Post #294977 by RadioKirk on Tue, Mar 27, 2007 11:44 AM

Another late arrival...

I live in the North Bay now, but I, too, grew up in Costa Mesa and damn near grew up in Kona Lanes. My dad started taking me there when I was 4 or 5, and I worked in the building three times: in the coffee shop (before it was remodeled into a snack bar and the remaining space converted to storage), as a porter (remember that word?) and behind the desk. My wife and I debated a Kona wedding, but opted for my mother's home (she still lives on Nassau Road, a two-minute drive to Kona if you hit the lights).

That last stint was in 1988. More than once, I wrote Kona's column in the Pacific Bowler (I still have a copy from that October). My wife was working in the snack bar, the manager's name was Ed, and we used to joke about (what we called) his "Mr. Ed Burger". When John, Kona's manager at the time, moved to Westminster Lanes later that year, I went with him.

Our daughter was able to join us (she didn't bowl, something about the bumpers being unavailable, or something) at Kona some time in 2002, either when we drove down for an awards banquet or for that Christmas but, apparently, we didn't take pictures. If I'd only known...

Our next trip was in February 2004, after the demolition, for my stepfather's funeral. The services were on Baker Street; we took Adams Avenue to Huntington Beach for the reception, but I wasn't looking toward the site at the time; and we took Hamilton/Victoria back to my mother's house, then took the freeway home, not touching Harbor Boulevard again. No one mentioned Kona Lanes; our thoughts were elsewhere—though, now that I think about it, I seem to remember noticing that the Edwards Cinema was gone.

We came back for Christmas 2005 and, while looking for a motel (the Costa Mesa Inn at Wilson, formerly the Ha' Penny, was full), I remembered a Super 8 near Kona Lanes, actually driving past it to get a look at the old haunt, and seeing nothing but a fence. Turning around, wondering how I could have missed it, we were quite sure we were in the right spot, but, nothing. We checked in to the Super 8, I walked next door to the 7-11, and I couldn't help but stand there for a few moments and stare across Mesa Verde Drive.

Kona Lanes was gone. Just... gone.

An indelible part of my child- and young-adulthood, gone. Even writing about it now, it seems surreal.

I asked the clerk what happened; he told me it was torn down a couple of years earlier; I asked the night manager at Super 8 what she knew, and she related the rest of the story. When I rejoined my family, I repeated the news, almost in tears.

Well, thanks for allowing me a forum for catharsis... :)

[ Edited by: RadioKirk 2007-03-27 13:10 ]