Dan's Papers - September 21, 2007 - Looks Like We Are Getting A New Bowling Alley In Riverhead

It's been quite some time. More than 50 years. But I remember the afternoon and how foolish I felt. I wanted to tell my new friend I was a pretty good swimmer and felt comfortable on a horse. Maybe that would compensate for my ridiculous performance on my one and only bowling experience.

That Queens bowling alley, so removed in time and place, popped into mind recently as I drove to the Motor Vehicle Bureau in Riverhead. What's this on Route 58, just west of Route 105? You know, the old Apple Chevrolet place. The place where my husband bought his 1987 pickup (it was Kinney Motors then). He still has that pickup and it still looks good. And the place where I got my 1986 Cutlass. Don't have that anymore.

Back on Route 58. Apple Chevy's been gone for years, leaving six acres and a building abandoned and in disrepair. Every time I pass it I imagine what might appear there. My most frequent, most pleasant speculation, conjures up a pool, a great big indoor pool. I could swim in winter. Riverhead, I'd love you forever.

Well, at this point I'm just moderately fond of Riverhead. The pool idea is a washout. Instead there's gonna be bowling on the old Apple site. A big place - 28 lanes, game room, snack bar. Bowl 58 is its name and I'll tell you this. When it opens next year there'll be lots of happy people in Riverhead and Southold towns. For our dear fork has been without full-size alleys for a few years now - ever since Mattituck Bowl (16 lanes) up and left. CVS came in there but I never see anyone hurling a bowling ball down the nasal spray aisle.

There's this guy, Joseph Albanese, who co-owns a bowling alley in Queens (not the one I languished in). He and his mother will build Bowl 58 and plan to start the ball rolling in November. Well, Joe and Mom aren't actually doing the building, but they're paying for it.

If you've a spare minute, talk to Cutchogue's Dotty Kotylak. "Oh, I'm thrilled," says Dotty about Bowl 58. I understand why. Born in Laurel, Dotty's been bowling pretty regularly for over 50 years. She's pretty good, too. No, not 300-good. But close. When Mattituck Bowl closed she felt awful. She'd been bowling there three times a week in a Ladies and two Mixed leagues. Dotty did go to Westhampton to bowl after Mattituck closed but found the night travel too stressful to continue, especially in winter. How she missed the exercise, the competition, the fun, the friends! Now, she says, she has something really good to look forward to.

Dotty added, with justified pride, that her Peconic niece, Stacey Bokina Marczewski, is one terrific bowler. Stacey bowled on Southold High School's team and then on her Morehead State University team. With that Kentucky college team, Stacey traveled all over the country - and beyond. Beijing, China, for example. Stacey, who first picked up a bowling ball at age 4, spent 18 days in international bowling competition in China in 2000.

Stacey said bowling must be in the family genes. Aunt Dotty, of course, and Stacey's mother and father, for starters. Stacey's husband Walter, however, is the exception. But I guess you could say he's involved with bowls, too. Walter is a plumber.

You know what I neglected to ask Stacey? Whether she ever visited the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame in St. Louis, Missouri. No matter. The way Aunt Dotty talks about Stacey, the young woman might very well be inducted there.

I want to tell you that in addition to those 28 lanes, Bowl 58 will have a VIP bowling area. I have to find out what that means. Is that where Riverhead Supervisor Cardinale and Southold Supervisor Russell will bowl? Or if the presidential candidates campaign on the North Fork, will they bowl there? Maybe it's for South Fork bowlers? I don't know. But it's very exciting, thinking about meeting a VIP.

For now, though, I'm just happy so many North Forkers are happy. They're digging their bowling balls out of mothballs and leagues are forming even as I write. Maybe I'll join one. For the North Fork, this Bowl 58 is one lucky strike.