Tropicana Lanes opened in 1960, with a face-off between Olga Gloor and Johnny King defeating Sonny Fitter and Mildred Stauder.
It’s still a landmark all these years later, with 52 lanes between its two sides.
It has some interesting features, such as this concrete block screen wall below that helps shield the porte cochere from the elements.
It’s a huge complex, and perhaps its location set back from Clayton Road will protect it from redevelopment for the time being.
A bunch of boys used to go to Tropicana every day. I was one of them. We used to play the pinball machines and “hang out”. One day, we found cracked pins being thrown away, so moving them to the south of the Alley, we created a bonfire. We did this on a 90 degree summer day. Ah! for the memories.
There was, below the Lanes, a Clark gas station long gone out of business, but as a child, the gang rummaged around the papers left behind. We found a cancelled check for $1,000,000.00 — but it was cancelled. And if memory serves, there was a golf driving range where Tropicana now is. We used to look for golf balls on the outside of the netting. I don’t recall what I did with those balls.
Thanks, Chris.