COLUMN: Three games for a dollar

Pop'n Pins Lanes. Photo from Pop'n Pins on Facebook.

PRESTON – During the winter months on Tuesday nights the Pop’N Pins bowling alley in Preston was the place to be.  That was the setting for one of my fondest memories with my Dad. That was our weekly date night and something I looked forward to with youthful excitement. I think it was a 7 p.m. start time but we always went an hour or so early. These evenings were private tutoring sessions on both bowling skills and how to keep score; his way of teaching me math skills. I hated math, by the way, but did not mind this class. I can still smell the snack bar food, shoe disinfectant spray and the oil used on the lanes for conditioning the wood. Sounds are part of this memory as well. The loud pop of the ball hitting the pins and the pin setter machinery clanking to sweep up and re-set the pins.

Arnold Sant was the man behind the desk, one of Dad’s good friends and a bowling team partner at times, a man to whom I would eventually pass off the coin collecting merit badge in my Scouting days. Our early arrival meant I was able to bowl three games for a dollar, including shoe rental, dad at the scorer’s table and me working on my bowling form. Lots of pointers, coaching and acknowledgement of a strike or spare. I could routinely break a hundred and my best ever score was a 206, an anomaly. When my three games were finished I would clear away my equipment by returning the ball to the rack, handing the shoes to Arnold, who always showed sincere interest with a “How’d ya’ do?”

On a good mood night, I might talk dad into another dollar or two for the 25 cent pinball machine or a basket of french fries at the snack bar; not every time, but often enough that I always begged. What followed was another couple hours of hanging with my dad. I felt like “one of the boys,” listening to their chatter, the boasting and occasional cussing when pins didn’t topple the way they wanted. I absolutely idolized him and his teammates. That may be why I cannot seem to part with a box of his dusty bowling trophies down in my basement. I often would watch the older teenagers shoot pool when the bowling became boring. I never played much of that game, those were the rough and tough crowd so Dad would often call me back to the safety of the bench near the scorer’s table.

Pop’N Pins is still in business. I went in there just the other day for some lunch. If my memory is correct, the same lockers are over against one wall and the formica covering on the snack bar is the same as it was on my Tuesday night dates with dad. I love that the new owners have made an effort to keep some of my memories – and probably memories for many others – intact.

Three games for a dollar. Inexpensive by today’s standards. But an evening with dad, on the receiving end of his mentorship…priceless. Sadly, as I reached an age where I was supposed to attend our church’s Tuesday night activity known as “mutual” or young men/young women night, my bowling dates decreased greatly. I was more than willing to skip that church experience, but this is where mom usually stepped in and dad respectfully sided with her.

Thanks Dad…JOB WELL DONE!

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