I always mean to print more of your mail here, but events overtake me. Let’s start to catch up.
My, gulp, drew comment. That’s the 1956 bowling center with 50 lanes that closed in 2017 but whose main architectural features have been saved by its new owner, Trumark Homes, and incorporated into its residential development, winningly named Covina Bowl.
No tenant for the main building has been signed, but Trumark’s Eric Nelson says he’s fielding offers and has “a focus on finding the right user for this unique building.”
Covina Bowl was developed and owned by the Brutocao brothers: Leonard, Angelo and Louis. A nephew, Jerry Pellizzon, got in touch by email.
“I have some great memories of Covina Bowl, either bowling there or watching my parents bowl in Friday or Saturday night leagues,” Pellizzon told me.
Rather than hire a babysitter, his parents calculated that it was cheaper to bring him and his brother along and give them nickels and dimes for the game room.
“There were 50 lanes for the bowlers,” Pellizzon said. “I swear, when you were at one end of the Bowl you couldn’t see the other end on those league nights. That was because in those days just about everyone smoked, creating a cloud of smoke so thick that it blocked the view.”
Later, Pellizzon worked at the bowl during college break.
“Uncle Leonard assigned me to wash and paint the bowling pins,” Pellizzon recalled. “I turned the pins upside down, inserted a metal hook into the bottom of the pin, put masking tape over the red stripes and dipped them into fresh paint.”
Every half hour, on his uncle’s advice, he left the painting room for fresh air to avoid being overcome by the paint and lacquer fumes.
One reason the Bowl was hopping in the early days was because the Brutocao brothers would contract with Las Vegas opening acts to perform in their center’s Egyptian Room, which they patterned on Caesar’s Palace.
“The shows were packed for several years as the San Gabriel Valley was developing and growing like a weed. Things slowed down when television, especially color television, became ubiquitous,” Pellizzon said.
The property is a city and state landmark, which Pellizzon said is deserved, because Covina Bowl was “the first bowling alley west of the Mississippi to have automatic pinsetters.”
Of the preservation as part of a housing development, Pellizzon said approvingly: “What a creative and interesting way to develop real estate.”
Sounds like Covina Bowl’s new life scores a strike with him.
More Bowl
No one is going to top that, but two of you, both from deep in the IE, shared Covina Bowl stories.
Gina Reynolds of Indio grew up in West Covina. She and her husband had their wedding reception in the Pyramid and Egyptian rooms on July 22, 1972 — “and we are still married,” she added.
“We will never forget our wonderful reception that was given by the fabulous people who worked there,” Reynolds said. The memory sparked by my column, she said, “brought tears to my eyes.”
Susan Savolainen of Banning grew up in Covina. She sent along a 1969 bowling team photo of three women, one of them her mother, Jane Sothern. The team name was the Lousy Larks — a nod to Lark Ellen School — which competed in the PTA Belles League that bowled on Mondays.
“I actually thought the bowling alley was long gone, like Ole’s Hardware and Woo’s Chinese Kitchen,” Savolainen admitted. “Nice to hear vestiges are still there.”
Millard’s mural
Meanwhile, a few of you remarked on my Feb. 11 column about the , which is now prominently displayed on the exterior of the expanded Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange.
That mural was originally done for a Home Savings branch in Santa Monica, which like other branches was striking in its use of .
“One has to give a lot of credit to Howard F. Ahmanson, whose Home Savings was a major patron of the arts in its collection and in its buildings,” observed Kioren Moss of Ventura. “He was a remarkable man.”
LACMA had a building named for Ahmanson, until its demolition for a larger campus now under construction, and Bunker Hill’s Music Center still has an Ahmanson Theatre, Moss noted.
Lamented Bud Weisbart of Corona: “The bigger picture — yes, ‘picture’ — to me is the degree to which such magnificent public art is no longer seen as a corporate priority.” He added sardonically: “Maybe if corporations could identify the ROI (return on investment)?”
Lastly, that column’s appearance on Super Bowl Sunday reminded Hal Durian of Claremont of a football-related connection to Sheets, who was born in Pomona and lived and worked in Claremont.
At Notre Dame University in Indiana, a 134-foot-high mural by Sheets decorates an exterior wall of the campus library. The towering mural, visible beyond one of the football stadium’s end zones, depicts Jesus with both arms upraised.
Titled it’s popularly known as “Touchdown Jesus.”
‘Get’ this
In a recent New York Times “What You Get” real-estate comparison, could get you a 1929 Spanish-style house in Riverside near Mount Rubidoux, a 1979 condo in Pasadena near an Erewhon market or an exceedingly modest midcentury ranch house in Long Beach near the airport’s flight path.
In the comments, most readers said the Riverside house was clearly superior (one called it “swoon-worthy”), but some weren’t crazy about the location. “I will take the Riverside home,” one woman joked, “in Long Beach.”
Another complained that Riverside is “far into the dessert” — which might be the icing on the cake.
brIEfly
For Earth Day, which is Monday, Metrolink commuter trains (including the Arrow train in Redlands) will offer free rides all day, no ticket required. Head to downtown L.A., Orange County or simply travel within the Inland Empire. Bring a friend — or a book.
David Allen brings it Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.
