It’s the time capsule bowling alley. The “Cheers” bowling alley. It’s the upstairs bowling alley where you can stand in the parking lot and hear pins clattering, a satisfying sound that has echoed above this block of Sutton Boulevard in downtown Maplewood for 100 years now.
Saratoga Lanes, which bills itself as the oldest bowling alley west of the Mississippi River and the only upstairs alley left in the area, celebrates with a birthday bash Saturday.
“It’s a special vibe here,” says Lana Rottler, 24, of St. Louis, amid the louder clatter of pins in the room. She’s bowled since she was a kid, in an Optimist Club league, and is the only woman bowling in Saratoga’s Tuesday night league. “Everybody seems to know everybody and is very accepting. I felt like I was at home that first night.”
It takes a bit of determination to lug a bowling ball up the 26 concrete steps to get to the alley, housed in a craftsman-style, red-brick building. (For the less determined but still curious, you can use one of the balls already upstairs.) The building’s ground floor houses surveying and engineering offices.
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There are only eight lanes in the place and five pool tables in the front. A square bar divides the room. The vending machine is probably the only one in the area that sells chili cheese Fritos, Camel cigarettes, rosin bags and bowling socks. Behind the bar are bowling shoes and the drinks people want — hard liquor for the old-timers and Pabst Blue Ribbon for the hipsters. It’s intimate enough that you can get to know the folks in your league but big enough to mix and mingle for a private party.
Owners Jim Barton, 49, and Tom Buck, 61, have updated the place to reflect a 1950s renovation but have been careful not to strip away its charm. Old wood paneling was replaced with newer wood paneling, and there are several flat-screen TVs and a jukebox with a touch screen.
The only original parts of the alley are the wooden gutters. The wood-and-metal ball returns swoop and curve with a 1950s Sputnik vibe, as do the turquoise and white fiberglass benches and the chrome ashtrays and beverage holders hooked behind them.
Yes, smoking is still allowed here, though there’s a newer outdoor balcony now, and you can request no smoking for private events. And don’t look too hard for any fancy scoring screens; you have to keep score by hand. The way the lanes are configured, it would be difficult to install automatic scoring anyway. There are instructions on the scoring sheets. And helpful people. And apps.
“If you can count to 10 and can count to 300, you’re good,” says Alan Young, 63, of St. Louis, who has been bowling since sixth grade and has been in a league here for three years.
Elevating a sport
Charm and good people aren’t the only things that help Saratoga Lanes endure. Like Barton and Buck, the owners through the years have innovated and treated their people well.
The bowling alley was built in 1916 and commissioned by the Maplewood Planing Mill and Stair Co., which had offices on the first floor. It was part of a bowling heyday in the St. Louis area: More than 20 new alleys were built in that decade.
Bowling was popular among German immigrants who came to the Midwest in the middle of the 19th century, one reason why it’s so ingrained in the culture of so many Midwestern cities. Back then, because many saloon owners installed alleys as a way to make extra money, bowling was associated with drinking and seediness.
But the Saratoga Lanes being built on the second floor was a way of elevating the sport — not just literally. Basement bowling alleys in saloons were seen as dark and unsanitary, so the upstairs lanes appealed to women.
Mill and bowling alley owner Albert Blood had a bowling league playing at the alley from its opening, and Saratoga Lanes encouraged women to play there as early as 1917. Weekly ads went in the local paper: “The Thursday Afternoon Ladies Club is increasing every week. Everybody seems to enjoy the pastime and the scores are getting better.”
The leagues and its elevated status helped Saratoga endure Prohibition, which closed many saloon alleys. When Blood retired, his family got the Stein family to take over. Otto Stein had bowling management experience and was one of the best bowlers in the country. His brother Clarence took the helm at Saratoga, using his connections to bring in prestigious leagues, paying the tabs of World War II servicemen returning home and overseeing the 1950s renovations.
The automatic pinsetter was invented in 1952, eliminating the need for pinboys, who also sometimes sullied the sport’s reputation.
“Some guys would throw the ball so hard that it would splatter the pins around; it was like being in a shooting gallery,” said former Saratoga pinboy Bob Werning in a 1996 interview with the Post-Dispatch. “We’d shout down the alley, ‘Slow the ball down.’ And they’d give us the finger. So before we’d roll their ball back, we’d spit in the thumb, and give them the same gesture. They couldn’t get to us.”
Pinsetters also added a high-tech element to the freestanding bowling multiplexes sprouting up in the suburbs. They often were too heavy or large for upstairs alleys to support.
But the concrete shell housing Saratoga Lanes could.
Clarence Stein installed a pinsetter and renovated the alley, adding the ball returns and seats that remain today. His sons ran the lanes after his death, and Barton and Buck took over in 1986.
“When I got there, I looked at it not just as a bowling alley; it was a cool spot. A destination — a location,” Barton says.
Leagues dominate the alley on weeknights, and the alley started marketing to businesses for booking private parties. Last year Saratoga Lanes hosted 400 events, with 100 of them in December alone.
“Everybody likes to bowl,” says Barton, noting the appeal of old-time carnival games with stacked-up cans or milk bottles. “We like to knock things down, right?”
Saratoga still has open bowling times, but it’s best to call ahead.
Maplewood has celebrated Saratoga’s centennial all year, with a parade through town in July and giant bowling pins decorated by area businesses on display in shop windows. On Saturday, a big party in the parking lot marks the alley’s original opening day, Oct. 14. There will be bands, a classic car display and an auction of the giant bowling pins.
It will be a celebration that could herald another 100 years.
“It doesn’t matter who you are,” says 34-year-old Jake Morgan, who has bowled in a league for about five years. “You’re just here to have fun. That’s what everybody does here.”
What Saratoga Lanes Birthday Bash • When 2-8 p.m. Saturday • Where The lot next to 2725 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood (party continues inside afterward) • More info 314-645-5308; facebook.com/saratogalanes