Re-Use Hawaii is dismantling Waialae Bowl

What was touted for decades as 20 of the “finest lanes in Hawaii” for bowling could soon become someone’s new dining table, butcher block, workbench or something else made from the alley floors of Waialae Bowl.

A crew of five deconstruction specialists from Re-Use Hawaii armed with headlamps, pry bars and a circular saw began removing the bowling lanes of the long-shuttered Waialae Bowl on Thursday in Kahala as part of an effort to reduce debris headed for a landfill or burning, and to preserve some of the nostalgia from a business that opened in 1958 and operated for 50 years.

“We’re looking forward to having people reliving Waialae Bowl, but in a new form like countertops or tables,” said Quinn Vittum, executive director of Re-Use.

Re-Use arranged the work with Kamehameha Schools, which owns the property, and McDonald’s, which is redeveloping the site with a new restaurant and space for other shops.

Vittum said his company has three days to remove materials that can be resold and reused, including the 20 lanes, 40 or 50 out of roughly 200 bowling balls, some pins, perhaps a few benches and the long troughs where thousands of gutter balls have been thrown.

“We don’t know what we’d do with it, but it’s neat,” Vittum said of the gutters made of maple plywood. “Check that out,” he added, showing off a piece. “Isn’t it amazing?”

The most valuable things being harvested, of course, are the 20 lanes. Each one is 75 feet long, 42 inches wide and 2-1/4 inches thick. The lanes were made by gluing and nailing together maple and yellow pine planks with their narrow edges facing up. (The beginning and ending portions of each lane contain the harder maple wood for withstanding impacts from bowling balls and pins, while the midsection of the lane contains softer pine.)

Re-Use workers, who were wearing headlamps because the nearly windowless building has no electricity, are cutting the lanes into 8-foot sections. “Because that’s all we can lift up,” explained Mike Duve, deconstruction program manager.

Vittum said he wished that he had more time to scavenge other parts of the old bowling alley, which closed in 2008 but in some ways appeared to have been left as it would have been after closing for the night, with shoes neatly arranged on shelves behind the front counter where a handwritten sign listed times on weekends when lanes were open for public use.

Frank Yamamoto of Century Development Inc. opened Waialae Bowl in 1958 next to Kahala Mall, and the entertainment venue was promoted as “Hawaii’s luxurious bowling establishment” with “20 of the finest lanes in Hawaii.” Bowling, however, became hard to financially sustain in recent decades with competing entertainment attractions and rising expenses.

Since a peak year for the industry locally in 1960, close to 30 Oahu bowling alleys have closed. Today there are just four Oahu public bowling alleys — Aiea Bowl, Leeward Bowl, Pali Lanes and Barbers Point Bowling Center — according to the Oahu USBC Bowling Association. There are also bowling alleys on military bases.

Later this summer Lucky Strike, an entertainment venue with a four-lane “premium” or “boutique” bowling alley along with an arcade with more than 120 games, a bar and live music area with two stages, is slated to open at Ala Moana Center.

Brad Hamasaki, president of general contracting firm Hamasaki Construction LLC, which won the job to demolish the old Waialae Bowl building and put up the new ones, figures he bowled only once or twice there — 30 years ago when he was in elementary school.

Though he doesn’t have much of a nostalgic connection with the old bowling alley, Hamasaki said he’s glad Re-Use and the property owner and developer arranged to save parts of it.

“I love Re-Use’s mission, especially on a small, isolated island like ours,” Hamasaki said. “Any chance we have to reuse or repurpose material is good.”