Petitions circulated to halt loss of Sunset Bowl

Jim Bristow is fed up. After hearing his favorite haunt, the Sunset Bowl, would shutter in April, he immediately began gathering signatures for a petition and calling investors to see if he might save the Ballard icon, or some form of it.

"I'm tired of the soul of Ballard getting stripped away," said Bristow, a local independent contractor.

The Sunset Bowl, one of just four bowling alleys left operating in the city, was sold to Avalon Ballard LLC for $13.2 million and is set to close in April. The one-acre site will become apartments.

Sunset Bowl's owners also sold North Seattle's other famous bowling alley, Leilani Lanes in Greenwood, to a developer two years ago.

But Bristow has high hopes that the new owner will consider incorporating this one at the ground floor of the new apartment building. Or maybe he can interest other investors to build it somewhere else here.

Avalon Ballard's parent company is AvalonBay Communities Inc., a luxury apartment developer that owns 13 complexes in the Puget Sound area. It's Web site, www.avaloncommunities.com, lists several awards the company has won for design and management.

So far, Bristow said hundreds have signed the petition that he's been circulating door-to-door. Slightly daunted at the task he's set for himself, Bristow said he hopes this will be the last straw for Ballard residents who are frustrated with developers paving over history.

"This is the tipping point," he said. "It's taking away a family institution."

For 51 years, the 24-hour, 26-lane alley and diner have served the community. Manager for 27 of those years, Verl Lowry, is touched that Bristow cares so much, but it's already a "done deal," he said.

"(Jim) has that ray of hope," said Lowry, 61. "But I can't be that optimistic."

Lowry grew up in Ballard and even had his tonsils removed at Ballard Hospital, before it became Swedish. Like a lot of long-time Ballardites, he's distraught about development that takes away family institutions like the Sunset Bowl.

"What kind of community is Ballard becoming?" he said. "Where has it gone? Where is it going?"

Lowry's concern doesn't stop there. He wonders what his future will hold now that he must leave a job he's held so long.

"It's very, very bleak at this point in my life," he said. "I don't relish the thought of looking for another job. It just scares the hell out of me."

The bowling alley, at 1420 N.W. Market St, is just blocks away from the now shuttered Denny's Restaurant. Like Sunset, it, too, has been considered a long-time Ballard gathering place, first built as a Manning's Cafeteria in 1964.

There's an effort underway to save that building as well, which is considered by some to be a prime example of modern architecture. A city board will decide if it's a landmark later next month, potentially halting the construction of an eight-story condominium there.

In the meantime, Bristow said some investors have expressed interest in keeping the bowling alley here, though he couldn't name names yet.

By collecting signatures, letters and showing up in droves at public hearings, he plans to show city leaders that the business is an important part of the community. It might not be too late. The Seattle Department of Planning and Development have not yet received any redevelopment plans for the site.

"The ball is in our court," Bristow said.

Joe Korbel, a spokesman for AvalonBay, said he wasn't ready to comment on Bristow's efforts, but did say his company is looking to have a positive relationship with the community.

"We are not the kind of developer who wants to come in and displace people," he said from his office in New York. "We are definitely willing to work with people."

Bristow, a regular bowler on Tuesday nights, believes the Sunset Bowl is one of the few places left in Ballard that brings families together and helps foster community. A place for countless birthday parties and community gatherings, it's where he goes to "clear his head and get away from it all."

"It's not really about bowling. It's about keeping our neighborhoods a community," Bristow said. "We don't need more condos we need a place for families to hang out."

Jim Bristow can be reached at savesunset@yahoo.com.

Rebekah Schilperoort may be reached at 783.1244 or rebekahs@robinsonnews.com