Comments on Sunset Bowl Is Closing

Fuck you.

this just ruined my day, nay life. 2008 I hate you.

#1...again happy to help

Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit.

not only is this best place to bowl in seattle but a great spot for karaoke and overall merriment...if they put a wallgreens here i am moving out of seattle.

Anyone up for a "Save the Sunset" movement? I'll join.

@Leek
Seriously, we should have a dance contest to save the rec center, Donna Martin Graduates!

I will be buying one of those condos.

Eat it, shithearts and bowlers.

worst.news.EVAR

Yet they want to save that piece of shit Dennys?

on those very rare occasions that i feel homesick for the midwest, a visit to the Sunset would always help alleviate my pain...

fuck! the only way we parents get through our kids' birthday parties is to hold them at sunset bowl. six or seven bud lights sure take the edge off a bunch of screaming eight year olds.

First Lelani. Now Sunset. Shit. There are no decent places left to bowl!?! Ah well, fire up the Wii.

no, no, NO. This is not happening...

Bye, Ballard!

Wow. First the Croc, now this.

Personal associations: I used to be deeply introverted, and a friend started me doing karaoke at the Sunset. That eventually lead to a couple of annual performances in the Elvis Invitationals at the Croc. With both places closing, a huge piece of my personal history is disappearing.

It feels like Seattle is closing up behind us, eating its own tail.

Boooo!

OMFG

Horrbile news. Anyone know if it's going to be torn down for something new, or if the new owners will [god willing] renovate and reopen as a bowling alley?

This is a monumental loss for Ballard and Seattle in general.

Fuck me.

Lame, lame, lame.

Seattle's best bowling alley already closed. It was Leilani Lanes. The stupid karaoke security guards who wouldn't let you stand up in the bar ruined Sunset for me about eight years ago.

I'm sure new shitty places will open/you'll find somewhere else call "cool". Dry your eyes trendy Seattle kids.

what's going on between Rotten666 and love rats???

sunset bowl! no! cheap bowling has now left seattle. the garage is nice... but i'm not really into "nice" bowling.

sunset bowl = greatest bowling alley ever.

OH BOY MORE CONDOS

There's still Kenmore Lanes...

The Garage sucks! People eat and drink on the approach, and the lanes never get conditioned often enough.
West Seattle bowl here I come!

The Garage sucks! People eat and drink on the approach, and the lanes never get conditioned often enough.
West Seattle bowl here I come!

Let's not forget that we'll all have absolutely NOTHING to do on Thanksgiving and Christmas Days. Weep.

@5

Can I hold you to that?

Sunset sucked, simply becasue it was always full. WSB is great, esp the pitcher night when you get 3 free games with every pitcher of beer. I carried 197 average at one time, I take my bowling seriously...

never been.

bowling is boring because i am bad at it.

@19 - "Trendy"? Sunset Bowl? Ha!! Obviously you're not a golfer.

Ah, fuck. County records show an excise tax affidavit recorded January 2 on the sale. Purchase price was $13,199,990. Buyer is "Avalon Ballard LLC." State licensing records show that tracks to an address in Alexandria, VA. That address checks to Avalon Bay Communities, a publicly traded (symbol: AVB) national real estate investment trust, developer and manager of high-end apartments. Apartments, not condos. A year ago their stock price hit a high of $150, now it's under $85.

Welcome to Ballard, troubled national developer!

WSB?

Condos.

Argh. This blows. Does this make the Garage the last place to bowl in Seattle? Also, is there some number of condos that is too many condos? I mean from the free market perspective. Are there enough people to buy all these fucking condos?

@28 - well now with Sunset closing your fav. West Seattle Bowl will be full. Hope you are happy with your ridiculous comment.

This is truly depressing news:(

The Garage IS annoying; badly kept up lanes, expensive, over priced shitty food, weak drinks and most of the customers seem like slumming Bellevue-ites...

ugh. bowling should NOT be yuppiefied.

