Hidden Cleveland: Maple Lanes Bowling Alley and Tavern

A painting of burlesque dancer Lili St. Cyr gazes at would-be bowlers from above the stuck-in-time bar at Maple Lanes, a vintage bowling house in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood. “You’re no bowler,” she seems to say. “You’ll be eaten alive.” The lanes here are 76-year-old maple wood slats with cracks and ridges. Even the Dude would shudder at the trial. “You challenge the lanes here, not other players, because they’re all so different,” says co-owner Barbara Rogers. “This isn’t where you try to bowl a 300.” In fact, no one is known to have ever bowled a perfect game. After just one toss — a sure gutter ball saved by a divot — another old-timey flourish of this appointment-only alley hums to life. A semi-automatic pinsetter, one of 12 still registered with the Bowling Proprietors Association of America, whirs as a person replaces the spent pins. The pins are then lowered onto the lane by the machine as the ball is rolled back by hand. As it has been since Maple Lanes opened in 1940, pencil and paper are the only tools here for keeping score — and they tell a sad tale. Take our advice and opt out of a second game for another round with Lili at the bar. 6918 St. Clair Ave., Cleveland, 216-431-9593