Nicole Williams



Nicole Williams

“Knock em’ down, spin em’ round, anyone can do it, they go bowling.”

-anonymous

Who Would Have Thought

Bowling is the worlds most widely played sport today. In the United States one out of every three people bowl, which means 72 million Americans participate in the game. The sport dates back to the Stone Age where cavemen used a large stone for a ball and rolled it at smaller ones. It can also be traced to the Egyptians and the Romans. Prior to the 1400’s bowling was only an outdoor game, but in 1455 the first indoor game took place in London. Bowling was brought to America with the first Dutch settlers. The game had always been played with nine pins, but in America during the nineteenth century a tenth pin was added to the game. The game is still played with ten pins today. There has also been some technological advancement to the game. During the 1940’s the automatic pinsetter was invented, which was a machine that reset the pins without the need of a person having to do it manually. Another later invention was the bumpers that are placed in the gutter lanes to prevent small children from rolling gutter balls. Gutters are the small lanes to the side of the main lane that result in no score when a ball is rolled into them.

My Life In Rented Shoes

It is 7:16 on a Monday night as a pull my little beat up Dodge Shadow into the dimly lit parking lot of the local town bowling alley. As I walk up to the small brick building, that reminds me of a shoe box, I notice that the parking lot isn’t busy like on other nights that I remember. I moved to Hanover two years ago after my Gram passed away and my family purchased her house, the same house that my mom grew up in. We would all come down to this candlepin bowling alley, Hanover Bowladrome, on Saturday nights for Rock-N-Bowl. This is when they play dance music and have a bunch of strobe lights flashing while everyone bowls. The great thing about bowling is that it doesn’t cost a lot of money and is something my family could do together. I have a large family, and it can get very expensive for us to hang out together. Spending time with family is very important to me. The Saturdays my family spent together at this bowling alley got us through the rough times after we lost my Gram. It was a night that we could all spend time together laughing and just having fun.

My sisters always ran into their friends from school here on Saturday nights. I was always surprised by the amount of teenagers at the bowling alley. I figured they had more interesting things to do than go bowling, such as go to parties or to the mall. I work in the mall so I know that a lot of teenagers hang out there and the movie theatre is always sold out, so I didn’t think that many teenagers went to the bowling alley anymore. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The parking lot was always jam packed and sometimes we would have to wait for a lane to open up.

Two years ago isn’t when I got my first taste of Hanover Bowladrome. My favorite memories as a little girl involve me spending time with my aunt. I remember, one year she took me to Canobe Lake Park and we got an old time photo done where you dress in Victorian clothes and they take your picture in black and white. But one of my favorite things to do with her was to come down here and go bowling. My aunt was a pretty good bowler and she tried to teach me, but I threw more gutter balls than anything else. That didn’t matter though, because it was just about spending time with my aunt and having fun. We would laugh for hours and that’s what I remember most.

I haven’t been bowling on Saturday nights in about a year, but I’m back here to see what has and hasn’t changed in the last year. Thinking about the good times I have had here with my family over the years makes me wonder if families still spend time together bowling. I know people are very busy these days with lists of things miles long to do, but I hope they still find time to be with their families. Everyone in my house, except my six year old sister, works so I understand first hand how hard it is to find time to be together. Despite our busy schedules, we manage to find at least one night a week to hang out together. It would be nice to see families laughing and bowling together like mine use to. I also wonder if the teenagers in town spend time at the alley on Saturday nights anymore. My sisters tell me that their friends don’t go there anymore. I am guessing that is because they are older now and have licenses that give them the ability to travel outside of town.

As I pull open the glass door to go inside I quickly notice that the retro décor has not changed a bit. The benches where the bowlers sit are made of plastic of various colors, such as grey, blue, and aqua. However, each bench has seats and backs with mismatching colors. The benches sit on a floor of dingy grey vinyl and the rest of the alley is covered in a red rug that harbors numerous stains from sodas and pizza spilt over the years. I am guessing that the combination of teenagers on the weekends for Rock-N-Bowl and the birthday parties held here over the years is what has done a number on the rug. Behind the players benches, resting on this dirty red rug, are 11 long tables with red benches that span the length of the alley. Each table is covered in scratches and has a grayish tint to it. The only thing that really glows is the polished wood lanes that the bowling balls slide down.

