Bowlers at Arena Lanes Bowling Center in Oak Lawn, which is about to change hands but will remain family owned.
The sale was expected to be completed Friday. Arena Lanes was to close Christmas eve and Christmas Day for inventory and the holiday, and reopen Monday at 9 a.m. sharp, Brennan said.Bard said it was an off-the-cuff remark when he offered to sell Arena to Brennan. His wife, Millie, has been doing the bookkeeping and his daughter Mellissa and her husband, Daryl Durano, work there, too. But Bard said he’s tired.It was important he sell the property to someone who would continue to operate a bowling center.
“I was the first one on the South Side in 1984 to put in automatic scorers,” Bard said. “I thought that was the future.” Next year, the Bards and the Duranos plan to relocate to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where the Bards own a second home.“I’m going to do it, but I don’t want to admit it. It’s too much of a change,” Bard said.Many bowling alleys in Chicago have closed in the past 30 years, but people still have a choice of bowling centers in the southwest suburbs, such as Oak Lawn, Tinley Park, Palos Hills and Oak Forest.Depending on the time and the day, Bard charged from $3 to $4.
“I’ve got one league tonight. It’s a church league and they don’t allow their members to drink,” he said.Tom Spratt of Burbank has been bowling at Arena since he retired seven years ago.He’s an avid bowler, having started in the 1970s. In addition to his Wednesday league at Arena, Spratt bowls on a Monday league in Palos Lanes, at Tinley Bowl in a men’s league every Thursday and in a mixed league with his wife every other Sunday.