Antique alley is a strike with bowling fans
If you go
What: Off the Rail bar and bowling alley
Where: 184 Baldwin St., Sharon.
What you'll find: A second floor bowling alley straight out of the 1950's. The four-lane alley is available for rent for parties and events.
Cost: The alley is available for three hours for $75 and $25 per hour after that.
Photo Gallery
SHARON — Boom!
You can't help but look at the ceiling of the small bar in downtown Sharon.
Slowly, the growl moves overhead.
Crash!
No, it's not God bowling. But it could be Joann Burt.
With a few interruptions, Burt has bowled since the 1980s in the tiny upstairs bowling alley in downtown Sharon.
On a recent weekday, the chipper in-home childcare provider spent the morning giving bowling tips to four elementary school-aged kids. They had the run of the four-lane bowling alley at Off the Rail, 184 Baldwin St., Sharon.
Linda Williams of Lyons in March bought the bar and re-opened the bowling alley for the first time in more than five years.
Despite new ownership, the alley looks much like it has for decades.
Can you remember the last time you wrote out bowling scores during a game? You're going to have to because the machines don't keep score for you.
No televised dancing turkeys or exploding pins in this alley.
The ball returns are that perfect turquoise blue found only in things manufactured in the late 1940s. Matching turquoise and cream benches are bolted to the floor.
Even the original aluminum ashtrays are in place, although today they hold tidy signs stating, "No smoking, please!"
The tiny alley is the perfect place to bowl with kids because you don't have to shush them constantly, Burt said.
"Normally when you're bowling with kids, you have to tell them to be quiet and not disturb the other bowlers," Burt said with her finger to her lips.
Williams at this time does not plan to open the alley for individual play but hopes to fill it with parties and special events.
Williams is not a bowler herself, but she rolled a frame for fun when she opened the business.
It was a good omen.
"My first ball was actually a strike," Williams said. "After that, well, I don't want to talk."
Sep 1, 2011 at 10:28 a.m.
Suggest removal
As a kid my father owned a 4 lane bowling alley. It was entirely manual. Pinsetters sat on a bench behind the pins and operated the pin setter and sweeper manually. They would pick up the pins and place them back in the setter. They would also pick up the balls and place them on the rack, push them down the incline back to the bowler. Sometimes they made it all the way, sometimes the didn't. Thanks for the story. I hold the memories of those days fondly.
Sep 1, 2011 at 6:14 a.m.
Suggest removal
I remember when I was a kid living outside of Sharon and my parents bowling up there. It had the old school ball return where you could actually see the ball coming back, not under the lanes like now. I hope I can get back there some time and go up and see. That would bring back alot of memories, good ones.
Aug 31, 2011 at 7:52 p.m.
Suggest removal
I wish blackbridge didnt remodel like 10-12 years ago... they ruined the place.. it was so cool and retro.
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