Bowl-O-Rama: Covina Bowl

I guess when you're hanging out at a bowling alley wearing overalls, you just can't help but be a weirdo magnet.  Why can't I just sneak around the bowling alley taking photos of light fixtures and terrazzo flooring without being solicited into beating up a group of thirteen-year-old boys by a 28-year-old man playing shoot 'em up video games who is admittedly the father to no less than fourteen children of his own but has nothing better to do than play video games and threaten minors in the middle of a weekday?  To echo my sentiment from an earlier post, I sure am grateful for the neat places that are still here.

The other day we took a short drive to a veritable temple of the bowling arts, Covina Bowl in Covina, CA.  

What an entrance!!

Built more than thirty years too late to cash in on the Tut-mania of the 1920's, this bowling alley is inexplicably, if only very superficially, Egyptian themed.  The roofline speaks much more to mid-Century tiki architecture and the references to ancient Alexandria are scarce.  Whatever the thinking behind architect George Powers' 1955 masterpiece, we didn't even make it inside before we fell in love! 

In various states of repair, the signs were beautiful in their simplicity!

A taste of Egypt on an exterior wall

Once inside, our options for discovery were plentiful,
 but who would want to get bored in a board room,
when one could just as easily play urban Indiana Jones and
explore the wonders of the Egyptian and Pyramid Rooms!!! 

The Egyptian Room was definitely my favorite area of Covina Bowl.  Completely trapped in time, it is the coffee shop that must have served thousands of ravenous bowlers over the years.  Although it is completely outfitted to operate as a functional coffee shop/cafe, it now sits empty just begging for a wonderful entrepreneurial restaurateur to come along and fill the seats.  Given the means, I would love to run a wacky tacky eatery in the space; it just needs a little bit of love before it could be the coolest place to grub in Covina!

Mary sits at the counter where the stainless steel display cases are longing for pies, cakes, and Jell-O.
Behind the window, there is a huge commercial kitchen.  All of the facilities/utilities are in place and seem to be in good shape;  I guess there must be a reason why the Egyptian Room is is non-operational, but I can't think of a good one!

A detail of the stained, textured glass wall behind a booth in
the Egyptian Room. 

We poked our heads into the Pyramid Room and found
 a rather spiritless banquet room that was being
 prepared for a quinceanera  later that evening.
Instead of a bunch of tables covered in white table cloths,
here is a photo of Mary, walking like an Egyptian.

As ever, I find delight in terrazzo floors and light fixtures and Covina Bowl did not disappoint!  The building is enormous and it must have taken a whole quarry full of marble chips to make the miles of flooring.

I wonder how many other bloggers include pictures of the floor wherever they go?
The floor was much more green than this photo could capture.

I love light fixtures!  

I was particularly fond of the pendant lamps with stripes of coral, lavender and blue.

We couldn't leave without visiting the arcade (the site of the near brawl between man and children).  Any time I have the opportunity to trade my hard-earned money for tokens with the slight chance that those tokens might translate into paper tickets that I can then swap for plastic prizes that I could have simply purchased for mere pennies on the dollar, I'M IN!!!

We stayed as far away from the "Flamin Finger" as we possibly could.
It seems like no amount of antibiotics could cure flamin' finger.

I'm much more of a speed demon!
I am game challenged and in too much of a hurry to read
the rules.  Even after reviewing them in the photo, it occurs
me that, "1. Get a Speed Demon Here" and "2. To play here,"
weren't quite explicit enough for me.  Huh??? 

Nevertheless, I was triumphant!!!

We actually won enough tickets for only one of these rings, but having
clearly gained the favor of the ancient bowling gods, the machine that
 dispensed arcade prizes gave us each one!  Jealous?

Sometimes you don't realize how similar you are to a bowling pin until the side-by-side comparison.

All that separates us is a crown and some bowling shoes.

Oh yeah, did we mention that they offer bowling at Covina Bowl?
50 lanes of gleaming hardwood!

Covina Bowl is a definite feather in the cap of Southern California bowling alleys.  Maybe next time we visit, we'll actually bowl a few frames!

After all, the first step in that best seller "Bowl To Stay Slim," is BOWL!

Covina Bowl
1060 W San Bernardino Rd
Covina, CA
(626)339-1286

www.bowlbrunswick.com


Cheers!

Mr. Tiny