‘Glow Bowling’ Keeps the Good Times Rolling

Remember bowling, that bastion of retirement community social outings and blue-collar factory leagues? OK, picture this: a bowling alley in the west San Fernando Valley, late on a Saturday night. The early-bird specials at the adjoining coffeehouse have long expired. The bulbs that bathe the alleys in that unforgiving fluorescent white light flicker and go dim. The last senior pulls his four-door sedan out of the parking lot.

Then, from deep in the bowels of the bowling center, Donna Summer starts to sing about last dances. Strobe lights flash red, green and blue across the lanes, which are suddenly awash in a phosphorescent glow. Honda Civics, aging SUVs and pickup trucks pull into the parking lot. The teenagers have arrived and they’re ready to P-A-R-T-Y.

Oh yeah, and bowl.

Who would have thought that the saviors of the neighborhood bowling center might turn out to be under legal drinking age. Oddly enough, a remedy concocted from dance music, glow-in-the-dark bowling balls and funky light shows seems to be breathing new life into businesses once dependent on the dwindling ranks of the World War II generation.

Called variously “cosmic,” “extreme” and “rock ‘n’ bowl” bowling, the repackaging is drawing young crowds to the old sport. Center managers say they’ve got lines out the door 15 minutes after the pop tunes start. Bowling Inc., an industry association, reports that the number of Americans bowling is at an all-time high.

There’s just one catch. There’s no evidence that enthusiasm for what’s generically known as “glow” bowling is spilling over into the daytime hours. Indeed, league membership nationally has declined by 56% in the last 20 years, according to Bowling Inc. Glow bowling may still save the sport--unless it turns out to be a passing trend.

That leaves the future of bowling teetering on the skinny shoulders of 13-year-old Michelle Barnum and her gaggle of middle school friends. Friday nights, they meet up at a pizza parlor. On Saturdays, they go bowling at their alley of choice, AMF Rocket Bowl in Chatsworth.

“It’s fun!” said Michelle one recent Saturday night, blue glitter twinkling on her eyelids, denim bell-bottoms skimming the toes of her bowling shoes. “You can dance and be wild and there’s no parents.”

It’s obvious pretty quickly why people of parental age choose other forms of entertainment. Michelle and her buddies stand on chairs as they dance and sing to “YMCA” by the Village People. They play video games in the back of the center. They gossip and try to act cool, and when occasionally they bowl, they order bumper guards, which prevent gutter balls.

There’s a bar at the bowling alley, but it’s off limits to the kids.

Jay Seigman, the deejay, tries to keep an eye on action down on the lanes.

Michelle’s friend, Julie Levine, also 13, said her parents think it’s so safe they let her stay into the wee hours, hanging out with her friends.

Not everyone, though, is a teeny-bopper. On the other side of the 32-lane center, Gabby Lopez, 22, bowled and drank cocktails with three friends. She comes to Rocket Bowl every few months when she’s looking for a change in routine, she said.

“You don’t have to dress up,” Lopez said. “I’m a little tired of going to the clubs. This is different.”

No one in Lopez’s family ever bowled, so she was skeptical when a friend invited her to Rocket Bowl a year and a half ago. “I thought it was going to be boring,” she said. “It’s not, because you’re trying to win. You try to do your best.”

As much as she enjoyed herself, she did not consider joining a league. And that makes Lopez a typical glow bowler.

Bowling’s latest twist was introduced in 1995 by Brunswick, whose 120 bowling centers across the country include Brunswick Matador Bowl in Northridge. The innovation, rapidly copied by other centers, sent millions of new visitors streaming through the doors of the nation’s bowling alleys.

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According to an annual survey by the National Sporting Goods Assn., 37.4 million Americans bowled at least once in 1994. That number shot up to 41.9 million in 1995, the year Brunswick introduced cosmic bowling, and peaked in 1997 at 44.8, according to the association. It was down to 41 million again in 1999, but as Mark Miller, spokesman for Bowling Inc., pointed out, that is still “near an all-time high.”

The same cannot be said for league bowling, the mainstay of bowling alleys because it ensures a regular, committed core of customers. League bowling reached its zenith in 1980 with 9 million members; now, Bowling Inc. counts 3.9 million league bowlers nationwide. “What you are finding here is people’s lives have changed,” he said. “People don’t join groups like they used to--bowling is a leisure-time activity, and now there are so many [other] opportunities.”

So while the industry is encouraged by the success of glow bowling, it knows bowling’s PR problems aren’t over.

“Glow bowling has made people more aware of the sport,” Miller said. “It hasn’t, unfortunately, spilled over into our league numbers.”

It’s numbers like these that make Gene Giegoldt ever more firmly convinced not to add glow bowling at Canoga Park Bowl. Vice president, general manager and one of the partners at the 42-year-old center, Giegoldt is one of the few holdouts in a Valley now studded with shimmering bowling balls.

“You’re allocating time for something that’s kind of clique-ish and trendy,” he said. “It’s not long term.”

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Fitting a center for glow bowling can cost a proprietor anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000. Giegoldt thinks he would not make that money back over the five to seven years he estimates glow bowling will remain popular. Plus, he added, it might turn other people off.

For those who do want more action, the choices are numerous. The Valley practically turns into one big glow bowling lane on Friday and Saturday nights, as centers from AMF Woodlake Lanes in Woodland Hills to Pickwick Bowling Center in Burbank embrace the activity.

Perhaps the ultimate validation of glow bowling as a cool pastime is the inclusion of Jillian’s Hi-Life Lanes in the recent expansion of Universal CityWalk. The complex adds massive screens playing movies and music videos to the usual mix of flashing lights, pounding music and glowing balls, taking the sensory cacophony to a whole new level.

Extremely selective in its choice of operators, CityWalk scoured the country for entertainment ideas before settling on bowling and Jillian’s, said Norm Rich, CityWalk’s general manager.

“We looked at reinventing ourselves in the entertainment arena,” he said. “We wanted things that were not duplicated elsewhere.”

Since its April opening, Jillian’s has been a resounding success.

“It’s breaking records,” Rich said. “It’s by far our highest entertainment venue per square foot in our entire complex.”

Of course, Jillian’s offers more than just bowling on its two floors. There also are bars, a restaurant and scores of the latest video games.

“This bowling alley is more than a bowling alley,” Rich said.

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A transcendental bowling experience, however, is not the draw for the middle schoolers staking their turf at AMF Rocket Bowl most Saturdays. As they crash fluorescent orange and pink balls against the gutter rails and prance to the latest Britney Spears song, it’s not clear bowling is on their minds at all.

“This is a place,” 13-year-old Julie said, “where you meet your friends.”

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Glow Bowling Sites

Here are some of the places in the San Fernando Valley offering glow bowling--typically on Friday and Saturday nights after 10 p.m. Check with individual centers for specific times and rates.

* AMF Bowlerland Lanes, 7501 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys, (818) 989-1610

* AMF Rocet Lanes, 9171 De Soto Ave., Chatsworth, (818) 341-0070

* AMF Woodlake Lanes, 23130 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, (818) 225-7181

* Brunswick Matador Bowl, 9118 Balboa Blvd., Northridge, (818) 892-8677

* Jewel City Bowl, 135 S. Glendale Ave., Glendale, (818) 243-1188

* Jillian’s Hi-Life Lanes, Universal CityWalk, Universal City, (818) 985-8234

* Montrose Bowl, * 2334 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, (818) 249-3895

* Pickwick Bowling Center, 921 W. Riverside Drive, Burbank, (818) 842-7188, Ext. 350

* Sports Center Bowl, 12655 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 769-7600

* Glow bowling available only to private parties renting out the alley.