West Seattle Bowl and Roxbury Lanes are still here. Seedy enough.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

More bowling! Please! Can't a city this size support a few more lanes?

I was not angry since I came to Seattle
Until this instant.

Of the thrift store, Denny's, and the Sunset, I'm most sad about the loss of the thrift store. It was fairly huge and you had to go to the creepy basement to poke around in the electronics department.

Stupid apartments, ruining our CITY!!

@31: Come work for me?

i'm just gonna mention imperial lanes (2201 22nd ave s right off rainier avenue) and see what happens...

West Seattle Bowl wouldn't serve me alcohol when I was underage. Fuck those ageist assholes.

I wish the new buyers good luck, but it'll be tough to tear down a historic landmark....and even if they do, who exactly wants to buy a condo sandwiched between 2 grocery stores, a burger king and a gas station?

Somebody paid THIRTEEN MILLION DOLLARS for Sunset Bowl?

FUCK YOU SEATTLE!

I need to move away.

the fucking rat-hole denny's on market gets protected as some kind of "landmark" from the wrecking ball and sunset lanes gets the ax?

WTF!?

our priorities are fucked.

Poe - you're not a grudge-holder are you now?

Fuck. I wanted to go to Sunset tonight... now I'll never get a lane.

So Sad. I love Sunset.

and why the fuck is there only the Garage on Cap hill for bowling? Why WHY WHY??

Bastards, maybe they won't tear it down
*said with teary eyes*

"beware - i hold more grudges than lonely high court grudges"

Sunset Bowl is pretty much the last thing from my childhood that's still exactly the way it used to be, so naturally it's going to be plowed under.

Whatever.

The PBR-swilling ironic-trucker-cap-wearing hipster cunts who are bitching about this are exactly the people who made it possible with their Boomer parents' money and their inflated IT-sector incomes. All the people I used to bowl with at Sunset in the '80s were priced out of Ballard and into Edmonds by 1992.

The only thing that continues to blow my mind about how upset hipsters get about the "destruction" of Seattle is how unexamined they are about the part they played in making it happen.

This blows, no more bowling in the north end of Seattle within city limits.

So theres West Seattle Bowl, Imperial Lanes on Rainier, The Garage(which is overpriced and impossible to get a lane), Kenmore Lanes, Majestic on 164th off of I-5 in Lynnwood, I want to say Lynnwood Lanes off of Hwy 99 and some cross street

Eastside Bowling Alleys include one in Kirkland, one off 148th and I-90 in Bellevue, soon to opened Lucky Strikes in downtown Bellevue, im sure theres more that I'm not thinking of.
Sheesh, Everett will have more bowling alleys than Seattle does now.

First they came for the Ballard Denny's,
- but I was not a pancake person so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Croc,
- but I no longer rocked out, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Sunset bowl,
- but I was not a bowler so I did not speak out.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.

@52 - LOL. I sure am sorry that I somehow opted to find myself a decent-paying job and live in Seattle. What was I thinking? I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

@54 - best comment I've read.

It made me laugh. Thanks for the cheer up with this shit-ass news!

Personally (although I'm not sure I'm hip enough for the hipster tag) I'm well aware of how, as a Ballard resident, I'm culpable in what it's now becoming. What I want to figure out is what I can do about it.

At least I have none of my parents' money and a newspaper-level income, so that frees me from some guilt right there.

Seriously, though. Is anyone really up to join a Save the Sunset Bowl group? I really don't want to organize it myself, but I just might.

@55. eh, when i complain (about losing kincora's) they said the same thing to me. i was born in providence hospital, only spent a few months of my life outside of washington state, and now live just off 15th where i can barely afford my rent with the tech job i paid my way through school for.

Why is North Seattle being completely raped by developers?!?!?!?!

This just ruined my fucking day.

Jesus Seattle just keeps sucking so bad. Everything I like is going away and everything that pops up is either cool and expensive, corny and expensive, shitty and expensive or just fucking lame and expensive.

