All-Star Lanes sells fixtures before demolition
Old bowling pins sat on a table outside the doomed building, waiting to be sold for pennies on the dollar.
Meanwhile, an entire bowling lane was being loaded onto a truck, en route to another bowling alley in Cape Coral, though not for the purpose one might think.
“These are great for saw horses,” the man said as he secured the lane so it wouldn’t fall off.
All-Star Lanes sold off the few remaining fixtures this past week, and people came by to pick up a piece of memorabilia, in most cases bowling pins, for a dollar.
Meanwhile, inside, workers were busy emptying the building of its lanes and anything else of worth; the inside literally a shell of what it once was, dark, musty, gloomy.
While many of the lanes, which are made of a synthetic material and not real wood as some might expect, were still there on Saturday, many weren’t.
The lanes will be used for other purposes, such as for work benches or a dance floors, which a country-western bar in Bradenton called Joyland repurposed them for when a nearby alley closed.
Very soon, the nearly 60-year-old building will be razed and the property sold for whatever business wants to go there.
Bill Hanson, owner of All-Star Lanes, could not be reached for comment.
In the early morning of Oct. 18, 2015, All-Star Lanes was badly damaged by a fire that forced the closure of the bowling alley. Nobody was injured.
The electrical fire broke out just after midnight as the facility was about to close with five employees and a few customers inside.
One of the electrical boxes failed, Hanson said in an earlier interview.
Hanson, who bought the facility in August 2010 and had operated the facility while employed with Bowland in 2000, had expressed confidence he would be able to reopen in time for next tourist season, but weeks dragged into months.
After months of speculation, Hanson announced on Facebook in early March that he would not reopen the facility, saying there was too much damage done to the inside of the aging facility.
Hanson said construction costs had skyrocketed over the last year, and though he had insurance, he would have had to find more than $500,000 to completely rebuild things.
Coral Lanes and Hedpinz in Cape Coral took over all the leagues and fundraisers and honored All-Star’s pricing, sponsorships and perks.