Just down the hill from B-Town, the Tukwila Rotary Club is holding “Strike Out Hunger,” a bowling party fundraiser for the Tukwila Food Pantry on Saturday, March 27th from 9am – Noon at ACME Bowl.

Who doesn’t love a bowling party, especially when it’s for a great cause?

Here are the details:

WHAT: Tukwila Rotary’s “Strike Out Hunger” bowling fundraiser for the Tukwila Food Pantry

WHEN: Saturday, March 27th from 9am – Noon

WHERE: ACME Bowl, located at

INFO: From a poster:

Join us at ACME Bowl in Tukwila for a great event that supports the Tukwila Food Pantry!

Saturday, March 27th from 9:00 am — 12 noon.

Bowler check-in at 8:45am.

Entry fee: Minimum of $200 per team (4 bowlers) Entry deadline: March 22nd or until full. Don’t wait…register today!

For event information, bowler registration and sponsorship opportunities visit our website www.TukwilaRotary.org.

If you have questions, or need further assistance, please contact the Tukwila Rotary at 206-674-4673 or send an e-mail to StrikeOutHunger@TukwilaRotary.org.

Far as we know, it’s the only wacky bowling party based on a Coen Brothers movie – the annual Lebowski Fest returns to the area on Monday July 20th & Tuesday July 21st!

The Fest kicks off with the Movie Party at Seattle’s Fremont Outdoor Cinema with a performance by Har Mar Superstar, Jeff Dowd and white russian flavored popcorn on Monday, July 20th.

Here are the details:

WHAT: The annual Lebowski Fest

WHEN: Monday, July 20th and Tuesday, July 21st:

MONDAY, JULY 20th: Lebowski Fest Seattle Movie Party – Featuring Har Mar Superstar and Jeff “The Dude” Dowd. Followed by a screening of the movie. All Ages. Doors at 6pm, show at 7:30. @ Fremont Outdoor Cinema – 3501 Phinney Ave. North, 98103. $20

TUESDAY, JULY 21st: Lebowski Fest Seattle Bowling Party – Bowling, costume, trivia and other contests. Appearance by Jeff “The Dude” Dowd. Ticket includes bowling* and shoe rental. Ages 21 and up. 7pm @ ACME Bowl – 100 Andover Park W, 98188. $25 Advance / $30 Day of

WHERE: Mon. 7/20 at Fremont Outdoor Cinema and Tues. 7/21 at ACME Bowl in Tukwila (located at 100 Andover Park West).

TICKETS: Tickets are on sale here, and the last Lebowski Fest sold out in advance so considered yourself warned, dude.

INFO: “Come down Tuesday July 21st and check out the one and only Lebowski Fest at ACME Bowling, Billiards, and Events. Please note that ACME Bowl will be closed to the public during this event. Sorry for any inconvenience.”

Jeff Dowd, the inspiration for The Dude, will appear in Seattle! Ever heard of the Seattle Seven? That was Jeff Dowd (and six other guys). The Dude will help the roadies on the Speed of Sound tour kick off the West Coast leg.

*Bowling is general admission and not guaranteed. Bowling shoes not required with any non-dark soled shoe.

To whet your appetite for this unusual fest, here’s a trailer for the Coen Brothers movie (to see more clips, click here, but be warned that several use what one might call “adult language”):

The Tukwila Rotary Club is holding “Strike Out Hunger,” a special bowling party fundraiser for the Tukwila Food Pantry this Saturday, March 28th, from 9am to Noon at Acme Bowl in Tukwila.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Join us at ACME Bowl in Tukwila for a great event that supports the Tukwila Food Pantry!

WHEN: Saturday, March 28th from 9:00 am — 12 noon; Bowler check-in at 8:45am

WHERE: ACME Bowl in Tukwila, located at 100 Andover Park West in Tukwila (map below); 206.340.ACME

COST: Entry fee: Minimum of $200 per team (4 bowlers); Entry deadline: March 24th or until full. Don’t wait…register today!

INFO: For event information, bowler registration and sponsorship opportunities visit: www.TukwilaRotary.org.

If you have questions, or need further assistance, please contact the Tukwila Rotary at 206-674-4673 or send an e-mail to: StrikeOutHunger@TukwilaRotary.org.

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Sleep Country USA’s fourth-annual “Pajama Bowl” fundraiser for foster kids will be held on Sunday, April 19th at Acme Bowl and Billiards in Tukwila.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Sleep Country USA’s 4th Annual Pajama Bowl

WHEN: Sunday, April 19th, with start times at 11am and 2pm.

WHERE: Acme Bowl and Billiards at 100 Andover Park West, Tukwila (see map below)

REGISTER: “Gather five of your best friends, co-workers or family members and register for this year’s event at your local Sleep Country USA store or online at www.pajamabowl.com. Each team will need to raise or donate a minimum of $250 to participate. All of the entry fees will be donated directly to the 20 Pacific Northwest foster children’s charities that Sleep Country USA supports.”

INFO: All donations are tax-deductible, and 100% of donations benefit foster kids – paying for sports fees, piano lessons, tutoring and summer camp.

Gather friends, family or colleagues to raise money and win prizes at the Sleep Country Foster Kids Pajama Bowl!

Why? We are raising money to support foster kids. And, jammies look great with bowling shoes!

How? Put together a 5-person team. All ages welcome. To enter, each team must raise or donate at least $250 – that’s only $50 per bowler. The more you raise the better chance you have to win!