@54. Cliche

@57:
What I want to figure out is what I can do about it.

that sentiment proves just how un-hip you are. Real hipsta ass suckas wouldn't care enough to ask that sort of question. Real hipstas don't flex nuts. They care for about a week, until the organizing party and its meet up at the pub is over, then it's off to the next issue and its partay.

and:
Seriously, though. Is anyone really up to join a Save the Sunset Bowl group? I really don't want to organize it myself, but I just might.

that gets ya some serious hipster cred right there.

I sure am sorry that I somehow opted to find myself a decent-paying job and live in Seattle. What was I thinking? I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Right now there's a lot of talk about mandating more "affordable housing" in Seattle because the people who moved here in the '90s are being squeezed out by the condo market. They complain about how the new money is closing all the old "authentic" venues and shutting off all the "authentic" housing. But those same "authentic" people got the ball rolling when they squeezed out the blue collar workers and light industry that was here in the '80s. Essentially, they're arguing to stop a process that has already benefited them. None of these douchebags -- and by "these douchebags" I mean "you" -- gave a fuck about the gentrification of the city in 1993, so I can't really take them seriously when they complain about it now.

So yeah, I can find it in my heart to forgive you. Because, unlike pretty much everyone I grew up with, I was able to keep up with the gentrification. I still live in a nice old building a few blocks from where I lived when I was in high school. I'll still be living there when you've been priced back to whatever suburban shithole you moved here from. And I won't miss you half as much as I miss the bowling alley you fucked up when you moved here.

That was pretty much my point. Sorry if I was being too subtle for you there, flash.

Boo. No Croc. No Pizza Eaters League. No seattle.

@63 - then by your rationale you where part of the problem as well, since you can still afford to live in Ballard while your 1980's blue collar brethren got priced out and moved out. Nice try though asshole.

@63 - eh, I just kinda like how anyone can pretty post any response at all to you and it's all you need to spit out cranky-ass old-fart we-walked-five-miles-in-the-snow-uphill-both-ways-motherfucker rants that are pretty much indistinguiable from each other every single time. Keep it up.

I believe a karaoke appearance I made there, during which I took off my shirt, may be responsible for killing the Sunset. A truly horrific sight.

Imperial's a nice alley. Bit far if you live in the north, though.

Wait...people still bowl?

13 years of costume birthday bowling in Seattle has finally come to an end?? It started at the Sunset in 1995 and I guess has ended at the Sunset in 2007... sure was a fun way to celebrate the passing of each year, to say nothing of the legendary karaoke experiences! Very unfortunate to loose Leilani and Sunset... oh boy, more condos, that will be a good time. At least I heard Trader Joe's might be going in Leilani's space. I wonder if that is really true?

@65

Thing is, I don't really regard it as a problem in the general sense. I'll miss the bowling alley. I kind of miss some of the old buildings. But shit happens. If I have a complaint about the development that's going on now, it's that the buildings are poorly constructed and ugly. The loss of "authenticity" doesn't bother me much at all. My blue collar friends from elementary school and high school who lived here in the '70s and '80s? Homophobic rednecks. Many of them were Reagan/Bush Republicans. Authentic as hell, but not necessarily people I was sorry to see go. The hipsters who are being pushed out now? Same shit, different day. Whiney arrogant little fucks who can't tell the difference between consuming art and producing it. The end of Nirvana was a significant event in the history of our regional culture. The day the last Nirvana fan gets forced out of Seattle won't be. And, in any event, other more interesting music and movements will come along to replace them. The notion that people who can price you out of your apartment have shitty taste in music is just arrogant. The rednecks you priced out in the '90s were big Bob Seger fans.

That's what gets up my nose about this shit more than anything else, is the tacit assumption that the end of your world is the end of the world. You're just not that important. Whine about your own cultural obsolescence if you must, but do please recognize it for what it is.

@66

Did you have a point?

