Are you a true West Sider??

slapnut said:
Don't remember a bowling alley there, but I do remember Shuler's Buffet and party hall being in that building, I think.......
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the bowling alley was upstairs I believe, Schueler’s buffet was on the ground floor. After the bowling alley was done, Schueler’s turned it into the reception room. My mom bowled there when I was a kid, I would have loved to bowl there too but it was closed before I had the chance. That high ceiling would have been cool
 
My wife and I were supposed to use the reception hall for our wedding reception in June of 1986, but they went bankrupt in Feb. Never got our deposit back.
 
polar panther said:
the bowling alley was upstairs I believe, Schueler’s buffet was on the ground floor. After the bowling alley was done, Schueler’s turned it into the reception room. My mom bowled there when I was a kid, I would have loved to bowl there too but it was closed before I had the chance. That high ceiling would have been cool
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I think the buffet was called "Seven Kitchens."
 
az0217t said:
My wife and I were supposed to use the reception hall for our wedding reception in June of 1986, but they went bankrupt in Feb. Never got our deposit back.
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i remember that, we also got married in June of ‘86. We also thought of Schueler’s, but we chose Trolly Tavern, which is now the UDF at Anderson Ferry and River Rd. I think we chose not to do Schueler’s simply because my wife had worked there on weekend mornings, cleaning up after receptions. She wanted a place that didn’t remind her of some of those clean ups, lol. So basically we got lucky because we would have been screwed of our deposit money too.

just curious, where did you go instead?
 
Purplemojo said:
It was more like a food court. It was the first place that I had Mexican food.
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we used to go over there after exam days.

they also had a nice ice cream section. My grandparents lived right across the street there on First Avenue. One summer evening my grandpa walked us over to get ice cream cones. My sister got licorice. It was black licorice flavored, and black as can be. I remember part of it fell off onto my grandparent’s steps. Grandpa cleaned it up, but it left a black stain on the concrete. It remained all summer, made me wonder what it did to her insides. Yikes!
 
EHS 2001 said:
Some photos of the old Hoinke Bowling Alley across Glenway from Seton.
www.facebook.com

Old Photos Of Cincinnati | Hoinke bowling alleys across from Seton High school circa 1945 | Facebook

Hoinke bowling alleys across from Seton High school circa 1945
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
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That looked like a really nice place. Old man Hoinke knew how to run a bowling alley. Western Bowl has never been the same without him, in fact, given it’s current condition my guess is Western Bowl won’t be around in five years. The place is a dump and poorly run. It’s hard to watch that historic piece of property just rot away.
 
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polar panther said:
i remember that, we also got married in June of ‘86. We also thought of Schueler’s, but we chose Trolly Tavern, which is now the UDF at Anderson Ferry and River Rd. I think we chose not to do Schueler’s simply because my wife had worked there on weekend mornings, cleaning up after receptions. She wanted a place that didn’t remind her of some of those clean ups, lol. So basically we got lucky because we would have been screwed of our deposit money too.

just curious, where did you go instead?
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My wife and I had our reception at Trolley Tavern too. We got married in ‘85
 
PantherVOR said:
That looked like a really nice place. Old man Hoinke knew how to run a bowling alley. Western Bowl has never been the same without him, in fact, given it’s current condition my guess is Western Bowl won’t be around in five years. The place is a dump and poorly run. It’s hard to watch that historic piece of property just rot away.
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Well said. I wonder if there is regret when they decided not to sell Western Bowl years back.
 
polar panther said:
i remember that, we also got married in June of ‘86. We also thought of Schueler’s, but we chose Trolly Tavern, which is now the UDF at Anderson Ferry and River Rd. I think we chose not to do Schueler’s simply because my wife had worked there on weekend mornings, cleaning up after receptions. She wanted a place that didn’t remind her of some of those clean ups, lol. So basically we got lucky because we would have been screwed of our deposit money too.

just curious, where did you go instead?
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We ended up at the old Kolping Reception Hall.
 
cincifbfan said:
Well said. I wonder if there is regret when they decided not to sell Western Bowl years back.
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If you are talking about the Hoinkes they did sell years ago. The slide started when the son(s) were running it but has really accelerated under the “new” ownership. Western Bowl is no longer owned locally and you can tell, there is no pride in the place at all. And most (not all) of their employees reflect that attitude. It really is a shame.
 
PantherVOR said:
If you are talking about the Hoinkes they did sell years ago. The slide started when the son(s) were running it but has really accelerated under the “new” ownership. Western Bowl is no longer owned locally and you can tell, there is no pride in the place at all. And most (not all) of their employees reflect that attitude. It really is a shame.
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Thanks, I thought it was still owned by the family.

I was talking maybe 10-15 years ago there was talk about a sale and razing the bowling alley.

It is sad because that used to be a fantastic bowling alley.

Is Stumps still open? I know it's off topic.
 
cincifbfan said:
Thanks, I thought it was still owned by the family.

I was talking maybe 10-15 years ago there was talk about a sale and razing the bowling alley.

It is sad because that used to be a fantastic bowling alley.

Is Stumps still open? I know it's off topic.
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It may have been 10 or more years ago that the Hoinkes sold, they were looking to sell it to a developer that would have probably torn the place down (at least that is what I heard). At the time we were happy that is was going to continue as a bowling alley, unfortunately the group that bought it has done absolutely nothing to improve the place. I really think Western Bowl could be a gold mine if managed properly with some pride. Don’t get me wrong, at this point it would take some big money to reverse the decay. Hopefully one day someone with some pride (and money) will see the same promise I do.
 
cincifbfan said:
Thanks, I thought it was still owned by the family.

I was talking maybe 10-15 years ago there was talk about a sale and razing the bowling alley.

It is sad because that used to be a fantastic bowling alley.

Is Stumps still open? I know it's off topic.
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Yes Stumps is still open and well taken care of, at least the last time I was there it was well taken care of.
 
PantherVOR said:
It may have been 10 or more years ago that the Hoinkes sold, they were looking to sell it to a developer that would have probably torn the place down (at least that is what I heard). At the time we were happy that is was going to continue as a bowling alley, unfortunately the group that bought it has done absolutely nothing to improve the place. I really think Western Bowl could be a gold mine if managed properly with some pride. Don’t get me wrong, at this point it would take some big money to reverse the decay. Hopefully one day someone with some pride (and money) will see the same promise I do.
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How has the popularity of bowling changed?
 
ogealbhain said:
How has the popularity of bowling changed?
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It definitely dropped off over the years but I feel like it was on its way back before Covid. On the weekends it can be hard to get a lane for open bowling. With bowling being a high school and college sport now I think there is renewed interest among the younger generations.
 
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I am trying to think of all the West Side bowling allies that have existed and are still around.

Here's my list

Western Bowl
Glenmore Bowl
Stumps
Del-Fair
Hoinke's

I did not know St. Lawrence and Holy Family had their own lanes at one time. I was never a big bowling enthusiast but the history of the sport on the West Side is very interesting...
 
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