AMF Bahama Lanes

Bad news: Bahama lanes is closed.
Good news: This less than stellar bowling facility is being re-​vamped!
From the AMF Bahama Lanes website:
«AMF Bahama Lanes is closed. The facility will re-​open as Pasadena’s new bowling and entertainment location — 300 Pasadena.»
This alley was typical of AMF’s many older locations, with lanes in mostly satisfactory condition and a really cruddy bar/​lounge.
So get excited for a new and improved bowling venue, a night club, sports bar, higher prices and whatever else comes along with the much needed makeover.
**
Since its closure, I’ve found solace at the Bowling Square Lanes in Arcadia.

I snuck out of the house one time to Laser Bowl here with a couple of friends. First time midnight bowling and the place was packed! It was really fun bowling to hip-​hop music in the dark with lights flashing everywhere.
I would definitely go back, but my curfew’ss 11 pm and I’m not about to sneak out of my house again…

I don’t go out of my way for bowling, it’s just not my thing.
Drinking, I like to drink, this place has a dirty stinky lounge that is more than adequate to take care of your degenerate ass’s needs.
So yeah, if you want to see obnoxious people get their bowling on, or if you want to pound booze, give ‘em a try.
I could go my whole life without coming back here, and no, that is not a negative on this place. Talking about bowling makes me sleepy.
*yawns*

I like the atmosphere of Bahama Lanes during the Xtreme Bowling sessions (11 PM and later). The $ 1 shots are awful, but good if you’ve got a DD ;-). All in all, a fun night that’s a LOT cheaper than clubbing and you don’t end up $ 100 in the hole!

Wow, I have been bowling twice this week…
hmmm may be time to rethink my life.
ok.
anyway, my work «Whole Foods» had the annual holiday party here tonight.
I don’t think anyone bothered to tell them that the «holidays» were over a week or so ago.
Anyway, I rolled up there, and watched my beloved co-​workers drink themselves stupid, all the while I was bombarded by really, REALLY bad music.
but you know what?
I actually had a really great time,
I guess that is a good thing about old Danny,… dude, my itunes is skipping, how the fuck does itunes skip?
anyway, I digress…
I can have a great time anywhere, as long as I have good company, I can hang out at a bus stop and be perfectly content.
yes, I am the Buddha
So, I bowled well tonight, I broke 100 points! and for me that is really good, consider the only thing that is in the gutter more than my bowling balls is my mind, it is a banner day for olé Danny boy.
It was a cool place to bowl.
Bonus:
there is a Starwars game in Arcade, and. AND, DDR!!!
*dance dance revolution.
not that I can do that, but it is cool to watch drunk people try.
Thanks everyone.
smootches.
D.

Pre-​review: I’ll be here saturday afternoon, but from other’s reviews it seems okay.
Review actual:
The day started early. about 7 am, wake up, coffee, the 3s’s. The plan was to go to the bowling alley at 3:30, but i got impatient and decided to go with my sister to help her shop for crap. Started at Target and then went to the Santa Anita [Westfield, ugg] mall. There the crowd and smells of that place made me noxious. Did get a massage there on one of their chairs. But i digress, this is just letting you know the mood i was in by the time we got to the bowling alley.
Now then, i’ve been here before, but not in a long time. The first thing i notice is the cheese smell. Not my style. We (my family) have got there all at the same time, 3:30, for a duplicate birthday party. Take an half hour/​hour for yelling greetings. And i get to play with my nieces. =)
Everyone puts on their shoes, screws up the entering of names and we began to bowl. All the while with head pounding music and having to yell at each other to carry on a typical conversation. This place isn’t the place i remember. My head (our heads) is so pounding from all the yelling and the shitty music, that we only play one game.
The only good thing was that i won the game with a 94. and oh yeah. They are having a promotion thing for free games and such for the holidays. I won a buy one get on free, i’m gonna give it to my sister.

