Post #35246 by SugarCaddyDaddy on Wed, May 21, 2003 3:19 PM

Well, it happened earlier than expected. It hit The Orange County Register this morning. The original closing date of May 31st was not met, since, supposidley there hasn't been enough business to stay open these last few weeks.

As I pulled up at 11:45 a.m. today, I walk up and I hear a voice coming from the dumpster: "Hey, don't I know you?". Up pops the head of Tiki-Chris of ModCom. I introduced myself as we shake hands as I look at him bewildered as to why he is in there, but then understood very quickly...."The original blueprints are in here somewhere! The manager told me!" he says with a hopeful look on his face. It was either the truth or a cruel last joke from management. He kept looking without luck as I walked into the bowling alley realizing that with the decline of this great historic building, and the attitude of an "I only care about money" corporation that now runs this landmark, that he just might find something of value, in all places, a dumpster.

As you see in the article above, the owner, was suppose to be there negotiating prices on everything in the place. He conveniently was absent this week and is "on vacation". Unfortunately, there isn't anything from the Kona Lanes of yesteryear, only post-1990's items. The poor manager has been dealing with pissed off league managers, whose leagues that have been bowling there the past 10 to 20+ years, since no notification of closing the doors was given. Everyone who paid for a full league and were planning on finishing the month through were calling, leaving nasty messages on the machine which could be heard by all who were in earshot of the answering machine. Again, the owner is conveniently now on vacation. When you call, all you hear is "On May 19th, Kona Lanes is now closed after 50 years...." I don't believe that the leagues were really concerned about the money. I believe that they were really hoping to have a fun, last gathering at a place alot of us here in SoCal grew up with. It's like a loved one who passed on without the last chance to say goodbye.

The only activity now is the chance to buy some memorabilia, if you can call it that. Bowling pins are $5 each. None of which actually say "Kona Lanes". Bowling shoes are $10, and do say Kona Lanes, but were handwritten on the shoes by management as sort of an inventory control. Bowling balls are $5, but all the "Kona Lanes" imprinted ones are gone. The only items available were some old Kona Lanes shirts. As of a half-hour ago, there were about 100 shirts left, but I doubt there will be any left by the end of the day. I was fortunate to be the first person to find the shirts in a hidden little closet area.

Here are the shirts I ended up with, and I believe Bong will get a kick out of the "Nude Bowlers League" shirts.

The manager seemed pretty nice, even though she was swamped with people asking questions, and at one point while hanging out with her, you could actually see her wipe away a tear. She explained as she and I swapped old bowling stories, how she had gathered some of the original old photos, vintage score sheets, matches, etc., and how someone (possibly an ex-employee) stole everything! She was nice enough though to give me this as I walked out the door today:

I'm glad us Hoity Toity SoCal TC'ers got a chance to have a last bowl and drink at this fabulous, but slowly dying building this past year. It was really fun. For those of you that didn't attend, you can find pictures here.

For those passing this sign, which is still yet to receive it's unknown fate, here is what you can expect to see:

A closer look reveals Kona Lanes' last message:

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

SugarCaddyDaddy's Schedule of Stuff!

[ Edited by: SugarCaddyDaddy on 2003-05-21 17:19 ]