Herrill Lanes evoke many memories

The Island Now

For reasons not clear to me, some of the greatest scenes on film have taken place in bowling alleys. Maybe the directors like the look of those long sleek lanes or the sound of pins falling down. 

The best comedy scene in recent memory comes out of the Coen brother’s comedy masterpiece “The Big Lebowski,” starring Jeff Bridges. Bridges plays “The Dude,” who is in a bowling league along with his two slacker buddies played by John Goodman and Steve Buscemi. 

But the scene is stolen by the appearance of John Turturro dressed in a hair net, purple jump suit and matching purple bowling bag. He goes by the name of Jesus and harangues the hapless trio, finally warning them that “nobody ‘F***’s” with Jesus!” as he furiously rubs his ball clean.

Then there is the Oscar winning film “There Will Be Blood” directed Paul Thomas Anderson. He placed his last scene in the main character’s private bowling alley. There is Daniel Day Lewis shouting “I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!” before he kills Eli Sunday by smashing his head in with a bowling pin. Nasty scene. 

I have also had my share of strange experiences in bowling. One of the first dates I ever took my wife on was back in 1967. She was leggy and tall and loved to wear micro miniskirts. You remember those I’m sure. 

We started bowling innocently enough and I began to notice a large group of men standing behind us and applauding loudly for some reason. Now for sure neither myself nor my girlfriend were very good bowlers so it wasn’t because of our skills. It slowly dawned on us that they were enjoying the view of my girlfriend’s pretty undergarments every times she bent over to bowl. We left shortly thereafter. 

So it is clear that bowling has a special allure. The history of bowling dates back to the Roman empire and changed into Italian Bocce. Now more than 95,000,000 people bowl across the globe. Since we have our own bowling alley at the corner of Herricks Road and Hillside Avenue, it was time to go visit. 

I asked my friend, the pro bowler Tom Brodowski to come along to facilitate things. When I arrived I could see that the place was packed even though it was only 11 a.m. on a Friday. Every one of the 36 lanes were filled.  

We found the manager Gale Calca sitting with Fran Imperato who has run the coffee shop there for the last 30 years. Fran once tried to quit but Gale wouldn’t hear of it. Nice to be needed. The owners are Mr. Dankoff, Hellman and Henkleman. 

I had just read the book “Bowling Alone” by Harvard professor Robert Putnam. Putnam has suggested that people live increasingly isolated lives for a variety of reasons. But if Putnam was here on this day he may have changed his hypothesis. Today was a senior league day and there must have been 150 seniors all chuckling and bowling the day away. It all looked like fun.

Gale told me that most of today’s bowlers are middle aged or older. This is a sport you can do for a long time and it’s safe exercise. Tom told me that bowling was the most popular sport on TV in the 50’s but since then has gone the way of horse racing and boxing. Nothing can compete with the NFL and MLB.

Bowling is a good participation sport and costs only $4 to $6 a game. I wanted to try on the shoes that I remembered and get into the smell and the sounds of it so I asked if I could bowl one frame. Gale said okay and I made a nine for one frame. Not bad and it was sure better than the 10 frame 16 my Uncle Al once bowled in the basement of Hempstead Country Club back in the ‘60s. Ouch.  

I got to watch the master Tom Brodowsky bowl one frame as well. He was like all masters I have watched in so many sports. As a sport psychologist I have gotten up close and personal with many of the world’s best, including Tiger Woods in golf, Tiffeny Milbrett in soccer and Hou Ying in ballet. When you watch these guys and gals move in their chosen field I am always filled with awe. Tom was graceful on the lanes. Tiger Woods is graceful on the grass. Hou Ying is graceful on stage. This is why sports are loved so and this is what each of these senior bowlers are trying to do. Bowl as well and as gracefully as a Tom Brodowski. I have always said that art and sports are closely aligned. 

So go down to Herrill Lanes and see a perfectly manicured bowling alley thanks to Rich Meluskey and Gale Calca and Fran Imperato. And if you’re lucky you might get to watch Tom Brodowsky bowl a game of 300. He has already done it 14 times.

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