As I walk over to the counter my nose picks up the familiar scent of pizza cooking . I ate that same pizza every Saturday night. Nothing beats this pizza, its just perfect. It has just the right amount of cheese, not so much that you choke trying to swallow it, but not so little that you feel like you got ripped off. Not to mention, you could get a whole one for five dollars! The smell also reminded me of the snack bar they have here that my sisters and I would raid every Saturday night. It is a small little area with a fridge, mini pizza oven, sink, and microwave, but what makes it so spectacular is the variety of food they serve out of it. There are sodas, slush’s, water, candy sure, but then there are onion rings, frappes, and root beer floats.

As I continue to approach the counter I quickly notice that I am the only female, with the exception of the middle aged woman working behind the counter. She is wearing black stretch pants, a black t-shirt, sneakers, with shoulder length brown hair and a little makeup. I walk up to the counter to introduce my self and explain that I am interested in studying what goes on at this bowling alley. She smiled at me, told me her name was Carol, and said she had no problem with that, but she would ask the manager. I watch as Carol walks over to an older man that has just come out of the office. She returns with a smile and tells me that Hank, the owner, says it would be fine. Carol also informed me that the Monday night men’s league meets tonight.

My attention is pulled away from Carol as the sound of shoes sliding against smooth wood lanes and bowling balls rolling like thunder, slamming against multiple pins rings in my ears. I feel a slight hesitation as I look around at all the men and wonder if they will be bothered by my presence. This proves not to be a problem. Although I get a few glances in my direction, they all pretty much ignore me. The alley is completely devoid of human existence on the right side, but to the left the men have made themselves comfortable across lanes one through eight. I immediately position myself at a table behind the men to observe their behavior.

Bowling Stones

There are eight different teams bowling in this league tonight. The teams my eyes focus on are bowling in lanes seven and eight; they are the closest to where I am sitting. At first I thought they only had five players, but a little later I see a teenager who was sitting by himself get up and bowl with this team, so they actually had six members. He works there, I see him later go and unjam some bowling balls behind the lanes. I learn that his name is Chris when Carol calls for him to go and fix a problem. Chris appears to be in his late teens and is wearing gray pants, a blue shirt, and a blue bandana tied around his head. This is candle pin bowling and each player bowls three sets with three balls in each set. In 1881 two men from Massachusetts revived this original form of bowling that existed before 1850. Candlepin bowling is played with ten pins that are 15 ¾ inches high with a diameter of 2 15/16 inches, that slim to 1 ¾ inches at the ends. The players use wooden balls that are 4 ½ inches in diameter and weigh between 2 pounds 5 ounces to 2 pounds 7 ounces. In his first and second set Chris is unable to knock down all the pins, but he clears all the pins on his third set. When he finishes he goes back to sitting at a table next to me, behind the rest of his team.

There are two older men in the group who appear to be in their late 50’s or early 60’s and have gray hair. Two of the other men on the team look to be in their 40’s and one of them is wearing a blue t-shirt that says bowling stones on it. I laugh when I see this because it makes me think about tv shows and movies where the bowlers all have funny matching team outfits on. It’s probably an old shirt form a team he use to bowl with. The man in this shirt leaves several times throughout the night. The first time he leaves he comes back with his daughter who is armed with school books and sits at a table behind the men. About fifteen minutes later he leaves with his daughter and then returns with out her.

