We continue the series on walking Buffalo, from the intrepid couple who began walking every day—no matter the weather—in the early years of Covid. They think (without being systematic) they walked every street in Buffalo, and many in other cities and towns, taking over 30,000 photos, shared in this series. While not usually itineraries, we hope to encourage others to “walk the walk,” to see, observe and appreciate Buffalo—and beyond. William Graebner and Dianne Bennett are also 5 Cent Cine’s film critics, here.
Today’s Photo-Essay: Bowling Alone? Not in Western New York
Walking can teach you a lot about your community. But it is a partial lens at best, and sometimes a misleading one. Our first experience of bowling, as walkers, was powerful. We had been walking the near East Side—the area where Fillmore angles down into Main Street. There, just east of Main on Amherst Street, we came upon the Amherst Bowling Center, or what remained of it, a vision not entirely unlike discovering the half-buried Statue of Liberty on a sandy beach in 1968’s “Planet of the Apes.”
That was six years ago. Constructed in 1946, the Amherst Bowling Center was expanded in the 1950s, became vacant in about 2005, and was demolished in December, 2025 (according to accounts we’ve read, accompanied by photos). The Bennett High School Bowling Team met there on Fridays after school.
This past May, we found ourselves on Kenmore Avenue—the “other Kenmore”—between Elmwood Avenue and Military Road, a bleak, treeless strip occupied by what is sometimes euphemistically referred to as “light industry.”
Across the street from that green awning and abandoned car was Kenmore Lanes, occupying several hundred feet of frontage, its modernist façade, signs, and entrances battered and bruised by time and neglect. It was a Monday afternoon, and the large parking lots at either end were empty. A sign high up on the building’s east side spoke of better days.
More on Kenmore Lanes, later. Based on those encounters with Amherst Bowling Center and Kenmore Lanes, I decided to write about bowling alleys for this series. I had my narrative: decline and decay. I ordered Robert D. Putnam’s best-selling Bowling Alone (2000), knowing I would find evidence to support my thesis: that bowling had been and was in steep and deep decline in Western New York, and elsewhere, since its heyday in the postwar era. Here’s the first thing I read:
“Virtually alone among major sports, only bowling has come close to holding its own in recent years [the 1990s]. Bowling is the most popular competitive sport in America. Bowlers outnumber joggers, golfers, or softball players more than two to one, soccer players (including kids) by more than three to one, and tennis players or skiers by four to one.”
So, bowling was alive and well (at least as of 2000). Or was it? As Putnam explains, one aspect of bowling was in decline: league bowling, the “civic” form of bowling, one that tended to bring together people from different social-economic groups, ethnicities, and neighborhoods. Like other such civic activities that generated what Putnam calls “social capital”—card parties, picnics, bar cliques, clubs of all kinds—bowling leagues had proliferated in the immediate postwar era (recall that the Amherst Bowling Center was built in 1946, and note, the automatic pinsetter was invented and first deployed in Buffalo in that same year, 1946). The leagues were an aspect of the boom in community spirit that accompanied and spilled over from the Second World War. According to Putnam, the decline in league bowling was so severe in the 1990s that had it continued at the same rate, it would have vanished entirely by 2010.
A new, “post-civic” generation—the baby boomers (b. 1946-1964), grown up, and their children—was more individualistic, more likely to stay at home and watch TV, more likely to be a sport spectator rather than a participant, more likely to bowl now-and-then with family or a few friends, rather than regularly, in a league. And that made a difference to bowling alleys, because league bowlers drink more beer and eat more pizza than non-league bowlers—and that, according to Putnam, is where the alleys make their money. Bowling alleys also were damaged by the ban on smoking in nearly all indoor public places that went into effect in mid-2003 with the New York States Clean Indoor Air Act. And the Covid-19 pandemic closed bowling alleys as it did bars, restaurants, and other places where people gathered.
Although Putnam’s description of bowling’s history is mixed, we weren’t wrong to draw some dire conclusions from the bowling alleys—or former alleys—we observed on our walks. Recckio’s Lanes, on South Park Avenue, owned by the Recckio family from 1946 to 2011, was for decades a center of the local community. Located adjacent to Perfect Shots Sports Bar, the alleys were recently operated as Five Star Lanes.
If you shop at Wegman’s on Amherst Street, you’ve seen Voelker’s go from a Buffalo institution (closed in May 2021) to a vacant lot (demolished March 2025). Sadly, the photo is out of focus—what I deserve for taking it from a car window, rather than while walking!
