Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
The backside of Hanson's Bar is visible from the alley in this photo taken Monday, July 11, as demolition of the former bowling alley was nearly complete.
A relic was reduced to rubble recently.
The two-lane bowling alley turned storage area behind Hanson's Bar was torn down last week.
Robbie Lies, who spent nearly six decades behind the bar at Hanson's, told the Transcript Wednesday that former owner Irvin Hanson said the bowling alley was in operation in the 1930s and '40s. When Lies began working there in 1960, it had been closed for about 10 years.
It was likely the only operating bowling alley in town for a time, when the property was known as Hanson's Recreation Center.
Lies set pins at the bowling alley inside the Blackstone in the 1950s, when he was in high school.
When they cleaned out the space to prepare for demolition, they salvaged some antique bowling equipment. According to Lies, the solid wood pins, wooden pinsetter with metal trim and a truing machine were all recovered. The truing machine was patented in 1908 by Thomas Small of Camden, New Jersey. According to its patent paperwork, the truing machine was a device made for "grinding the base of the pin to true up any imperfections on its surface after the same has been broken, dented or otherwise defaced so that the pin will not readily stand on its base."
The lanes, which were also still intact, were dismantled.
The long, skinny white concrete block structure will be replaced by industrial shipping containers, which owner Dalton Weber says will be both more aesthetically pleasing and functional.
The transformation is underway. When complete, the shipping containers will be connected to the building.
"It's going to be better than what is there now," Weber told the city commission on May 2, when they approved his plans. "I want to keep our town looking as nice and neat as we can."
If anyone has photographs of the bowling alley or of Hanson's Bar from the 1930s and '40s, they are encouraged to bring them to the Transcript office. We'd be interested in sharing them in the paper and making sure a copy gets to the owners and the Eddy County Museum.
