I went Thursday night and I was thinking to myself how they could improve this or that and then I realized - WHOLLY CRAP, there's a pimp bowling alley on Wash Ave!
It is great to see the Washington Avenue 'scene' moving east. This area has been a dead zone for far too long, now with Red, Flamingo Bowl, Tigin all open 'til 3AM, and hopefully some restaurants and entertainment very soon in the Days Inn, The Laurel, and the former WS pit of a hotel, and it actually might start to entice a few conventioneers out of their hotel rooms and out of the convention center. The skybridge coming down would certainly help too.
This has been a problem that I have heard again and again since the Renaissance Grand opened. Conventioneers have been leery to walk the five or six blocks down to the spots west of Tucker, mostly because they walk out of their hotel or the convention center and see nothing but dark sidewalks and empty or closed storefronts. It doesn't matter when you tell them, "yes, but a few blocks away there are restaurants and bars open late", it seems far away to them and they all too often end up staying in their rooms and ordering room service. I know that many of those people have left with a negative impression of St. Louis.
BTW, hopefully Kitchen K will be (is) staying open later now with all of the activity nearby. Admittedly, I haven't tried in awhile, but I remember trying to go to Kitchen K at midnight on a weekend not all that long ago, and they were closing!
^ All the reason for the projecting signs to continue. If you come out the hotel and see all the signs/lighted buildings I dont see how you could not walk down there and see what is up..
From MayorSlay.com's notes on the Flamingo Bowl's opening:
According to Bowling Digest, almost every bowler – famous or otherwise — has a nickname reflecting the sportsman’s physical appearance, personality, job, or bowling style. Some of the nicknames are apt; others, merely rude. . . . [T]here are plenty of Doomsday Striking Machines, Reds, Blues, Profs, Docs, Splitters, Counts, Revs, Lindys, and Tornados In Miniskirts bowling on lanes all over the country.
DeBaliviere wrote:Does Flamingo Bowl take up the entire first floor, or is there room for an additional retail tenant? Wasn't there talk of a cigar shop opening there?
The Way of The Arch spoke about this earlier. It's possible that Gibson Guitars and a cigar shop will open up. I've heard Patrick talking about this before as he kicked my butt at pool a while back. If I'm not mistaken, it's in the same area where a variety of art is displayed.
Heh, as for team names. How about "Baby Seals?" Here’s a conversation no one would ever agree to have. Wife: “How did it go tonight?” Husband: “It was GREAT! We beat Baby Seals! We totally clobbered them!” You would win every game by forfeit.
Or "Heidegger’s Gravediggers" : Can you divorce the philosopher from his politics? Can they divorce you from your strikes? Only history will tell, but it doesn’t look promising.
i kinda feel sorry for the people who own 2nd floor lofts @ lucas. the sign in their window coupled with the noise of a bowling alley a floor below has to be pretty high up on the list of things that suck. the bowling alley is soooo loud. no amount of sound proofing is going to dampen the crash of pins. i wonder if any sort of compensation was made to those 2nd floor owners? i'll certainly be contributing to the noise, because i can't wait to go check it out! awesome addition to washington ave.
One-hour minimum, shoe rental is additional. There is a five-bowler maximum per lane.
Shoe Rental $3.00
Children 12 & under, half price.
Pool Rates ** $12/hr
Unlike some other places, Halo Bar and Pin-Up always seem to close at their advertised times. Hopefully Flamingo will keep that up (and always be busy enough to support staying open late.)
Random thought of the day: I wonder if Joe Edwards and Patrick Stanley are on speaking terms?
Must be since I saw them speaking this afternoon.
Also, there was supposed to be a lot of soundproofing done. The drop ceiling above the bowling alley is supposed to have a "cloud" of soundproofing materials all the way up to the concrete ceiling beneath the second floor. I really think they were able to pull it off.
Apparently the dropping of balls on to the lane is causing the most noise for second floor residents. The pins are fine, as is the music. Not too sure how bad, but like the busses and the water running in exposed pipes, etc. it probably just takes a little to get used to.
The place is huge, covering two rooms (nice to be able to downsize on weekdays or have a private function in the secondary room).
The rooms are basically mirror images of each other, with each room featuring a large full serivce bar. Space plan is great, with the bowling area elevated over the bar area (most alleys are the exact opposite). The layout, along with an acousitic drop ceiling over the bowling area keeps the alley noise at a minimum and makes the bowling space feel authentic and cozy. Leather couches provide seating for the bowlers. Unique hanging light fixtures are the highlight of the interior design which can be best described as nouveau art deco. Kudos to Joe on another winner!