The final member of this team is a man who is in his late 20’s or early 30’s and is wearing shorts, despite the cold weather outside, a HHH sleeveless shirt and has a gold hoop in his ear. HHH is a professional wrestler, so it is obvious that this man likes to watch wrestling. Wrestling starts at 9 o’clock on Monday nights, so he will probably be leaving in time to get home and watch. This man is the most into his bowling and mutters things under his breath when the ball doesn’t do what he wants it to. I can’t make out what he is saying, but I see his lips move so I know he is saying something. The members in this team don’t talk very much amongst themselves.

The team in lanes five and six are comprised of older gentlemen. Two of the men have gray hair, and the other has dark hair with a bald spot and glasses. In lanes three and four there is a five man team. This team consists of four men that are probably in their 50’s and one man a bit younger than the others. The owner of the bowling alley, Hank, bowls with this team. Hank appears to be the oldest man bowling here tonight. He is tall and thin, with glasses, and is wearing faded blue jeans with a sweater. Hank approaches me and starts rattling off the days and times of all the leagues that meet each week. He speaks to me in a very monotone voice and doesn’t express any emotion or gestures of friendliness. He explains to me that they have leagues with men, women, kids over five, kids under five, couples, handicaps, and special needs. Most leagues meet on various nights at seven o’clock, but a few meet early in the morning. After giving me this information he scurries away before I can ask him any questions about this family run business that he is in charge of. The team furthest away from me is situated in lanes one and two. That team consists of five older men. There is a small group of other men watching them.

There is a lot of small talk between the teams in lanes one through four, while the teams in lanes five through eight are not having as much conversation. When players throw their balls well and score big the players in the first four lanes erupt in support and cheer with enthusiasm. The men on the other teams support and encourage their team mates, but they are much quieter than the other teams. It seems to me that the teams comprised mostly of older men are bowling to have fun and are the ones that cheer on their team mates. I get the feeling from watching the men’s behavior that the middle aged and young men that are serious about the game and play to win. They don’t waste time with a lot of loud cheering. The men on all the teams are good bowlers and it is evident that they have been bowling for a long time. I watch the men in lanes seven and eight when they each get up to bowl. One man rubs the bowling ball in his hand as if warming it up is going to have a good effect on his game, and then he focuses his eyes on the pins, positions is feet for a slide across the floor, and launches the ball down the lane. Each man does something to this effect. I guess they are visualizing and really thinking about the best way to through the ball and score.

My attention is drawn away from the men as I hear the voice of Archie Bunker. Looking around I notice that there is a small tv above the snack bar. I leave my table and get a soda from the vending machine around the corner from the snack bar. The men are rather quiet and out of boredom I take a little walk around the long room. The alley has 24 lanes with speakers and strobe lights affixed to the ceiling over them that I know are used during rock-n- bowl. I remember that these lights reflect off the disco ball that hangs in the middle of the alley. There are signs that hang where the lanes begin that read employees only beyond this point. Although the alley is brightly lit it gives off a dark and older feeling due to the décor.

The main entrance is in the middle of the building opposite the lanes. To the left of this entrance is the desk where bowlers pay and rent shoes. On a bulletin board behind the desk are fluorescent signs posted that say the following:

These pricings show specials that occur throughout the week at a variety of times. I think that the bowling alley is trying to offer their customers affordable specials, which they hope in turn will bring customers into the bowling alley. For example, they have hourly specials during school vacation time so that kids can come and bowl for less money. Sitting on the desk are all sorts of flyers and business cards from local companies. I picked up some real estate magazines, a flyer for a computer repair specialist, and I even got a magnet from a local furniture store. It really baffles me that a small furniture store has money to hand out magnets, rather than just regular paper business cards. Carol comes over to me while I’m at the desk and hands me a few flyers about birthday parties.

I walk over toward the left side of the alley, where the men are still bowling. On the wall behind them there is a bulletin board with league stats. While at the board I take a look at some of the names of the league teams. There are three roses and a thorn, ou aha ha, the screwballs, terminators, sharp shooters, four of a kind, prime turkeys, alley cats, and jokers. These are all different sorts of names, so I think that the teams picked them themselves. My personal favorite is prime turkeys. I think it is so original and funny. I notice the kid’s team’s names use alliteration and so I bet they were named by the employees of the alley, rather than the kids themselves. The list of their team names consist of happy hippos, slippery snakes, unbelievable unicorns, ducky ducklings, and poky penguins. This is just so cute. Who could possible not like the name unbelievable unicorns.

