When Jennifer Bonowitz’s seven-year-old daughter was diagnosed with cancer, it was her bowling league that got together to raise money for her treatment. These days, her daughter is feeling better, thanks to the support of her bowling buddies.When Jim Santora’s father died a month ago, about 50 members of his bowling league showed up to pay their respects.
For them and hundreds like them, Woodhaven Lanes, in Forest Hills is more than a place to bowl; it’s where their families and social lives converge and thrive, as they have there for generations.
“My sister and I grew up in this bowling alley said Patricia Molina, Bonowitz’s sister. “There used to be a daycare downstairs that my mom would take us to while she would bowl upstairs in the ladies’ league.
“I met my husband here,” she added. “It’s a family place. We’re right now expecting our first child and looking forward to raising our children in this bowling alley.”
But rumors of the possible sale of the Woodhaven Lanes bowling alley, at 75-25 Woodhaven Blvd., just south of Metropolitan Avenue, has lifelong friends and bowlers worried about the future of their favorite gathering spot.
Stanley Schuckman, president of Schuckman Realty, the leasing broker for the property, said he could not comment on the sale. Likewise, a spokesman for the owner said he could not comment, not even to confirm that the building was, in fact, for sale.
However, Schuckman’s Web site, www.schuckmanrealty.com, has already begun advertising the 45,000-square-foot space, which claims it will be available for possession by “one lucky retailer” sometime this spring.
Opened in 1959, the Woodhaven Lanes facility has been a fixture in the community for generations. Within a few years, league play started at the alley, which cemented its place in the lives of many around the community who would make it part of their weekly sporting and social routine.
These days, the aging facility faces maintenance problems, and whoever takes over the site — whether it be a redeveloper or someone who wishes to preserve the alley — will face immediate rehabilitation costs.
The alley’s bowling faithful say they are ready to help keep the facility open however they can, even if it means helping to raise money.
Santora, who is president of the “Ball and Chain” bowling league — which comprises 44 co-ed teams and nearly 180 people — explained that the league he helped run was a big deal for many people, with league nights held every Tuesday across 36 weeks, costing members $900 a person. Like many members of the league, he said he had met his wife while she was bowler at Woodhaven, and had even proposed to her one night after bowling, almost 19 years ago.
“We’ve got so many friends through bowling, and they’re just very, very good, long friendships,” he said. “It’s more than just bowling. It’s camaraderie going back sometimes 40, 50 years.”
“We’re trying to fight to get this bowling alley to stay open,” said his wife, Donna Fazio, secretary of the league. She added that the league, along with others, would be holding a rally to save the bowling alley on April 12 at noon. The league had also begun circulating a petition to the same end, which had accrued about 1,000 names.
She and her husband said they had been in contact with spokespeople for the property owner and with a potential buyer named John LaSpina, who already owns two bowling alleys in Brooklyn and two in Suffolk County.
“We’ve got a lot of senior citizens on this league,” she noted. “This is their only enjoyment. This is their once a night entertainment. ... It’s competition, but it’s a social event as well.”
LaSpina said he had been in talks with the owner to try to take over the property in order to keep it a bowling alley. He admitted that the facility needed a lot of work, but noted that the enthusiasm among local bowlers had been a great boon to his efforts, and had been a pleasure to deal with.
“It’s a wonderful place. It has great potential,” he said. “It’s a true community center, and if we can save save it, we’re here to do that.
“There is some hope,” he added, noting that he would be meeting the owner soon to further discuss their options. “The owner is trying to the right thing, for everyone, including for himself.”
Nick Rotondo, from Howard Beach, who is good friends with Santora and Fazio, said he had been bowling at the alley for 20 years.
“I’m a pretty positive person,” he said. “So with with a little prayer and a little of everything, we’ll keep the bowling alley going.”