I suck at bowling…
But I love spheres of all kinds…
I love blacklights…
And I love putting the two together…
The music during the Extreme Bowling has GOT to change…

I can’t believe I spent $ 40 to throw a heavy ball around while wearing someone else’s shoes, eating pizza, and drinking beer. It’s either that or wait for a deal night where you have to wait for a couple hours for a lane to open up. Don’t get me wrong. I love bowling. I use to play leagues, sometimes bowling 10 games straight cross bowling.
I since gave up my bowling ball and shoes. It just became a been-​there-​done-​that sort of thing. Bahama Lanes has been remodeled within the past few years, so at least the balls don’t get suck in the back as much as they used to.
To me, there’s 3 types of bowlers:
A.) You go in, drink up a storm, and act like fools throwing a big plastic ball at the highest velocity towards some white blurr.
B.) You go in, precision custom resin-​filled 16lb. ball and bag, personal shoes, and accessories, and try and conquer the beast of a lane and score a perfect 300.
C.) You go in with a date and proceed to make out in front of everyone at the top of the lane after every time you hit 1 pin down.
Overall, I think it’s the sanitation that has scared me away from bowling alleys like this. After seeing people stick their fingers in those holes and proceed to much on some pizza with the same fingers… EEEUUULGGCCHHH. Get away! Don’t touch me after touching your balls! Oh so many lame joke phrases you can make from bowling. My favorite is «Split Happens».

Due to its physical proximity between out company’s offices, this place was chosen as the venue for one of our departmental meetings. We were able to host the business portion of our meeting in one of their rooms, and then we were able to get down to business out on the lanes after we chowed down on some lunch.
As with most bowling alleys, the house balls were pretty thrashed, with plenty of divots and chips. Annoyingly, most of the balls did NOT indicate the weight of the ball, such as «9, 12, 14, etc.» Instead, they had designated them as «Light, Medium, or Heavy». WTF?! On the upside, the house shoes seemed to be relative new and low mileage, compared to some other places I’ve been to. Personally, I hate wearing shoes worn by a few thousand people before me.
The scoring machines were pretty standard, but the overhead monitors left something to be desired. Actually, they need to be replaced, as it was difficult to read the numbers, both in terms blurriness and color schemes used. Some of the monitors had green backgrounds, other had blue, others had yellow. It was all very distracting while trying to check out our co-​workers scores, unless you got up out of your seat and went directly to their lane, where you able to view the screen head on.
On the upside, the staff at this place was top-​notch. They were very accommodating and they made our staff very welcome. As a result, they didn’t slide any further than 3 stars.

Now THIS is where I grew up bowling. My dad used to drag us here during his league nights and my sister and eye would curl up into the chairs and fall asleep.
It’s your average bowling alley with a pretty descent arcade area. The best part is their diner which remains pretty much the same and has for the past 20 years.
The crowd varies from night to night…
They are guilty, along with other bowling alleys of doing the black light, techno thing once it hits 10pm or whatever. I can’t stand that… will someone tell them it’s not cool anymore. Thanks in advance.

If you’re not too picky and just wanting to have some group fun, this place is it. It’s especially great for hosting a bowling party for twenty something kids! They have unlimited bowling from 10:30am — 12:30pm every Saturday for $ 8.95 per person with upbeat music, and I forget if there were lights that early in the day… I think I remember a strobe or two?
We ordered pepperoni and veggie pizzas from Gino’s (at the inhouse snack shop), along with some finger lickin’ good garlic fries and chili cheese fries (incomparable to the garlic fries). The pizzas turned out to be quite good without being greasy, and even the cheese-​less pizza we ordered for our vegan friend was super tasty and not to mention guilt-​free (sort of)!
The scoring machines were a bit ghetto, but at least they weren’t manual, and we had to reset some of the lanes about every other bowl, which didn’t bother us too much. If you’re into serious bowling, I guess this would be an issue.
In the end, the kids had a blast, the AMF staff was super supportive, patient and attentive, the pizzas were exceptionally good (for a bowling alley), and the garlic fries kept us salivating and wanting more! Seriously, better than Dodgers’ garlic fries, so aromatic and such a tummy pleaser… I could see myself going back just for them garlic fries.