Nooooo!!!!

[Aslan]

I learned on the radio this morning that one of the two best bowling alleys in the area was engulfed in flames!! (http://www.kcci.com/article/the-latest-fire-crews-battle-blaze-at-plaza-lanes-nearby-building/14453672)

Why couldn't it have been the joke of a bowling alley in the mall or the old place by the airport...punishment for them only oiling their lanes once a week in the summer?? Why couldn't it have been the joke of a center within walking distance of my condo that is 98% "fun bowling/parties" and 2% league play??

Instead...it's one of the two best centers in the area that I was planning on joining a league at should I ever get a real job.

Just sad. And this house was really cool in terms of architecture because it had a large "bowler" and set of pins on the roof...it lighted up and was animated so if you were driving by at night it looked like a giant neon bowler rolling a ball and getting a strike as the pins exploded.

It's an older center...but it was in really good shape...not sure what the cause was. It's gonna cause HAVOC in the local league situation as this place had probably around 30 leagues...most of which are sanctioned. There is another good center in the area...but it is in South Des Moines (versus this center in North Des Moines)....not to mention the center in South Des Moines (Bowlerama) is pretty much full...I don't think they could handle all the leagues from Plaza Lanes even if they did want to make that drive.

The "winner" in this situation is likely to be Val Lanes...which is a large center that is very close by Plaza Lanes on the Northeast side of Des Moines. The difficulty there is staffing. It's a large center with a small staff and while I really liked the people running it (they were very nice and seemed committed to league bowling)...but with a bare bones staff...there were a lot of issues with equipment not working and lane oiling was hit or miss during the summer. I have a feeling most of the Plaza Lanes bowlers will move their leagues to Val Lanes...just down the road...and Val Lanes is going to need SERIOUS staffing. Perhaps Aslan should inquire about a job?? Maybe. Granted, what are the odds that such a job would pay $14.75-$23 per hour?? I'd say...1% to 4% chance. Likely it'll be part-time at $10.25/hour or something like that. Plus, I'm sure displaced Plaza Lanes employees will be looking for jobs and they have an experience edge.

[mishatx]

Hopefully they'll reopen better than ever. But in today's market, I'm not so sure...

[bubba809]

The ironic thing is, you just moved away from the 'California fires'.

[fordman1]

There is a video of it on mrbowling300.com web site. It is a total loss burned totally up.

[JasonNJ]

Here is an article on it. The place was still family owned and been open 60 years. It's a shame I hope they rebuild.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2017/12/18/crews-battling-large-fire-plaza-lanes-des-moines/960319001/

[got_a_300]

It's a shame I hope they rebuild.

I remember bowling in that place back in the early 70's when I was going to school
up there in Des Moines. I read according to the owner Randy Thompson he plans to
go ahead and rebuild the center and I hope he does and I wish him well in doing so
as it was a nice place to go hangout and bowl even back then.

[mishatx]

There's a post in the "Bowling Ball Trading Post" group on facebook about this that says that two high school teams lost everything in the fire, and there's an effort to collect equipment for them.

[Aslan]

There's a post in the "Bowling Ball Trading Post" group on facebook about this that says that two high school teams lost everything in the fire, and there's an effort to collect equipment for them.

Well...with my future in limbo...I still have about 6 undrilled balls...all 15#... Granted...they are balls no new player would want, but who knows?

I wonder what happens to leagues when something like this happens? I've heard of alleys getting sold and witnessed that out in Cali...but it happened between summer/winter and the leagues had a couple weeks notice to decide where they wanted to move to. THIS happened in the middle of fall/winter season...to a center that hosts more leagues than most (all but one) of the other area centers COMBINED. Seriously, this center has 15-16 fall/winter sanctioned leagues and probably another 8-10 non-sanctioned.

Now, they are a bit fortunate because there are 2 centers within 10 minutes of that center...one I believe has 28-40 lanes and the other has about 12-20. Between the two centers, they should be able to pick up the leagues or absorb teams into their established leagues. But how does that work logistically? Does the center hold the funds for the leagues and thus there is no prize money? Do leagues take 1-2 weeks off and just re-start at a new center? Can a league split between two centers? I mean, there's always going to be 1-4 teams that are going to be adamently opposed to moving to one center or another because they had a bad experience or something.

I know the tragedy is the center burning...and like I said...this center was the 2nd best center in the Des Moines area and 3rd place was a DISTANT 3rd. And the #1 center is on the other side of town...too far a drive for many of the local teams I'm sure. As mean as it is to say...would I have preferred one of the non-sport-friendly centers had burned up??? Yes. There are three centers in the area that are just a waste of bowling resources...yet, they remain open and will likely see an uptick in sport bowlers because of this tragedy...and that sucks.

I hope Plaza rebuilds...it was a nice center and very well-run. I was planning on bowling one of my two leagues at this center and the other at the center south of town. On the Aslan Spreadsheet of Iowa Centers...Plaza scored a -1. To put that in perspective, the top center scored a "9" and the #3 and #4 centers tied with a "-9". The "bad" centers scored a "-13" and a "-29"...with a 7th center not even being rated because it was too much of a joke.