A final farewell to Sunset Bowl

Geeky Swedes Ballard

With memories of happier times at Sunset Bowl, a group of former employees had the chance to take one last look. “That was our home,” the group told us in anticipation of the demolition, which is planned for later today. Barbara Church, the bar manager at the old bowling alley worked there for more than 30 years. “This place was probably my home away from home for more than half my life,” she says. Others chimed in, “mine too,” “yep, more than half my life.”

Armed with cameras and flashlights, they walked into the gutted building this morning. Once through the door, it was as if they were back in the working bowling alley — they started barking old orders at each other. “Hey! I need help on lane 12!” and “Can someone clean this up!?”

With laughter and teary eyes, they walked around their old home reliving days and nights they’ll never forget.

Some even took souvenirs to remind them of the good old days that they’ll be talking about for years to come. They even got one last photo of employees and family members. Demolition is planned for midday today.

The building has sat empty for more than a year and a half, drawing a transient crowd and becoming a canvas for graffiti. Police frequently patrol the area, especially between Sunset Bowl and Ballard Market (above.) “It’s worse to drive past here and see people standing and using our doors for their restroom and all this other kind of stuff,” former employee Dawn Stewart says.

Derek Bottles with Avalon, the development company who now owns this land, says they don’t have immediate plans to build. It’s kind of how the economy is right now, he explained. When asked why they were taking the building down now, he said, “Because the neighborhood asked us to.”

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

99 thoughts to “A final farewell to Sunset Bowl”

  4. I was always sorry that the developer did not keep Sunset Bowl going until their new building was ready to go up. They could have been making some money, instead of just paying for an empty lot, and we'd have had the joy of Sunset Bowl for a few more years. Why don't developers rent back their new properties to the sellers, while they're lining up permits? Same could be said for Denny's. Instead of a functioning business (that is making money) we just have a vacant lot. Darn.

  5. How about a compromise by building condos with a the bottom floor retail space as a bowling alley?! Extra sound-proofing may be required.

  6. Because the quicker they tear it down the less chance of it being tagged as historic. Even the attempt to tag something as historic can slow the process to a crawl. The legal fees and numerous associated holding fees (financing fees, architects, engineers, land use attorneys, etc.) will eat up any potential income. Add in the possibility they will lose the development rights and the risk isn't worth it. Much of this was brought on by the pointless fight down the street to save the ugly and non-historic Dennys. Nobody won in that fight but the attorneys. The financing dried up for the developer due to the prolonged fight and the citizens now have a site comparable to a warzone.

    Typically this is why developers will nominate their own buildings as historic, so they can control the process and prevent reactionary NIMBY's with no understanding of the process from hijacking the complicated procedure.

    In short blame the coalition to keep the Denny's. Avalon saw the writing on the wall, and indeed they were correct, that someone was going to attempt to stop the project. All these delays are built into pricing at the conclusion as required to pay off all the associated costs.

  7. Great! Maybe once the building is demolished, the drunken homeless vandals will find another place to get drunk and go to the bathroom.

    We'll miss Sunset Bowl, but not the trash, bums, grafiti, and broken-down 1970s RVs parked along 14th.

    I know that sounds insensitive, but it's the truth.

    Sick of the mess

  9. When asked why they were taking the building down now, “Because the neighborhood asked us to.”

    Wow!! A neighborhood asked you to demo the Sunset Bowl??!?!

    That sounds like someone pulled that statement right out of his wrinkled starfish…

  10. Yay. More “improvement” in Ballard.
    Remember when this was a good, quiet neighborhood with small houses?
    And a bowling alley where we could meet?
    Now it's an endless landscape of townhouses and condos and the people are all assholes.

  14. The only assholes in Ballard are the ones who didn't sell their houses for max profit while their neighbors did. They are so incredibly bitter and unfriendly its not even funny.

    Don't blame the new citizens, blame those that sold out and moved.