A small bowling alley—maybe 8 lanes—is now lit but unused, a phantom trapped inside The Christmas Store, one of the few remaining businesses in what was the thriving Eastern Hills Mall:
The site of what was once Arrow Lanes on Great Arrow Avenue is now Tapestry Charter School. “Strikes, Spares, and Misses,” one of 3 local television programs featuring bowling, originated at Arrow Lanes. The others were “Bowling for Dollars” and “Beat the Champ,” the latter filmed at Thruway Lanes and hosted by Channel 4’s Chuck Healy. The Broadway Auditorium (now the Broadway Barn) hosted major bowling events.
It was soon clear to me that this series was not the place to attempt anything like a comprehensive survey of area bowling alleys; there were—and are—too many. Some names have come up, especially on the nostalgic frontier of the internet. Caveat: information may be incorrect or out of date, but the list is useful as a reminder of what bowling meant to Western New York communities not so long ago:
Roc Mar Bowling Center (founded 1955, Amherst Street west of Grant Street in Black Rock), occupied a lovely moderne building in what is now the Tops plaza. Schiller Park Lanes (opened and operated by the Mallwitz family, 1971-, closed 2008). The Old Pink (1 lane, so I hear). Bailey Bowling Academy (corner of Bailey Avenue and Ardmore—now, probably, Hair World). Spares Lanes (was at 500 Pearl Street). Kerns Bowling Center (since 1956, on Kerns Avenue; Black-owned, apparently being restored). Ideal Lanes (also Kearns Ave., 16 lanes, behind Bishop Turner High School, open under another name according to one source).
Bowl-A-Drome (southwest corner of Fillmore at Kensington Ave., closed, if the building exists). Spare Time (William Street, was open in 2023). Vale Lanes (was on Maryvale Drive, Cheektowaga). Red Crown Lanes (2nd floor of the Bailey Theater, on Bailey Avenue, an operating alley 1940s-1960s).
The National Bowling Store (Budwey’s Plaza, North Tonawanda), carries “everything bowling,” including “reconditioned” and “retro” bowling balls. We were there in January, 2021, getting Covid-19 shots at the Wurlitzer Pharmacy next door.
You could take your chances with a few of the names above. But if you’re interested in bowling, rather than spelunking for that rare vintage alley nugget, consider some of the area’s major—and still open—bowling alleys. For those in Clarence, there’s the Clarence Bowling Academy (mostly closed for the summer). Folks in Lackawanna and South Buffalo will be close to Abbott Lanes (Abbott Road, Lackawanna, open every day). In Cheektowaga, there’s Broadway Sports Center (currently closed Th-Su) and massive, 66-lane AMF Airport Lanes, on Genesee Street (open every day). West Seneca is home to Strikers Lanes (24 lanes) on Michael Road (open every day). Up in North Tonawanda, the Tonawanda Bowling Center operates daily.
We thought long and hard and decided to have a look at Classic Lanes on Military Road (open every day; its roster of fall, 2026 leagues includes “Full Throttle Ladies” and “Old and Restless” [senior league]), preceded by a walk in the nearby ‘hood. When we arrived at 5:45 on a Wednesday, the parking lot was virtually empty. An hour later, after touring a mobile home park just to the south and discovering a rare Ukrainian church on Elmwood Avenue, we returned to the parking lot, now with dozens of cars, auguring well. The entrance to Classic Lanes makes the façade of Kenmore Lanes look like the Taj Mahal.
Inside, though, very comfortable. A half-moon bar, with swiveling stools, centering a long vista of bowling lanes.
We liked the repeating artwork over the pinsetters. No matching bowling shirts, but the bartender told us that a league was filling the place up that evening. Lots of middle-aged white men, a good number of people of color, a few women. Kids? Some watching, but not bowling. A pint of draft beer, $4.50.
And that brings us back to Kenmore Lanes, that battered and bruised establishment at Kenmore’s southern end. A recent, early-evening (6-7 p.m.) visit, also on a Wednesday, found the exterior as forlorn as it had seemed in May, with several letters of its huge, mid-century neon sign dark.
Inside, the layout was both a surprise and a pleasure: 16 lanes on either side of the complex, with a handsome, racetrack-style bar, and accompanying lounge, in the center.
Of the 32 lanes, 8-10 were not in service. We would estimate there were some 60 bowlers, including about 10 people of color, quite a few women, and some children. Judging by the bowling shirts, several leagues were present, including “Rollin’ Into 7,” if I got the name right.
The bartender, a young woman who had previously worked at Voelker’s, explained that Voelker’s also owned Kenmore Lanes, and that the leagues we were observing had migrated to Kenmore from Voelker’s. Summers, she added, were slow. Draft pints: $4, a burger $6.50, served with great people-watching. Note, left foreground, the “Josh Alley” shirt.
Click here to see more “walks and thoughts” by © William Graebner.