I head back toward the other end of the alley passing the main entrance on my right. I hear a clicking sound coming from the dimly lit corner and realize that there is a boy playing a video game. In this corner there are four video games, a pin ball machine, air hockey table, and fuse ball table. The boy playing the video game is the son of one of the men bowling. These video games aren’t just used during the birthday parties held here at the bowling alley, but obviously work as a baby sitter for those league players that have to bring their kids along with them.

As I head back to my seat I notice that the men are wrapping up their night of bowling. They are nosier and laughing more than they were earlier in the night. It is approaching nine o’clock and a few men start to pack up there things. I notice that each man brings his own bowling balls with him. I knew that bowlers did this with regular big pin bowling, but I didn’t think they did with candlepin. The man with the gold earring is collecting his turquoise bowling balls and placing them in his small black bowling bag. He pulls on a gray sweatshirt while singing the words to Toby Keith’s Who’s Your Daddy. I guess he is a fan of country music. This guy just makes me laugh because he is so random. It is freezing cold out but he has on shorts, and he is loudly singing while he is gathering his things. I notice that it is quarter till nine and he is probably leaving so he can get home to watch his wrestling. The man with the Bowling Stones t-shirt is also preparing to leave because he has gathered his yellow bowling balls as he converses with the his teammate that is singing. The teams thin out a little as more men collect their belonging’s, put them in their lockers, and leave. I notice that the youngest men are the ones to leave first, while the older gentlemen relax and bowl, while having loud conversation. These men are in the far corner so I can’t hear exactly what they are saying, but it doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with bowling. They are probably catching up on the week. As the evening comes to an end and the men head to their cars, I grab my notebook, climb back into my little beat box car and putter away.

Hanover Gems

The parking lot is crazy tonight and I have to pull my car into a space at the sandwich shop next door to the alley. There is a sea of people inside, men to the left and women to the right. I head over to sit with the Thursday night women’s league that call themselves the Hanover Gems. Above the lanes, suspended from the ceiling, is a twine rope with little signs displaying each teams name clipped on with a clothes pin. The teams are: onyx, pearls, emeralds, turquoise, topaz, jades, opals, rubies, amethysts, and diamonds. This is a lively group of women that are welcoming with warm and friendly smiles. As my eyes span the players I notice that they range in age and it reminds me of the expectations I had of the people when I first thought about league bowling. I imagined that there wouldn’t be very many mothers with young children because they are very busy with taking care of their kids, cooking, cleaning, and doing other errands. I think about how much my mom has to run around and I know she wouldn’t have the time to join a bowling league if she wanted to. I laugh to myself as I recall these thoughts and look around at the kids running throughout the alley. One of the mothers in the league goes around with her daughter selling tickets for a fifty/fifty raffle. There arcade area is packed with children of various ages that have come to hang out while their moms bowl. I also notice one girl, about thirteen, sitting at a table behind the women doing her homework.

I made my way around the kids and took a seat with the women of team ruby. I noticed right away that some women were overly friendly and just wanted to talk, while others brushed me off and gave me that look as if to say just go away. Alice was one of the women that shot me that look. She looked to be in her late sixties, with grey hair and glasses. I got the feel that Alice was the women in charge of this team. She told me, “We are almost done for the night, but you can watch if you want.” I told her that would be nice as she turned around away from my glance. A pleasantly plump women in a red shirt came to sit next to me. She has short brown hair that curls atop her head and a big smile. Her name is Patty and she started bowling at the age of 16 and had been doing it for the last 53 years. I looked at her in shock and managed to reply with a meek “no way.” She flashed me a smile and said she started in high school and just never stopped. Patty said, “I have been with this league for 20 years.” However, I learned that all 20 years haven’t been at Hanover Bowladrome. The league moved around after other alleys in the area closed down. The thing that really got me about Patty is that even after 53 years of bowling she isn’t competitive about it. She said, “We do it for the comradery of it.” Patty is the type pf bowler that is in the league just to have fun and make friends. “Sometimes we even go to poopsies after for pizza and drinks,” she told me with a laugh.

