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 | The underground mystery
entry by benstern
6/8/2007 4:42 AM
| I finally found the article I have been looking for during the past year and a half!
"UNDERGROUND ALLEY RECALLS SIMPLE TIMES
Arizona Republic, The (Phoenix, AZ)
November 12, 2003
Author: Bob Golfen, The Arizona Republic
Honeylou Reznik used to go bowling under the sidewalk along Central Avenue.
The underground bowling alley at Central and Pierce Street is long abandoned, but pedestrians can still see the glass blocks in the pavement that provided sunlight for the players below.
"During high school, I used to go bowling all the time," said Reznik, who graduated from Phoenix Union High School in 1946.
"I remember walking down the stairs. ... Boys were setting up the pins. It wasn't mechanical in those days," she recalled.
The old bowling alley is now part of the city block owned by Reznik's husband, Morris, who operates the Jewel Box pawn shop on the same block just across from the Westward Ho. Morris Reznik, of H-M Investments, has owned the block from Pierce to Fillmore Street and Central to First Street for about 30 years.
Their son, Steve, who also runs the Jewel Box, recently helped engineers from Valley Metro Rail explore the former bowling alley in preparation for building a light-rail line on Central.
The underground structure, now little more than a cellar held up by concrete columns, is off the right-of-way and won't be affected by the construction.
The only sign that it was once a bowling alley are the words "Please Stay Back of Foul Line" written across one of the support beams, and a bowling-pin graphic on one column. Some of the support structures for the human pinsetters can still be seen along one wall.
Not much is known about the bowling alley, although there are historic references to the Gold Spot bowling alley in that area that closed around 1950. The subterranean lanes apparently date to when the Westward Ho was a booming tourist destination and the downtown area was a hub of recreation and entertainment. The hotel, finished in 1928, now is housing for the elderly.
The area around the Westward Ho and the nearby Adams Hotel, at Central Avenue and Adams Street, was a popular place for dances and other evening activity when Honeylou was a high school student, she said. This was during World War II, and young GIs training to go overseas would come in from the air bases and other facilities.
"This was during the war years, and there were soldiers all around," she said, adding that bowling was one of the main forms of entertainment.
"There wasn't much of anything in Phoenix at that time, and this was one of things we did for fun.""
[last edit 6/8/2007 4:47 AM by benstern - edited 1 times]
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