Lady Gaga Sucks at Bowling…
As the leaves turn brown and mercury begins its annual descent, NYCers begin to look indoors for fun.
For a more authentic NY experience, check out Melody Lanes (no website!) in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. With 30 lanes, a proper dive bar, a greasy-spoon snack shop serving awful pizza (and did we mention no website!), Melody is the real deal.
[ED’s Note: You can google Melody Lanes for phone and it looks like there is a website, but it’s just awful.]
Which of course brings in all types — last time I was there I was rolling next to Lady Gaga! (And not surprisingly, she fucking sucks at bowling!) See the rest of the roundup:
Rising like a phoenix from the dusty rubble of an old iron works factory in Williamsburg comes Brooklyn Bowl, a sprawling bowling palace/club/bar/restaurant/music venue all under one roof.
Massive is the first word that comes to mind at BB, a 23,000 square foot complex with 16 lanes of bowling pleasure (each with leather Chesterfield sofas and ottomans) plus a Blue Ribbon restaurant and a rockin’ live stage that’s hosted everything from a Polvo reunion show to a Gov’t Mule album listening party.
Also in Williamsburg is The Gutter, a more intimate bowling facility that painstakingly recreates the vintage feel of the kind of retro rolling that you’d expect to find if you took a time machine back to 1978 and headed to the suburbs of, say, Omaha, Nebraska. Can you say fucking throwback fabulous!?
Bowling is a little harder to find in Manhattan, but it’s certainly out there. The rich and famous tend to flock to the posh Bowlmor Lanes in the Village or, ahem, the striking 300 Club at Chelsea Piers. I prefer slumming it at
Leisure Time — located right in the middle of the sleazy Port Authority Bus Terminal in Times Square — or heading up to Harlem Lanes for a one-of-a-kind bowling experience. Strike!