Volume 2, No. 2. January 25, 2002
Rebirths
It's a bowling
center!
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk announces the rebirth of the Boardwalk Bowl, January
15, 2002. Measurements: 25,200 square feet (7,600 square meters), 26 lanes with
34-inch scoring monitors (86.5-cm monitors), 442-square-foot pro shop (134 square
meters), 500-square-foot party room (152 square meters), bar and restaurant.
Delivered by the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Tech Services.
Even before the 50-year-old Boardwalk Bowl officially re-opened with a VIP-only
party last week, the $3.5 million remodeling project had yielded results. Since
quietly opening to the public back in October, the center has hosted 230 birthday
parties, said Boardwalk Bowl Director Willie King, and another hundred are on
the books.
"A lot of the elements we put into the new building are targeted specifically
at parties, like the birthday party room," he said. In fact, the grand opening
gala for some 150 local dignitaries and Beach Boardwalk friends was intended
"to highlight what we do here," King said. "We throw a lot of parties, and this
was our party. I think we knocked their socks off."
Especially those who had seen the Bowl before the makeover. "The facility we
had before was pretty tired," King said of the bowling center which the Santa
Cruz Beach Boardwalk purchased in 1994. "Though people said we had a nice center,
it still needed significant upgrades. We gutted the entire building. Everything
is new. A nacho chip warmer is all that's left from before."
Using its own technicians, the Beach Boardwalk installed new dance club-style
lighting, a new sound system, a new bar with karaoke equipment and a computerized
keg system. The lanes have new pinsetters, new ball returns and new scoring
monitors. The entire building was refurnished, and a patio overlooking the Pacific
Ocean should be completed in the spring, King said. The new decor alone made
an instant impact on the local market. Despite the restaurant and bar not opening
until last week, the Boardwalk Bowl saw higher receipts in both November and
December than it did in those months a year earlier. "We were making more money
with only one-third of the operation going," King said.
King expects the center's popularity to continue rising, too. Less than 20 percent
of Boardwalk Bowl's business is league play. "That is unheard of anywhere in
this country," King said of the 80 percent open play the center did before remodeling.
The Boardwalk's strategy in growing the business was to build the open bowling
market. Now, with the new restaurant and bar, the Boardwalk Bowl has positioned
itself as an ongoing party hang-out for the community. "Most people don't care
what their average is, they just want to come and have fun. That's what we give
them," King said.
Ah, but bowling is still a sport, and some people take it seriously. At last
week's big gala, Santa Cruz's mayor, vice mayor and supervisor were invited
to roll the official first balls. In a simultaneous roll, the vice mayor, Emily
Reilly, threw a strike. "She was looking forward to the opportunity," King said,
noting that while the other two officials seemed to approach the moment with
official decorum, Reilly was eager to score big. "She was going through mental
rehearsals beforehand."