Lanes May Be Declared Landmark
L.A. City Council will vote on designating the Holiday Bowl a monument of postwar architecture.


Los Angeles Times, 2000

(Excerpts only)

...Designating the Holiday Bowl, which closed in May after more than 40 years in business, would be a remarkable step. Not only does the property's owner oppose the designation, which would prevent demolition for at least a year, but no bowling alley has ever achieved such status.

But those who want to save the building say that there is no bowling alley quite like the Holiday Bowl. Its closing this summer prompted coverage by the national news media, which celebrated the alley--long a gathering spot for Japanese Americans and African Americans--as a model of racial harmony in an area scarred by the 1992 riots. Preservationists also argue that with its zigzagging roof and plate-glass walls, the bowling alley is a prime example of the 1950s pop architectural style now called "Googie."

Swayed by such arguments, the city's Cultural Heritage Commission voted in June to name the Holiday Bowl a historic-cultural monument, which would give it at least a reprieve from demolition for one year.

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