installment, a look at two very different facilities...
We've bowled more at the UW's HUB Games Area than anywhere else, mainly because it was a cheap and convenient place to roll during our college days. Besides its campus setting, we dig the plaques honoring Husky bowling champs dating back to 1961. The spartan basement room holds just 12 lanes, and not much else -- no coffee shop, no pro shop, no casino. That's fine with us -- the focus here is on bowling. It also has no alcohol, however, it is open to all members of the public, something that can't be said about Capitol Hill's Garage...
In 2003, Garage Billiards expanded with two floors of bowling -- eight brand-new street-level lanes, and another six in the basement -- making it the most centrally located alley in town. The designer interior is dimly lit, with dark curtains hanging above the pins and no ads or any other signs on the walls. Custom wood cabinets house the scoring monitors, control panels and ball returns, and the deck area has those '60s-looking plastic bucket seats. It all looks great, and despite the constant music, we especially love the crisp sound of balls hitting pins, which nicely reverberates off the wooden ceilings.
Yet there's plenty to dislike about the Garage, besides how its web site misspells its own neighborhood ("Capital Hill"). The place is strictly 21-and-over, the only such alley we've ever seen. They claim to attract "hipsters and corporate folk alike," but where are the little kids having birthday parties, teenagers on double dates or, for that matter, old folks on league night? Well, the Garage has no league night, nor any other all-inclusive elements that make the democratic game an American favorite.
Bowling needn't be so exclusive, nor pretentious. Unfortunately, such “bowling lounges” -- which repackage the game as an adjunct to upscale club culture -- are becoming the latest misguided trend to hit the sport since cosmic bowling.
But it's still bowling, goddammit, so we grudgingly accept it. Like, we'd still rather roll at the Garage than not at all, and if lounge bowling is what it takes to keep the game alive, so be it. Baseball survived AstroTurf and domed stadiums, so bowling will surely live on in one form or another.
In the meantime, the HUB and the Garage are just two of 22 Seattle-area bowling alleys we've discussed in recent weeks, and fun may be had at 'em all. You should go bowling.
(This is the last of an eight-part series. Here are parts one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven.)
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Having no screaming kids running around is what I liked most about the garage.
when do you go bowling while little kids are still awake? im 19 and i cant remember the last time i bowled before midnight while sober. i think you should try my way, this way there's nothing to worry about.
I'd like to go bowling at the garage, but I think it's too overpriced--What was it $25 per hour?