Patty and I are joined by one of her league mates Laura. I mention how different it is watching the women bowl compared to the men that meet on Monday nights. I tell them it is a whole new atmosphere where everyone is just trying to have a good time. I refer to the loud conversations that go on with the women all night, and how quiet the men on Monday nights are most of the time. I also tell them that the men are a bit similar to the women because they really don’t seem heavily competitive. Laura points to the Thursday night men’s league bowling on the other end of the alley and says, “Not them. They will kill you if you don’t do well.” This men’s league is what formerly use to be the old Merchants League that has been around forever. The women tell me that they still have a few original men, but a lot of them are new players. I glance down toward the men and realize how right the women are about these men. The bowling balls these men throw down the lanes have such speed to them that it could severely harm anything in its path. I also hear loud shouts of, “Come on lets go!” There isn’t a lot of conversation, this is an extremely serious competition to the men. It’s interesting how some people can be so competitive about something and others, that have been doing it just as long, are in it for the fun.

The ruby team has finished up their bowling and Alice approaches me again and starts filling my head with information. She shows me the league score sheets and explained how things work. A season for the league is 32 weeks long and each week two teams bowl against each other. The schedule rotates weekly so each team gets a chance to bowl against every team in the league. Alice explained that at the beginning of the 32 weeks the teams are put together based on averages, the common score of each player, so that each team is as equal as possible. If a team is bowling against another that has a better average than them a handicap is set up. The handicap can be an extra set or something similar so the teams will be equal. Throughout the 32 weeks the new players get better and by the end every one has similar averages. Alice reminds me a lot of Hank as she is telling me this. She isn’t overly friendly, just as he wasn’t, and she doesn’t offer much personal information. Although, I do find out that she has been bowling for 40 years. Alice does through me a little surprise though as she shoots me a smile and says, “It’s only 20 past eight. I’ll get home in time for CSI tonight.” The women have packed there things and are catching up on their weekly conversations at the back of the alley. I’m left sitting on the hard plastic orange and blue bench alone, with only my thoughts rolling around like bowling balls in my head.

All in the Family

It is another quiet Monday night and I stop into the alley just to see if anything exciting is going on. The men are on the left in lanes one through eight as always. However, down to the right, in lanes 19 and 20, there are two young boys bowling. Carol is working tonight and tells me they are her kids. The boys are five and six years old and I watch them as they practice their bowling. The littlest one is funny to watch. He takes a ball, runs all the way to the back of the lane near the seats, and the runs down to the beginning of the lane with the ball between his legs and lets it go flying. The older boy is more serious about it though and tries to slide down the lane and aim the ball just right. Whenever they knock down pins they come running over to tell Carol. “Mommy, Mommy look what I did,” they say. The boys come over and ask for score sheets and Carol says, “I forgot you know how to do numbers.” She hands them a sheet, but the littlest boy cries and says he wants one for himself. Carol sends them off with a second score sheet. I continue to watch the kids and mention to Carol how good they are. “They would bowl all day, every day if they could. This is what they have for their birthday parties every year.” She said that they started bowling at the age of two. Carol told me that her husband and her were in a couples bowling league during both pregnancies and that is why she thinks they love it so much.

