Cornell's alley offers old-school entertainment (and cool shoes)
Cornell's alley offers old-school entertainment (and cool shoes)
It's a Friday night at Helen Newman Hall Bowling Center, and there's some serious action going down. Between jeers, bowlers step up, two eyes locked on ten pins. Rolling balls rumble, falling pins crash, and gutter balls thud to groans of elation and despair. "It gets really competitive," says Sara Moffett '09, gesturing to her friends sharing a pitcher of beer. "Maybe that's just because it's girls against boys. I definitely get frustrated when I don't bowl well."
More than 1,000 keglers roll into the sixteen-lane Bowling Center each week, most on weekend nights, says manager Bill LaRock. "We'll have every lane full," he says, "and a line of people coming in." During the day there are leagues for men, women, couples, and retirees, and each semester some 300 students fulfill gym requirements in five classes a week. The center also hosts kids' parties, departmental gatherings, even the occasional pre-wedding rehearsal dinner. Moffett, an American studies major from Washington, D.C., has been coming to the Bowling Center since she was a freshman. "It was something to do, where you didn't have to go to Collegetown," she says. "Especially when you're under twenty-one, it's just fun."
Named for the wife of F. R. Newman 1912, Helen Newman Hall was built in 1963 as a women's athletic facility. Before that, students took bowling classes at commercial lanes on Eddy Street and fans could choose from half a dozen local alleys. Now, other than the Bowl-O-Drome on Third Street, the Bowling Center is the only game in town; it's also one of the few full-sized alleys on a college campus in the U.S. "You don't see many like this anymore" says Moffett. "The new alleys that are opening in cities, they're more like cocktail lounges. It costs $10 a game, and here it's $2.50."
And then there's the allure of the nifty shoes, available for rent for only $1. They're old-school too, with sturdy laces and leather uppers dyed green and black or red and gray. Footwear inspired by bowling shoes is hip these days, Moffett says. "But they take your ID card here so you can't steal the shoes," she says with a laugh. "So I guess I'm out of luck."