  17. non sequitur |ˌnän ˈsekwitər|
    noun
    a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement.
    ORIGIN Latin, literally ‘it does not follow.’

  18. YES! We need another bombed out crater like site as seen at the Dennys site. MARCH WITH ME!- WE MUST NOT REST UNTIL THIS HAPPENS!

  19. RIP Sunset Bowl, for those of us who called Ballard home, you will be sorely missed. Once again the REAL Ballard has fallen victim to its condo overlords :(

  20. My wife and I met when we worked at the long-gone Pay N Save that was across the street from Sunset Bowl and we would walk across the street to grab lunch. Not much left from those days ('79-'82)

  21. “Remember when this was a good, quiet neighborhood with small houses?”

    You mean back in the mid 1850s before white people stole the land?

  26. They cleared out the interiors and altered the interior structure rendering it non-historic almost immediately after Sunset closed its doors and subsequently auctioned off whatever they could.

    The demolition is just the most visible part. They could have torn it down a long time ago -a demo permit is an otc permit, one just needs to have a crew ready for any potential hazardous materials. They waited because like everyone else, they didn't want to spend any money..on anything last year. The transients taking over the site and tagging are becoming a liability so they may as well level the site. ..oh and the community requested it apparently.

    Fret not, it will be a vacant site for years.

  27. I would be happy if they restored Sunset Bowl. Instead, I expect another “Condo's with Retail Space Below.” Thanks California – :P

  28. oh what nice concerned for the community developers! they are demolishing our building now “BECUASE THE NEIGHBORHOOD ASKED US TO.” so nice to hear they suddenly care. screw them, and when and if ever there is “retail” there, feel free to not support it with any of your dollars.

  30. Thank you for posting this, I am one of those in the front of the 'family' photo. Many don't understand or don't care about 'an old dumpy building', but to us it was our 2nd home. We all worked, bowled and hung out there. I know for myself, having spent all of my life there, and that it will be deeply missed.
    AND NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE ELSE POSTS, SUNSET WAS A GREAT PLACE and THERE ARE GREAT PEOPLE WHO STILL LOVE IT.
    AND TO THOSE OF YOU WHO CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY WE ARE DEEPLY SADDEND BY IT GOING DOWN, ARE NOT FROM THIS AREA!
    Sunset Bowl will alway's be in my heart, and to my fellow Sunset family member's, We know what an AWESOME place it was to grow up in!
    (Another thing, how about selling the 100's of condo's in that area, that are having to be rented out instead of being bought, because no one can afford them. There are condo's from 5 years ago that are still looking for their first owner. Sell those, then talk about building more.)

  31. Hey, i live in one of those “endless” townhouses and i'm not an asshole. Believe it or not, i care just as much as you do about the Ballard community, my neighborhood and making it a safe and wonderful place to live. And yes, i think that removing a target for graffiti and homeless people dealing drugs on my street is indeed improvement.

  34. Get a grip folks. Without progress we would still be living in caves and using beaver pelts for currency. Remember that the next time you don't have to light your whale oil lamp for light and cook the squirrel you shot today over an open fire.

  39. Kudo's to the community for alerting the owners the eye-sore/transient issue.
    Kudo's to the owners for doing the right thing.

  40. WOW, what a comment?!?! And it's people like you that would rather see everything get taken down, because 'it's not your money'.
    HERE'S THE THING, it's not about MONEY, it's about the useless building's that are costing 'someone' money. If 'condo's' keeping being built, without the other's being sold, then were is the supply and demand.
    AND IF YOU WOULD HAVE NOTICED MY POINT WAS NEVER ABOUT THE DAMN CONDO'S!!!

  41. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Progress ain”t it wonderful? Good memories of sunset bowl but it”s time to say goodbye. And move on !! Another chapter in life.

  42. Great, another big hole in the ground. Does this mean we'll all get to see shots of stuffed animals in the pond, again? Good news, if your a mosquito. It could be worse. We could be Detroit.