Through my conversation with carol I discover that bowling runs in her family as well as in the alley’s ownership. Her father use to be a pinsetter in Hyde Park in Boston when he was young before the automatic one was invented. Carol and her husband were part of a couples bowling league at Timberlands in Abington for years before they began raising a family. And of course there are her little bowlers that don’t appear to want to give up the game any time soon. Carol has been working part time at Hanover Bowladrome for the last two years. She works two nights a week and fills in when she is needed. She tells me that other than the main family that owns the place, there are only three other employees. Chris and Greg are both in school so they work part time on nights and weekends. Then there is herself along with Hank and his two daughters and son in law. There is usually at least one guy working all the time because they are the ones that crawl behind the lanes when something gets stuck. Carol tells me that going behind there is the one thing she refused to do because you have to get up on these wooden planks to get at the machines. I find out from her that Hank and his family have been in the bowling alley business for 30 years. They use to own an alley over in East Weymouth, but it closed down because of the trains. Hank bought Hanover Bowladrome six years ago and continued the family tradition. Realizing how long Hank has been running bowling alleys help to realize how he is probably very stuck in his ways. This could be the reason that this alley still uses paper score sheets where players have to keep track of scores themselves. He probably figured that the paper ones work just fine and see no need for electronic score keepers with television monitors that keep score for the players like most bowling alleys have now. The people involved with this alley have a family connection with bowling and a history of their own with it that they are sharing with others. Hank and Carol are both passing on their bowling to their children.

Rockin’ the Night Away

It’s Saturday night and I can’t believe how empty the parking lot is as I pull in. There are about four cars in the whole place and I manage a front row space. I go in and take a seat at my usual table behind the lanes. As the mirror ball shines from the ceiling I take look around at the people in the alley tonight. In lane 3 there is a family of three young boys, mom, dad, and grandfather bowling. A warm feeling glows inside of me when I see the boys jump about in excitement after they knock down pins. It reminded me of those days with my aunt many years ago when I would do the same thing. There are three other groups of people bowling. A second family with adult age children and their parents are in lanes nine and ten. Down the opposite end of the alley is a group of girls that look about twelve hanging out together for the night. There is also a birthday party wrapping up for a young girl. The people at the party are playing every arcade game in the corner. There are more people in the small arcade than there are in the entire alley. To my disappointment there are no teenagers bowling tonight. In the last year since I have been here for Rock-n-Bowl they found better things to do. I don’t find much comfort in this because I would rather see teens safe inside than alley then getting into any trouble. I thought I would run into at least a few people that use to be here when I came bowling with my family, but I didn’t see one familiar face.

Looking around the bowling I watch the fun that these two families near me are having. Both are cheering on their family members as they bowl. One of the adults in lanes nine and ten yells a big “yes” and jumps up as he clears the pins. His family welcomes him back to the bench with a round of high fives. At this moment I realize that it wasn’t the amount of people that were here on Saturdays when I came to Rock-N-Bowl before that made it fun, it was the people that I was with. I had so much fun all those nights a year ago because I was with my family and we cheered each other on, laughed, and just had a good time. Looking at the families here tonight I see that they are having just as much fine as mine use to because they are together.

Come Together

That’s what Hanover Bowladrome is all about. It Brings people together. Each week hundreds of people meet up here and are brought together by a game. The league players that meet once a week come for a friendly competition. Teams like the Hanover Gems get to catch up on their conversation and have a little fun. Families are brought together when they have a night out at the alley. Just like my family and the others that I found at the alley, they are able to get together and catch up. I saw first hand how two little boys are bringing brought into the game. Carol’s kids are continuing a family line of bowlers. Then there is Hank and his family that came together to run the alley. In turn they have brought together all the people that frequent the alley. Hanover Bowladrome may be small, but it is a place for people of all ages to come together.

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Regular string rate $2.50 per string per person.

Senior Citizen rate $1.25 per string per person Monday – Friday before 6pm.

Hourly rates only Sat. and Sun. until 5pm and school vacation weeks, bumpers or regular lanes.

Shoe rental $1.24 + tax.

Bumper lane rates $3 for ½ hour, $6 for 1 hour, $9 for 2 hours.

Rock-n-Bowl $7 for 1 hour, $10 for 2 hours per person free shoes.

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