Final Goodbye to Kona Lanes~Costa Mesa, CA - General Tiki

L Luckydesigns Tiki Socialite Costa Mesa Joined: Sep 15, 2002 Posts: 2374	L Luckydesigns Posted posted on Fri, Jan 9, 2009 8:04 AM Points taken, Shaker. Actually what happened with bowling alley is the lease came up on the land and SUPER rich Segerstrom family (they own most of Costa Mesa, including the South Coast Plaza) decided that they could make more money by putting up a Kohls on that site. They already had knocked down an ice skating rink and a movie theatre in the direct vicinity in order to put up an Ace hardware and a car dealership.... So yeah, the bowling alley wasn't doing that well, but the owners we're willing to take out a loan, clean the place up, and modernize the scoring system and stuff. Bring people back in. I remember it always being busy on the weekends... So, the Kohls couldn't be built because of the lack of parking. They figured this out AFTER the bowling ally was knocked down... The whole sitation was pretty messed up, all because a family of 'hundred millionaires' were looking for more money rather considering the good of the people who exist on their land (just about all of Costa Mesa). ....and speaking of Wallgreens, it looks like the former site of the Tower records in Costa Mesa is going to be turned into a Wallgreens... The building itself is not a fantastic building by any means, but the historical context is pretty interesting. It was the first air conditioned, smooth floor, roller skating rink in Costa Mesa. Built in 1950, before Costa Mesa had become incorporated as a city. It's a good quick read too: http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2008/04/06/features/dpt-goodolddays040608.txt But at least we get a Wallgreen's in it's place... ugh.... Well, with economy going how it is, maybe not...well see... Spike http://www.myspace.com/thehulagirlsband [ Edited by: Luckydesigns 2009-01-09 08:08 ]

Points taken, Shaker. Actually what happened with bowling alley is the lease came up on the land and SUPER rich Segerstrom family (they own most of Costa Mesa, including the South Coast Plaza) decided that they could make more money by putting up a Kohls on that site. They already had knocked down an ice skating rink and a movie theatre in the direct vicinity in order to put up an Ace hardware and a car dealership....

So yeah, the bowling alley wasn't doing that well, but the owners we're willing to take out a loan, clean the place up, and modernize the scoring system and stuff. Bring people back in. I remember it always being busy on the weekends...

So, the Kohls couldn't be built because of the lack of parking. They figured this out AFTER the bowling ally was knocked down... The whole sitation was pretty messed up, all because a family of 'hundred millionaires' were looking for more money rather considering the good of the people who exist on their land (just about all of Costa Mesa).

....and speaking of Wallgreens, it looks like the former site of the Tower records in Costa Mesa is going to be turned into a Wallgreens... The building itself is not a fantastic building by any means, but the historical context is pretty interesting. It was the first air conditioned, smooth floor, roller skating rink in Costa Mesa. Built in 1950, before Costa Mesa had become incorporated as a city. It's a good quick read too: http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2008/04/06/features/dpt-goodolddays040608.txt

But at least we get a Wallgreen's in it's place... ugh.... Well, with economy going how it is, maybe not...well see...

Spike
http://www.myspace.com/thehulagirlsband

[ Edited by: Luckydesigns 2009-01-09 08:08 ]

Post #427961 by Luckydesigns on Fri, Jan 9, 2009 8:04 AM