Register online at www.pajamabowl.com or contact Treehouse for more information. We’ll send you everything you need to sign up to help a Treehouse foster kid today.

Score points by wearing pajamas, raising money & bowling a good score. Each member of the winning team will receive a Queen Size Beautyrest mattress!

Great for families, friends and groups!

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Photos and Story by Scott Schaefer

At 14920 Ambaum Blvd. lies an aging, one-level, yellow cement/brick building that currently houses “Paty’s Furniture,” a discount “Mexican Furniture” shop adjacent to the Burien City Garage.

It’s chock full of discount furniture, couches, loveseats, recliners, mattresses, kid’s beds, “dinning sets” and more, all at marked-down prices, with many signs in Spanish and the words “Mexican Furniture” on their business cards.

One thing that people don’t realize is that the old wooden floors underneath the marked-down couches and recliners hide a secret, nearly-forgotten Burien history:

These were once the wooden floors of “Burien Bowling Lanes,” a 7-lane bowling alley that operated here between 1948 and 1962.

Where wooden dinette sets now sit, gutter balls once rolled.

Where blue velvet couches lie at a 30% discount awaiting to be taken to a new home, 7-10 splits once frustrated B-Town bowlers.

Currently, you can see the remnants of two or three of the lanes, including the aiming marks on what may have been lane two or three:

We were first alerted to this history by an email from researcher Scott Handley, who wrote:

I’m collecting information on local bowling centers, past and present.

Yesterday, I was at the University of Washington Library working with Polk City Directories, and I came across “Burien Bowling Lanes,” 14920 Ambaum Blvd SW.

Best I could figure from the directories, it opened around 1956 and closed in 1964.

Would anyone with a long memory recall how many lanes it had, or whether it closed coincident with the opening of Hi-Line Lanes, located less than a mile away?

Thanks very much.  I’m impressed by your blog.

Scott Handley
Edmonds

Of course, we immediately forwarded the email on to Cyndi Upthegrove, Director of the Highline Historical Society, who quickly confessed to knowing nothing about it.

Our next step of course was to roll on in to Paty’s Furniture and do our own inspection. It didn’t take more than two minutes before we found the first evidence, and we starting snapping photos right away.

Shortly thereafter, we had to explain why were were crouched over, taking pictures of the old floor boards under the La-Z-Boys to Julio, the store manager – “um, I run a local website, and I understand that this was once a bowling alley…”

Julio just smiled a lot and nodded, and seemed to find what he could understand very amusing.

But that’s the truth, and we’re not afraid to admit we love unusual local history and stories. Especially the kind that involves a fun and funky sport that is now being replaced by a virtual video game version that we play with our kids.

If you have any memories or photos of this building when it was the “Burien Bowling Lanes,” or know of any other lost history in the Burien area, please email us – we’d love to do more features like this.

Otherwise, stop in and say hi to Julio, then walk down the ramp to the main showroom of discount furniture. Find an area of exposed wood, and take a look around at the floor and imagine what once went on in this building – people met here, had fun, got frustrated, won games, lost bets, relieved stress, perhaps even heard the first single by a guy named Elvis as they rented shoes, then stuck their fingers in heavy balls that they rolled down a wooden lane trying to knock down ten white pins, not knowing that some 50-60 years later it’d be mostly forgotten, covered by discount “Mexican Furniture” then revealed again on a community news source that wasn’t even printed on paper.

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Burien Parks produced this video, which showcases area seniors who took part the first ever regional Wii Bowling League Tournament between participating senior centers on Jan. 7th:

The virtual non-gutter ball, strike & spare-rollin’ Senior Bowlers were from various centers around South King County, and the tournament was hosted by the Great American Casino in Tukwila.

According to numerous, reliable sources (and this is apparent in the video), a fun time was had by all!

[EDITOR'S NOTE: If you have a Wii, please be sure to wear your wrist strap at all times, else suffer the fate of this clumsy Wii Bowler:}

This Sunday, June 1st, Sleep Country is holding its annual Pajama Bowl, a fun fundraising bowling event at Acme Bowl in Tukwila.

Start times are 11am and 2pm, and each team will bowl two games.

The grand prize of five Beautyrest Mattress sets will be awarded to the members on the bowling team that accumulate the most points over all.  Great runner up prizes will also be awarded, along with opportunities to win gifts throughout the event.

100% of the pledges raised will be donated to the local foster care partners.  These non-profit organizations offer essential services and little extras that help give foster kids a more stable and happier childhood. Please see below for a list of our partners, and how they intend to use the funds raised during the Pajama Bowl.

Acme Bowl is located at 100 Andover Park West in Tukwila.

To Register please call (253) 236-0930.

More info here.

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Everyone’s fave B-Town bowling alley (oh yeah, and our only one) Hi-Line Lanes is holding a fundraiser Auction and Shamrock-N-Bowl event to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association this Sunday, March 2nd, from 9am to Noon.

As part of the auction, they’re selling a Carrol Shelby Autographed painting of a Shelby Mustang (seen here), donated by Frank Wilcher of Millennium Ford in Burien.

All Proceeds raised Sunday will go to MDA.

If you are interested in bowling, tickets are just $20 for each bowler – no limit on the number of games, just 2-1/2 hours of bowling, including shoes!

There will be a silent auction, door prizes and a 50/50 raffle drawing, not to mention lots of fun for a great cause.

Please call the Five Corner’s Albertson’s @ 206-243-8080 and ask about tickets for bowling.

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