Handley shows me a thick binder of clippings and photographs, along with other loose materials he has borrowed from a son of the late proprietor Jack Fasso. Main Bowl (1941-1959), 306 Main St., was the early incarnation of Imperial Lanes, which closed earlier this year and was one of the last two centers left inside Seattle city limits. “I’m grateful to them for running so many pictures.” “I also went through the records and scrapbooks of the association and there are many old copies of the Northwest Bowler,” Handley says. “They had photos taken of every address in conjunction with King County tax records,” Handley said, which conveniently resulted in an exterior photograph of almost every Seattle-area bowling center of the past several decades. It also featured a swimming pool in the 1960s. Kenmore Lanes started out as a 24-lane center, but went through three remodelings to bring the current total to 50 lanes. “Now, I have three!”Įquipped with addresses of buildings long gone, Handley began making appointments at the Puget Sound Regional Archives in Bellevue. He would give the addresses to archives staff ahead of time, and they would pull the appropriate documents and have them waiting for Handley when he arrived. “When I began this project, I had no library card and I hadn’t had one for many years,” he said. “Then from there I went to the public library, looking at telephone directories, display ads in the Yellow Pages, and contacting historical societies. “I started with the UW library, and looking at Polk city directories,” Handley said. The information includes address, open/closure date, number of lanes, type of equipment, and any other interesting tidbits.
Handley has kept a spreadsheet documenting every Seattle bowling center on which he’s been able to find records. And with that quest has come an unofficial title, that of Seattle’s resident bowling historian. He began a quest to find out everything possible about every Seattle bowling center, past and present. And that’s part of the reason I’m doing what I’m doing, to see what I missed to the extent that that’s possible.”Īnd so began Handley’s journey, some six years ago following his retirement. “I didn’t go around to as many as I wish I had. “I knew there were a lot and I wondered about them, the different bowling centers, what they looked like,” he said. Handley knew there were dozens of other centers in Seattle, but he never got to see most of them - something he regrets. I cleaned, washed pins, washed carpet brushes - I would crawl down, pull those out and use a big blower to clean them out.” I also worked two years as a pinchaser at Green Lake. I must have washed thousands of those over two years. Then I had another pile for the clean ones. “I had a pile of used sheets, and I’d take one. At Village, one of his duties was to clean the yellow grease pencil off the reusable plastic tel-e-score sheets after each night of league. Handley worked at two of them as a teenager - Village Lanes and Green Lake Bowl. Quite simply, you were the greatest.When Scott Handley became a league bowler in 1962, Seattle had some 25 active bowling centers. Thank you for delighting and inspiring us. Little Britain and former Great British Bake Off host Matt Lucas added: "I wonder if all geniuses are as lovely as Barry Humphries. My love goes out to Lizzie and all the family." I've been in Australia and was with him only 3 days ago. A true great who inspired me immeasurably. Gavin and Stacey actor Rob Brydon said: "RIP Barry Humphries. The characters he created brought laughter to millions … My thoughts are with family on this sad day!" May he rest in peace."Īussie icon Jason Donovan also paid tribute, saying: "Australia has lost one of its greatest! Funny, literate and fiercely intelligent Barry Humphries was quite simply an entertaining genius. A great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind, he was both gifted and a gift. But the brightest star in that galaxy was always Barry. Tributes are continuing to pour in for the much-loved comic, whose catchphrase was ‘Hello Possums!’Īustralian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese tweeted: "For 89 years, Barry Humphries entertained us through a galaxy of personas, from Dame Edna to Sandy Stone.
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