Heritage Lanes to close for conversion into an Andy B's Entertainment Center in OKC

One of Oklahoma City’s last old-school bowling alleys — and the last built by Brunswick — is set to close in March and will be converted into an Andy B’s Entertainment Center. 

Andy B’s purchased the 40-lane bowling alley from Brunswick in 1999 at a time when league participation went through a steep decline. Brunswick competitor AMF Bowling went through bankruptcy twice as its league bowling dropped from 80% to 20% of its business. 

Bowling will remain a part of the new Andy B’s, but will be reduced to 14 regular lanes, eight “VIB” (Very Important Bowler) lanes, and four duck-pin lanes. 

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The project will include a new exterio,r and the interior will be gutted to include a large arcade, redemption store, restaurant, ax-throwing and event rooms. Missy Robertson, vice president of Special Projects & Promotions, said Heritage Lanes will be the first Andy B’s to be closed for renovation. 

“Andy B’s is more of a family entertainment center and not just the old bowling alley people are used to,” Robertson said. “We have the most amazing food you can get. We use the freshest of food, and our bar keeps all the latest drinks and will include great happy hours.” 

Bowling isn’t dead, and lanes can be found at several newer entertainment centers across the city. But they aren’t as large as they once were. 

Heritage Lanes, 11917 N Pennsylvania Ave., opened in 1981 as the sport was going through a resurgence. Smaller alleys, maybe a dozen or so lanes, were the norm during the first half of the 1900s. Brunswick and AMF built new alleys across the country in the 1970s and 1980s that replaced pencils, paper and transparency projectors with automatic scoring, cathode ray tubes and overhead screens that carried scores, messages and reports from other lanes. 

Bowling was in its prime with lanes being built in churches, homes, schools (including Midwest City High School) and even the White House. 

Brunswick executives spoke of appealing to more than blue-collar league players, and to extend the sport to female bowlers and family recreation. 

David Timberlake, who oversaw construction of Heritage Lanes, said the company hit that goal not just in Oklahoma City but nationwide.  

“Heritage Lanes was big with the leagues,” Timberlake said. “They were 100% leased, and there was very little time available for open bowling. At midday they had senior citizens, in the mornings they had the housewives, and then they had afternoon and school leagues, evening business, and then a midnight hoot owl shift for workers from plants.” 

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Heritage Lanes is no longer open on mornings, and isn't open until 4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and noon on weekends. Similar hours are posted at most of the city area's bowling alleys.

Timberlake got his start with Brunswick after he built the Brunswick-owned Mercury Marine plant in Stillwater in the 1970s. The manager of the project was promoted, and he called Timberlake with engineering questions that led to Timberlake getting a shot to bid on a plant in Denver. 

Timberlake ended up building all of Brunswick’s bowling alleys for more than 30 years until the company left the bowling business in 2014. Heritage Lanes, mostly all bowling, a snack bar and lounge, was typical of the centers built by Timberlake until the company began to add arcades and other attractions in the 1990s. 

The goal remained the same, Timberlake said. 

“They wanted to get away from the image of a bowling alley — a dark, smoke-filled place — to one that is bright, full of color, and lots to do with bowling being one of them.” 

In that sense, Heritage Lanes represents a fading past that will leave only two of what was once more than a dozen traditional bowling centers — Windsor Lanes, at 4600 NW 23, and the city’s oldest, Holiday Lanes, 44 SE 44.

“Brunswick owned some, and they franchised some,” Timberlake said. “They all looked like Heritage Lanes. It’s one of the last ones in the country.”