Uh, so what are all of the people living in all the new Ballard condos going to DO on Saturday nights?

I, too, am saddened... I love Sunset Bowl!

Also, Judah, the people who moved here in search of a life worth living didn't lay down the $13 million to buy the land. Some speculators did, almost certainly with money borrowed from others.

What the fuck will I do when I want to play a pseudo-sport and have people bring me booze?

I heard that Vulcan is purchasing the Sunset so Paul can store his Klingon collection there.....Not enough room in the emp.....

you know what? fuck seattle.
fuck it right in its yuppie, cupcake eating, corporate asshole.

i'm moving to minnesota.

Seattle: Watch Out. The Langoliers are coming.

I'm so glad I transfered down south and don't ever ever ever have to go to Ballard again. Watching that neighborhood descend into banality day by day was just too much for me, especially since I played a small part in that transformation.

And no, I'm not against progress, density or development. But what's happening to Ballard is just homogenization on a grand scale. Give me the south end any day.

As evidence, I give you this horrid quote from that article about the Denny's (which I'm hoping will be saved)

"(Denny's was nominated) after Benaroya Companies, which owns the site and wants to sell it to a condo developer, said the 1960s-era structure no longer fits the character of the increasingly upscale neighborhood."

Anytime anyone mentions "upscale" darlings, it's time to run in the opposite direction. It's a huckster word, wielded by people who lack pizzazz and/or imagination. Hence, we have modern Ballard.

God:::: Ballard is turning into Yuppie Heaven with all the condos and everything and now we can't even bowl...Pretty soon Greg Nichols nwill close down the music venues for noise violations and then there will be no-more Ballard....

you guys are horrible with change. i thought this was a progressive city.

@78,

Not all change is equal.

To answer the earlier question: Ballard (and Seattle neighborhoods everywhere) are being raped by developers because your city leaders are letting it happen. In fact, they're cheering it on. I think Ballard is even a designated "neighborhood raping zone" where developers are encouraged to do some extra vigorous raping and concrete-pouring and historic-character-destroying in the name of increasing density in every neighborhood except the one Mayor Nickels happens to living in.

Seriously, can Ballard secede? Enough is enough.

go to u. village and walk around. park your car by where the old village lanes bowling alley proudly stood.

shop at pottery barn, crate & barrel, barnes & noble, and anthropology. stop at one of the two starbucks for a $4 drink with no booze in it, or spend too much money for one cupcake.

welcome to ballard of the future.

@81 -- Don't let a typo rob your post of all its possible vitriol and skewering hipster snark; it's Anthropologie, baby. The conceit of those last two letters is so laughable cuz, like, as if their average shopper would even know it was a foreign spelling! They couldn't spell it in ENGLISH!

Anyway. Sunset Bowl.

It sucks that it will disappear. I bowled some decent scores there. I think my lifetime high was bowled there -- something like 140, give or take.

But let's be honest with ourselves: that building, every time I drove by, said, "I'm a goner."

So color me sad, and color me wishing for a simpler time when bowling -- instead of a meth-fueled night at Club Z -- was the general definition of a good night out.

But don't color me surprised (BTW, surprised is a combination of burnt sienna and cornflower).

sick to my stomach. shameful. if apartments, or even worse, condos pop up there....well...fuck ballard, or whoever. besides where is the pba gonna stop of in the northwest. fuck. bowling rules. aarrgghh!

I miss the days spent at Sunset Bowl getting drunk on the bowling pin Bud Lights while watching Granny do pull tabs with a ciggy mounted in her mouth (and the ash lingering the entire way). That's my memory of Sunset Lanes and it ain't been like that for a while.

Cities change. That's what being in a city is all about- constant change. Some of the change is good... and some of it bad. What I find hypocritical is that some of the people that want this diverse, urban culture and city to envelope them are shocked and horrified that its actually happening!

