Sorry for not being on the blogs lately. Most of my time has been spent visiting my mother, who has been ill of late and is presently in a nursing home/rehabilitation center trying to recover. It has been a difficult process for her and it may be awhile before I can get back to writing more often.

One thing I can note of late was that an icon of the Calumet Region will be torn down, if not torn down already. Bowl-Ara Lanes on Calumet Avenue, near 165th Street has been scheduled for demolition. The two story bowling establishment has been in disrepair ever since it closed down in the 1990’s. The last rainstorm caved in the roof and because of that it was in danger of falling down and closing traffic on the busy Calumet Avenue road.

While it is sad that the place will be demolished. It has to be done. One note: the bowling alley was the first in the area to use the AMF automatic pin setters back in 1951, eliminating pin boys.

I spent a lot of time bowling there in the 1970’s, both with friends and just practicing after taking driving lessons at a nearby driving school, now also closed. It was a great place to bowl and the unique two atory setting was a novelty at almost any time.

Another landmark has also bit the dust. The Roller Dome on Gostlin Avenue near Calumet Avenue has also closed. With inline skating all the rage, it no longer able to keep up with the times and fell on hard times for the owners.

I didn’t skate there much, I was a lousy skater. But many people in the area did. It was a neighborhood fixture and another place that will be sadly missed in the time to come,