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Community Corner

Old High School Bowling Alley to Get New Life with Renovation

Shorewood High School's deteriorating, unreliable bowling alley is being renovated, as school officials seek to restore a piece of Shorewood history.

A four-lane bowling alley is currently being renovated at Shorewood High School with the intention of creating a living artifact of the community's rich history.

School and recreation department officials also hope the bowling alley becomes a popular spot for community members and, as a result, a money-maker for the recreation department.

Nick Phalin, a recreation supervisor in charge of youth sports, youth enrichment and adult sports league, is overseeing the project.

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During an interview earlier this month, Phalin indicated the motivation behind the project stems from difficulty the recreation department has had with holding classes and birthday parties in the bowling alley.

"The lanes were so unreliable," Phalin said. "The first ball would get stuck and won't come back... if you had never done it, you had no idea what to expect."

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After the project is complete, the bowling alley will be accessible to school classes, recreation department classes, groups, parties and the community.

The $75,000 project has so far seen removal of asbestos from the facility, buy will also involve new lighting, refinishing the lanes, purchasing new pins, painting the walls and repairing the pin setting machinery. 

"It's easy for people to chuckle about bowling lanes during these times of tight funds, but I applaud you for the decision to renovate it as opposed to abandoning it," School Board member Michael Mishlove said to Phalin during a recent meeting. "It's a gem. It's a piece of history."

The project is funded through Fund 80, which is intended for these purposes and not Fund 10, which is the school's operating budget.

"I have been to a lot of parties there with my children and other people's children and it was really a neat thing," School Board President Paul Zovic said. "It is part of that fabric that makes the Shorewood community."

The project initially was slated to cost $150,000, but was cut in half with the decision not to gut the entire facility and build a new bowling alley. 

"It was not where everyone wanted to spend money on, but this is very unique," Phalin said. "If we are not using it for bowling, we need to get it out of here and use the space for something else." 

Shorewood is the only school in the state to have a bowling alley, according to Phalin. The lanes were put in the school in the early 50s and the last time the lanes were resurfaced was in the early 1990s. According to Phalin, lane resurfacing should be done every five years. 

"It's been a pain. I'm not going to lie. But to know what it was and how cool it's going to be, I'm completely thrilled," he said. 

The bowling alley will not have electronic scoring. Instead, according to Phalin, it will feature "old-school" manual scoring.  

"Shorewood is an unique community in that it cherishes tradition," Phalin said. "When Shorewood sees a gem, a diamond in the rough like this, they want to keep it. We want people on our campus and in our facility and taking advantage of it."

An event is being planned to reopen the bowling alley in May.

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