Ron Reiff
I grew up in Glade. Lacy School was the center of my universe when I was young. When I was in 4th grade, Miss Peterson read an announcement to the class that turned my “spare” time around. Friday evenings, Bearfield Lanes was welcoming kids to bowl in a group.
I was a Saturday “Beat the Champ” fan so bowling was something I had wanted to do for a long time. Do you remember the place? Bearfield Lanes was under the old A and P on the corner of Liberty and Penn Avenue. 4 semi-automatic bowling machines and manual ball returns Pin boys loaded pins onto a mechanical table and pulled a string that sent the table down to the alley. The ball returns were smooth wooden channels located on the outside of lanes 1 and 4. The setup meant that a bowler on lane 2 could walk in front of the bowler on lane 1. You had to pay attention.
Pete Juliano was a very good bowler. His home lanes were Penn Bowling Center on Pennsylvania Avenue across from South street school. On the top floor of what had been the Ford Dealership. In the early ’50s, Pete bought the place and modernized it. I was in 5th grade when I learned that every Saturday at 1 pm they had open bowling. Anybody could go there. I had never been to a modern bowling center. My mind was blown!
There were gorgeous fully automatic Brunswick machines. Blue and white with blue lights shining down on the alley. When someone got a strike, the Brunswick crown on the center of the machine would light up. I thought I walked into paradise!
I’m not sure when Pete sold the Penn Bowling Center. It was in the early 70s the last time I bowled there. Barry Tingly bought it and refurbished the place. The classic machines were gone, replaced with newer AMF equipment. The only things that were the same were the knockers near the door and the main counter.
Sadly, bowling fell out of favor. Pete’s Penn Bowling Center disappeared in the mists of history. So did Bearfield Lanes, Bowl-A-Drome, and Sugar Bowl Lanes.
When you are a pre-teen boy and your heroes are left-handed bowlers: Nin Angelo, and Don Carter some pieces of the past “strike” good memory nerves.
