[ WEEKEND ]
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STAR-BULLETIN.COM
With lanes lit more like a discotheque than a bowling alley, Jun Camarillo of Aiea enjoys some late night bowling at Aiea Bowl.
With lanes Like a pre-game ritual, Jamie Flores smooths back her hair, adjusts her leather skirt and expels a quick breath before picking up her neon pink bowling ball. Stumbling forward, the reedy 19-year-old casts forth the unwieldy orb, which plunges to the floor with a deafening thud. "Oops," she says coyly, swiveling in the opposite direction, so as not to see the inevitable result. Gutter ball. She scuttles back toward her friends, who offer her congratulatory high-fives. "Is that good?" she asks innocently.
all aglow
Aiea Bowl attracts the younger crowds
with colorful, hip-hop glow bowlingBy Shawn 'Speedy' Lopes
slopes@starbulletin.comWinning isn't everything at Aiea Bowl, where three nights a week, "Thunder in Aiea" brings in a youthful, Sean John- and DKNY-attired crowd who don't play so much to win as to socialize and be seen.
"My friends just told me to put on good clothes and come down," Flores explained later, shouting to be heard above the blare of J-Lo's "Jenny From the Block" emanating from large speakers suspended above the bowling lanes. "I never even bowled before, but it's pretty fun."
On Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights, Aiea Bowl dims the lights, switches on its swirling disco lighting system and cranks up a raucous sonic fusion of rock and hip-hop.
Glow bowling, a generic term for bowling by black light, is not new. Aiea Bowl owner Mako Kobayashi first introduced the concept at his venue in 1999, to add greater entertainment value to the game and attract new customers.
"Regular bowling has kind of lost its appeal," he explains. "It's declining nationwide. I guess the bowling manufacturers came up with this idea several years ago and it went over pretty big on the mainland. I figured I might as well get my feet wet."
While rival sound-and-lighting packages such as AMF's Xtreme Bowling and Brunswick's Cosmic Bowling abound on Oahu, Kobayashi aligned with an independent manufacturer whose version of glow bowling, called Thunder Alley, appeared to be his most cost-effective option.
"Basically, everything's the same," attests Kobayashi, who estimates the upgrade cost "around $100,000."
"I've been in the bowling game all my life and I had nothing else to fall back on, being that's all I knew," he says. "So when the opportunity came, I said, 'Ah, I'll take a chance.'"
Kobayashi, who has been in the bowling business since 1950, started as a part-time desk clerk at Kapiolani Bowl and Kelly's Bowl before being offered management positions at Waialae Bowl and Tropicana Lanes in Kaneohe.
Later, Kobayashi oversaw operations at Aiea Bowl, where he has remained since 1966. Ten years ago, he purchased the establishment.
"You're talking to an old guy, you know," he quips. "I remember when (bowling) was big time. A lot of people used to bowl recreationally and with league participation, you always had a full house. You had to have two shifts a night. Nowadays, you're lucky if you get one shift a night."
Part of the problem, Kobayashi says, is that costs have increased for both participants and owners. With the rise in popularity of jackpot pools for competitive bowlers, it became common for a participant to surrender $70 or more per outing. Yet bowling facilities have continued to receive nominal fees for lane usage. In addition, Kobayashi says the ultra-competitive bowling manufacturers have issued new, advanced bowling balls too fast and too soon, with prices now surpassing the $200 range.
As a result, bowling alley owners have had to look for new ways to generate revenue. For the moment, glow bowling, which offsets slow periods during holidays and school vacations, appears adequate.
"The business is stable, but as far as getting it to where it used to be, it's going to be a tough sell," Kobayashi says. "The younger set mostly bowls for recreation. They're not that interested in the game itself, but they get to hang out with their friends and hear some loud rock music, which they enjoy. It's something different from going to some rock place or disco and getting plastered."
It's true, says a small cluster of students crouched near the entrance outside, cell phones and cigarettes in hand.
"My mom lets me come here whenever I want, pretty much, because she knows I'm not going to get in trouble," reveals one, puffing away, within earshot of mall security.
He holds up his cigarette as evidence.
"This is the worst thing I do."
Avoiding mischief is great, but is glow bowling actually as fun as they say, I ask. He looks to his group for an answer before finally speaking up.
"I don't know 'cause we don't really bowl," he replies. "We just like to hang out."
Where: Aiea Bowl, Aiea Shopping Center, 3rd level, 99-115 Aiea Heights Drive "Thunder in Aiea" (aka Glow Bowling)
When: 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Fridays and 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays
Cost: $3 game per person
Call: 488-6854
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