The Bowling Alley That Built Me

My sister called me this past weekend and asked if I wanted to go out to the bowling alley one last time before it was no longer in the Taylor name. We were busy so I told her no, and that I had already said my goodbyes when our dad officially retired and sold his part a couple of years ago. Myself, my sisters, and our parents took some photos with the soon to be old sign that year to commemorate the end of an era. But it was the next day after she had called me that I realized, this was hitting a little different than I thought it would. A lot different. 

The bowling alley, officially registered as Airport Bowling Lanes but known as Dix-E-Town Lanes, was founded in 1963 by five owners, one of them being my papaw B.L Taylor. And as of May 19th, 2024, the bowling alley for the first time in 60 years will no longer be in the Taylor name. 

And when I really think about that, a flood of emotions run through me. And that’s because the bowling alley built me. 

The bowling alley is where my parents met. My mom actually began working at the bowling alley before my dad (whose parents owned it) ever did. And it’s where they’d meet. We joke about the fact that mom was an employee at the bowling alley longer than dad. 

Soon after in 1983, my grandparents bought out the other owners and became the sole owners of Dix-E-Town Lanes. At that time, my dad worked full time outside the bowling alley, at Lowes when mom was pregnant with me, while also working full time at the bowling alley unpaid helping his parents undertake this big financial obligation that was going to create this amazing life for his family. 

The bowling alley brought my family closer together, and at times tore us apart. When my grandparents became the sole owners, their three sons (Denny, David, and my dad Dean) also became a part of the bowling alley. My uncle Denny did the financials, my dad and uncle David helped with the operations. It was literally a family affair. They worked together by day, and we took family trips to the lake, the beach, Gatlinburg, and beyond by downtime. The Taylor family was tight. I can remember many of holidays and just becauses spent at the bowling alley with the entire Taylor family, eating, cooking, laughing– the fish frys, us cousins dressed in Thanksgiving garb, performing the latest play we made up, the birthday parties, all these things when I was a kid to later when I had kids of my own, spending many holidays with them there, too.

But also when you spend that much time together and financially tied to the same investment, there’s bound to be some disagreements. That coupled with tragedies and broken hearts of our mamaw, the matriarch passing soon after my Uncle Denny passing at such a young age which led to my aunt and cousins moving back to Michigan, that things began to change. Time would lead our family down different paths as the grandkids began to grow older. That’s how life works. Later my papaw would pass, then my uncle David and aunt Tonya would lose both of their kids, our cousins, tragically. So much love was shared at the bowling alley, and so much loss.

The bowling alley made me who I am. My parents worked out there full time my entire life up until a few years ago. The bowling alley was my daycare from birth until I started school then the weekends and some weeknights after that. I remember pulling up a chair behind the cash register and counting back change before I was even in second grade. I could tell you if a lottery ticket was a winner by just looking at the scratched off barcode. I played in every nook and cranny in the entire building, filling the coffee carafes with soda and pretending we were drinking coffee, watching I Love Lucy at 2am on the tiny fold out couch in the backroom while my parents worked the popular Thunder Bowl in the 1990s. I learned that Mr. Worm always had candy in his pocket, Bob Tharpe would always let you push the button on his watch to make it do a crazy light show, how to cook the best burger with grilled onions, how to seamlessly transition one song to the other as a DJ, the trick to scooping the best ice cream, how it’s impossible to not get cotton candy all over you when making it, how to create and market for events, how to cook the best salty popcorn, and later in life how to pour the perfect draft beer. It was my first job. It was where I went through my teenage rebellion phase and snuck in a few times after hours with my friends because I had a key and we would bowl. It’s where I learned how to manually keep score when bowling, what happens when you don’t leave quick enough after setting the alarm, or when you forget to put the coffee pot under the coffee maker when you turn it on, how to sucker you dad into giving you a cup full of quarters so you can play games, and so many more life skills that have continued to serve me well.  

The bowling alley gave me my work ethic. I witnessed hard work, dedication, and sacrifice from my parents every single day I was out there. My mom worked full time, for several years with at least me in tow (how did she not lose her mind) coming home each day to still take care of her three girls. I witnessed her help with efforts in giving back to the community, such as shopping for kids in the children’s home and then having a bowling party for them. She taught me how to balance being a working mom and the importance of giving back.

My dad had the financial weight of the business on his shoulders once my uncle Denny passed. He and mom were all in, this was their livelihood to raise their family, and I learned through them what it takes to run a successful business. I learned the importance of community, treating your customers well, and your employees even better. So many of these people became my extended family because that’s who they are to the Taylor family. My dad taught me the importance of taking calculated risks as he implemented new programs and even started another business. I watched my dad teach college bowling classes at ECC, the necessity to evolving to make sure your business stays relevant, the proper way to kick off a new league, how to de-escalate a bad situation, the importance of taking good care of your employees, and above all, no matter what, your family always comes first. 

The bowling alley has always been my stability. One random day in January when I was 20, I was leaving Wal-Mart and dad called to tell me we were getting bad weather (a tornado to be exact). I drove to the bowling alley because I knew I’d be safe there. That is the epitome of what the bowling alley has been to me. From the time I was a kid to an adult with my own family,  I could go there for a meal, or for fun, or if I felt lost or confused, I could go there just to be around people I know and care about and who were always happy to see you. No matter what I was going through, what my family was going through– moving, deaths, divorces…. life changed but the bowling alley always remained our stability. And that’s what I’ll miss the most. 

There’s so much I could continue to go on and say about the bowling alley. The people I met, the experiences I had, the life that it has given me and what it has meant to me, but for now, I’ll end with just being grateful for the bowling alley that built me.