As for "saving" the old Denny's or even Sunset Bowl... if it's historical and should be kept... then keep it. However, if it's "just for the memories" let it die and go to that big graveyard in the sky. For in 100 years what is new now will be replaced because it too is old and dated. Too bad we didn't save some of the streetcar lines that were running 100 years ago... we could use them now.

I wonder how the future residents of these developments will cope with that Fire Station across the street. Maybe we need a noise ordinance for that as well.

FWIW, I think that the Ballard Denny's could, in the hands of someone with imagination and pizazz, be a showcase "upscale" (there I go using it) restaurant - something along the lines of the Wild Ginger. Not that I would particularly like to see that, but it's possible. The soaring roof in that place (covered by a drop ceiling since the mid 80's or so) is wild. It really is quite a space.

And that doesn't mean no condos: It means wrapping the condos around the north and west sides of the existing building to create something different. Something without the same old lines that every other development in Ballard has (seriously - go to the top of Phinney and look down on Ballard. It's like something out of those old Soviet developments, only with gables)

And I wouldn't mind the Sunset going if the developers perhaps gave a thought to something out of the box - like maybe putting a bowling alley in the new development. It doesn't have to be all boutiquey stuff. I don't mind the density - that's the reality of our reals estate - but the lack of variety is a real bummer.

As it stands now, Ballard is rapidly becoming West Omaha. While that's change, it sure isn't progress.

very sad to see it go. grew up in the old ballard of the 70's & 80's and today it's just another yuppie spot on the road...very sad.

Save Sunset? Why not!

Yes, this sucks. There is still bowling on the south end at Imperial Lanes. It's got a SUPER creepy bar.

Welcome to Seattle, where the only things truly welcome are condo developers and trendy boutiques. Leaving Seattle was the best thing my wife and I have done in years and the list of things I miss about it seems to be shrinking a ton with every new Stranger that hits the streets. Hmmmm Seattle....no mass transit, no bike lanes, rich assholes everywhere, all of my friends pushed out of their affordable housing so condos can go up, no Crocodile, no Sunset Bowl. I guess the only thing I miss is KEXP. I'm sure Clear Channel will own it by the end of the year. What a fucking waste of potential.

@88

Yeah. Good thing you left, huh?

I also left a year ago and I'm still a little surprised about this and the croc. Is nothing sacred? Just because we're gone doesn't mean we can't mourn the loss of of our old hangouts.

I also left a year ago and I'm still a little surprised about this and the croc. Is nothing sacred? Just because we're gone doesn't mean we can't mourn the loss of of our old hangouts.

IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES! IMPERIAL LANES!

And Kincora is coming back as King Cobra in Sugar YAY!

Did someone mention Imperial Lanes? Why, it's just a few blocks down the hill from The Colonel and I - and literally minutes away from the Pike/Pine corridor. 30 minutes if on foot. 45 by Metro ;-)

And yes - its bar is positively sinister. That's part of the fun of it.

Since our area is perpetually depressed, it will hopefully be there for a good, long time. Bowl away!

Seattle's all but declared war on its constituent neighborhoods, which no longer have ANY control over their own destiny. Nowhere is that more evident than Ballard which is now pretty much destroyed (visit it lately? You won't recognize it, because it's now a concrete jungle.)

Put this to a vote of Ballardites (Ballardians?) and see if they'd prefer another shit-eating condo project to their beloved Sunset Bowl and/or all-night diner. They'd vote to drive out the developers with torches and pitchforks by a margin of like 99% to 1%.

I'm just wondering at what point this neighborhood destruction will be met with some actual political action rather than generalized bitching. Nothing will change without the former.

Good bye Ballard - it looks like everything that had made Seattle unique and interesting is being remade into condos. Stop shopping at "life style boutiques" and support shops that made Ballard cool in the first place!

The listlessness and bawwing in many of the above comments breaks my heart.

I don't live in Seattle, but I hope to be attending the UW in the fall under the CAUD program (urban development)oddly enough and have been a Washington resident my entire life (and 5 generations before me). The reason I'm going to be entering into this field is to try and get this shit under control.

