Willow Grove has been home to three well-known bowling alleys over the past six decades, including the Willow Grove Park Bowling Lanes, Thunderbird Lanes, and the recently opened Tilted 10.
Willow Grove Park Bowling Lanes
The Willow Grove Park Bowling Lanes were built in 1961 and had 116 lanes, which made the facility the largest bowling alley in the world at the time. The alley was part of the larger Willow Grove Amusement Park and featured three restaurants and its own nursery.
The park closed down in 1975 and the building was demolished sometime between then and the early 1980s. The site is now home to a strip shopping center next to Willow Grove Park mall.
An excerpt from the book Diners, Bowling Alleys and Trailer Parks by Andrew Hurley:
Willow Grove Lanes was the most ambitious project undertaken by Powers, Daly, and DeRosa… The 800-foot-long V-shaped building took fifteen months to build. Viewed from the outside, it was nothing if not breathtaking. The main entrance was highlighted by a solid parabola that swung skyward 116 feet and hovered over a multicolored water fountain situated in a miniature lake. When you entered the building, your eye was drawn to a rotating turntable display of bowling paraphernalia. To accommodate the disparate needs of different types of customers, the architects provided a variety of ancillary social spaces. Their nursery boasted a life-sized rocking horse. Teenagers fraternized at a soda bar called ‘The Hutch.’ Adults were invited to sample the German fare at the ‘Hofbrau,’ a full service restaurant.
From a TikiCentral.com forum:
Not everybody was happy about the arrival of the bowling alley because it meant filling in part of one of the lakes. As a result, “The pavilion that once sat on the lake, now sat in the middle of the parking lot”.
Here’s a photo showing the lake before the bowling alley was built:
From a TikiCentral.com forum:
The bowling alley and the attached amusement park, which was quite large, were owned by the Hankins Family. They neglected the park for years and maintenance became a real problem. In April 1976, right before the opening of the season, the major roller coaster rides were inspected. All 3 needed a major overall or a total rebuilding at a cost estimated at $1 million. With that news, the Hankins announced within days that the park would not reopen.
After that, they shortly had a going out of business sale and stared selling everything in the park, including rides and structures. Then, the park would just sit there until 1977, when they announced that it would be sold to Pan American Associates, who announced they would build a $25 million regional mall in 1978.
There were lengthy negotiations with the township about the mall. They were forced to shrink the size of it and did not get final approval until May 1979.
In the meantime, the Hankin family was engulfed in their own legal dispute over this sale. The total value of all of their holdings was nearly $64 million. After a number of lawsuits, the sale that was announced in 1977 didn’t actually go through until September 1980. The outcome of all the legal battling was the court ordered sale of all the family’s property. After this judgement, demolition began and the property was completely bare within 3 weeks at the end of September.
Photos courtesy of TikiCentral.com
Old Images of Montgomery County PA Facebook comments include:
Went in December 62 when I visited from England. I had never seen anything like it before. Christmas in Jenkintown was very special. Gerry Elms
Wonderful memories. Bowled in several leagues there. Also, a place to go as a teenager.
I remember the nursery/kid care room had 3 huge plaster things (Dinos?..Pirate ship?) you could climb on. Anyone remember what they were?
Thunderbird Lanes
The 36-alley bowling complex at 1130 York Road in Upper Moreland also featured a snack bar and arcade games.
The facility originally opened in the early 1960s as Silver Lake Lanes and shut down in May 2016.
“The bowling industry has changed,” Elaine Brumberg, a then-minority owner told The Philadelphia Business Journal in 2016. “It’s now about being a FEC — a family entertainment center. You have to be prepared to put in a million dollars for laser tag and [prize] redemption centers and a big bar and restaurant or you are not going to survive in this industry.”
Photos courtesy of FourSquare.com, Google
From a 2016 Philly Voice article:
The current owners, in their 70s and ready to retire, are selling to John Kennedy Ford, which will convert the 2.5-acre property into a state-of-the-art collision center, according to the Public Spirit report, which quoted CEO David Zeitz as saying there was no interest from prospective buyers wanting to maintain the bowling alley.
Most of the 25 full- and part-time employees will lose their jobs, including him, Zeitz told the newspaper.
The site is now owned and operated by a John Kennedy Collision Center.
Tilted 10
PREIT, which owns and manages Willow Grove Park Mall, announced in March the opening of the first phase of Tilted 10, a two-story entertainment and dining complex spanning 103,000 square feet of the former JCPenney space abandoned in 2017.
The first phase features arcade games, shooting galleries, bowling alleys, and bumper cars. Second phase plans include mini-golf, a “VIP bowling lounge,” party rooms, a taco stand, and increased food options.
The second phase of the complex opened in July.
Photos courtesy of Tilted 10
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