As the Vista Entertainment Center is dismantled to make space for a new car dealership, its bowling lanes will see a new life as furniture and flooring.
When pub patrons sit down at Hoppy Daze Tap House in Otay Mesa West, they’re following in the footsteps of thousands of North County bowlers. The bar counters at the brewpub are constructed out of bowling lanes salvaged from the former Vista Entertainment Center.
SAN DIEGO
The San Diego region lost two bowling alleys during the COVID-19 pandemic and narrowly avoided losing a third, continuing the steady decline of a hobby so popular in the 1960s and 1970s that it helped define American civic life.
Roughly two-thirds of the nation’s bowling alleys have closed since the mid-60s, a trend industry leaders blame on everything from the advent of cable TV to younger generations avoiding firm commitments like joining a bowling league.
San Diego faces even greater challenges than most communities because the scarcity of land here makes sprawling bowling complexes appealing targets for developers planning ambitious projects.