What I want to know is once we all wake up and realize we need to do something, speak out, speak up, band together what will be left to speak for?
You're the people this shit gets built for, you're the ones who they're targeting, fight against it.
Fight hard.
You're the people, you do have the power whether you realize it or not. Pull your heads out of your asses, put down your Guitar Heroes, stop acting like hipster douches, and fight, bitches!
Me thinks the Stranger should do a investigative report on this, seek out the company, figure out what they're about, get people involved. While I realize that Sunset Bowl may not be something that is easily saved perhaps something can be done, something.
SOMETHING, HELP.

Leek, I am up for Saving the sunset, I even have a vision. My big beef with this is the same as it was when Leilani closed: why not find a way to have it all. My idea is this: The bowling alley is part of the plan!!! Bowling alley at street level, with some extra underground parking for patrons. Inbetween Sunset and the Apartments or condo's (I'm so pissed I can't even remember what the full plan is) is residents parking, which should help block or dampen any of the sounds of a living breathing bowling alley. Somebody, PLEASE, call a fucking architect and the parties involved and anyone else who can do something. I don't want to hear any "people don't want to live above a bowling alley" BS. Its Ballard, people want to live in ballard (I did before I moved there, being able to walk to/stumble from the Sunset being a factor). I know there are still people moving to seattle from suburbs looking to live someplace that LIVES, it can't all be people trying to bring suburban values to the city can it? THIS IS TOO MUCH, especially the fact that noone seems to have thought of this first. OK, I will make calls to see if i can throw something together, hope some one else does the same. SAVE THE SUNSET, SAVE SEATTLE, SAVE AMERICAS CITIES!!!!

Fucking developers!! UGH! Unbelievable!

I should also add that this is a loss of an activity that people of all ages can participate in. While I am typing this at my desk on my lunch break, i think there might be a seniors league going on. on weekends, kids too young to drink yet mature enough to get themselves around can pop in for a few frames and not blow all of their allowance/ paychecks from McJobs. is it really in the communities best interest to deprive elderlies and teens of needed activities? And at a time when our Dear Gov. is talking about setting up DWI checkpoints (now you no longer have to be driving like an ass to get pulled over), should we be giving people in ballard one less place te have a few while playing games and socialising within that walking/stumbling (not to mention bicycling Mr. Mayor and city council) distance so they could, you know, leave their cars at home when they want to drink

As a league bowler at Sunset, this news is heartbreaking. I am relatively new to the sport (yes, it is a sport even though you can drink beer whilst playing) but know several older league members who have been bowling there for many, many years. For us, the demise of Sunset means that we will all likely be scattered throughout the various alleys in the area looking for new homes.

And, while the cry to rally and save Sunset is noble, the deed is already done unfortunately. Anyone want to back a new bowling alley?

Does anyone know if anything other than the purchase of the building/property has happened? If that is all that has happened, may be the sunset owners would like to pitch some of that sweet green they just made into designing this structure so that we can have our bowling alley and Mayor gridlock can have his density. Seriously people, we cant stop this increase in density, but we can do some damage control.

@69 (birthday bowler)

Where did you hear that Trader Joe's might be moving into the new development at the old Leilani Lanes space? Anyone else heard anything along those lines?

If anyone gets a protest or something going I'm down...I'm still moving though.

Hey all, just got home from filming a couple of interviews with patrons outside of Sunset Bowl (Thanks to Verl, Robin, other Sunset staff who were helpful, and Kat, Rico, and that one whose name I forgot for the interviews). I found out there was somene there last night with the same idea as me: petitioning the new owners in including a replacement in the development, hope to meet him or her soon. Fear not there are people doing something, and doing it right. Keep your eyes on YouTube, after a few more interviews and some editing I will post something. They need to hear from the community that we want the sunset to always be there, even if it is at the ground level of over priced apartments.