Bowling in Parma Heights

At each of its Cleveland-area locations, Freeway Lanes allows bowlers to hone gutter-hugging curves. In addition to traditional, tenpin lanes, the alleys host indoor bocce ball courts and pool tables for players tired of breaking cues on 16-pound balls. Their expansive facilities also feature modern bowling amenities along with HD television screens and full-service restaurants. League opportunities are available for children, adults, and seniors and live bands frequent the alleys, filling the air with original melodies and providing just enough bass to knock down wobbling pins.

In 1961, Peter Scimone and his wife Rosalie converted a humble patch of farmland into an epicenter for recreation, starting small with only 16 bowling lanes. Over the years, Roseland Lanes—which was named after Rosalie—was enhanced with a café and grill, pizza parlor, and pub all named for Pete. Today their daughter carries on the family tradition, warmly welcoming guests into a modern, 50-lane alley that features a game room, automatic scoring, 36-inch LCD TVs above every lane, and behemoth 47-inch screens scattered intermittently throughout the space. Roseland Lanes acts as home base for leagues and summer camps, and really flares to life during cosmic bowling on weekend and Wednesday evenings, when a DJ from Rock the House Entertainment steals the spotlight playing requested tunes through a 10,000-watt sound system.

When bowlers have exhausted themselves out on the lanes, they invade Papa Pete's Pizza for slices and wings or Pete's Cafe for burgers and ice cream. At Pete's Pub, liquor, beer, and wine quench thirsts and patrons compete for glory or the final seat on city council at the pool table, dartboards, or karaoke mike. Nearby, the Rose Room hosts up to 70 partygoers and the adjacent La Casa Bella Party Center sets the stage for fancy affairs.

At Fairview Lanes, balls thunder toward targets along 20 contemporary lanes, buffeting between bumpers or freewheeling by gutters during open bowling hours. At MoonRock bowling, pulsing music and radiance from lasers, disco balls, and black lights slice through darkness like the DJ's night vision goggles. On Friday and Saturday nights the music borders on edgy, but special glow bowling hours held during the day on Saturday and Sunday feature family-friendly music and videos. Café 220 stokes athleticism with fuel in the form of beer-battered cheese fries and fried pickle spears, and Mac's Pro Shop supplies essential bowling gear. The alley also hosts leagues for all ages and parties for any occasion.

In 1973, a fire decimated many of the lanes at Eastgate Pro-Bowl, erasing nearly 30 years of history at an alley that had hosted such professional bowlers as the great Earl Anthony. But just as pins grow back after every cataclysmic strike, Pro-Bowl's owners managed to convert the disaster into opportunity, renovating and reopening the facility as Eastgate Lanes. Today, the alley hosts open-bowling hours and leagues throughout the week, rounding out its automatic scoring with a game room and banquet hall. Each weekend, the staff dims the lights for Rock-N-Bowl sessions and karaoke parties, and at the full bar, six flat-panel HD television screens mask players' discussions as they share strategies for sneaking bites of opponents' nachos between frames.

In the words of co-owner Joel Spevock, "We really try to promote an inviting family atmosphere here." To that end, he and co-owner Jim Spevock host birthday parties and raise bumpers along all 28 of the alley’s lanes. But that’s not to say that they don’t appeal to more mature audiences as well. Spevock’s Nautical Lanes also offers bowling-league opportunities, a fully stocked bar, and Rock N Bowl, an event which combines unlimited bowling with a sound-and-light show. From 9:30 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, Rock N Bowl seizes control of the alley like a dictator picked last for the school bowling team as a child, flooding lanes with colorful lights and pulsing music.

Yorktown Lanes boasts 40 lanes, each of which is equipped with automatic scoring systems. Just beyond the lanes' edge, a lineup of colorful vinyl chairs adds a touch of vintage class. And inside the newly renovated bar onsite, bartenders liberally pour spirits, draft brews, and other fine beverages. The alley also hosts birthday bowling parties in one of two private rooms, including a banquet hall that can host wedding receptions or graduate seminars on the difference between duckpins and regular bowling pins.