  43. Despite the usual and expected comments, there is something really touching about this story. Ex employees getting together to pay final respects to a home away from home. That's what I remember most of the place when I bowled there back in the late 90's…there were always the same friendly faces behind the counter.

    Thanks for all the good times. I'm really sad to see it go.

  44. I LOVED the Sunset! I loved crowded Friday nights, Bud in bowling pin bottles, hourly rentals on Sunday mornings. I bowled in leagues and I karaokied my little heart out. I'm sad it's gone and I'm sad you lost your home.

    It's sad about the vacancy rate, too. But Condo dwellers didn't tear your building down. Your former boss sold it and made millions.

  47. Yikes! Can you imagine what rush hour traffic will be like if this happens? It's already crazy, specially when the Ballard Bridge goes up! Any idea when public comment is happening on these?

  48. Speaking of good quiet neighborhood, anyone know where I can get one of those bumper stickers that say something like: “Ballard: a sleepy Norwegian Drinking Village with a condo problem” … pretty sure the quote isn't right, but similar.

  49. Ballard isn't as personable as it once was and that's not progressive, that's not a good thing.

    It's seems like there's just not a whole lot of unique things encompassing this neighborhood anymore, it's all vanilla and glossy.

    True progress is the old meeting the new, and that's not happening.

    RIP Sunset Bowl. May your grounds one day be a grand meeting place for those in need of a tan or a five dollar foot long on street level, and of course, a place where plenty of residential bird houses with granite counter tops on the upper floors sit empty.

  50. “I was always sorry that the developer did not keep Sunset Bowl going until their new building was ready to go up. ”

    It's not the developer's responsibility to do that.

    Why not ask why the previous owners sold?

  51. “so nice to hear they suddenly care. screw them, and when and if ever there is “retail” there, feel free to not support it with any of your dollars.”

    Yes, because if it's a locally owned store they should be made to pay for things totally beyond their control.

    Good to see the comments here are as well-informed as ever.

  54. YOU NOW HAVE NOTHING LEFT FOR KIDS TO DO IN BALLARD NO BOWLLING,NO ROLLER SKATEING, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT KIDS TO DO NOW WALK THE STREETS AND HANG OUT AT 7-11 I WAS RASIED IN BALLARD IN THE 70S AND THERE WAS ALWAYS SOME PLACE TO GOAND TO DO. I DONT WANT TO SEE MORE KIDS ON THE STREETS FOR EASY PREY FOR DRUG DEALERS AND SEX PRETORS WHAT A SHAME

  55. “they are demolishing our building”

    'Our' building? Are you one of the owners?

    Can I claim your property as part of this mysterious 'collective' you talk about? Let me know, I'd love to take some of your stuff.

  57. Ah, but they're not putting in anything actually. At least not right now due to “the economy” this will be a vacant lot and artists rendering for some time.

    I'd rather be bowling.

  60. $$$$$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$ $ $$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$, $$$$$ $$ $$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$ $$$$$$$. $$$$$$$ $$$$$, $$$$$, $$$$$, $$$$$$$$ $$$$ $$ $$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$.

  62. They don't want to bowl like the kids from American Graffiti. They wanna blow stuff up and remove the head of their enemy. Bowling is antique in the eyes of young Ballard Beavers.

  63. When your kids tell you they are going bowling, they are just going to do drugs. Now they will have to make up another activity to tell you.

  68. i will slowly try to explain it to you, barky. the difference is thousands of folks in our community haven't come over to my place and many folks haven't worked in it for over 50 years because it is not set up as a public entertainment and social venue. i am not ineterested in taking anyone's stuff either. the developer says he is acting because “the neighborhood asked him.” despite the likely disingenuousness (look the word up) reason used, even the developer thinks the “collective” interests @ stake warrant some respect. understand?

  69. ” public entertainment “

    But it wasn't public entertainment, it was private entertainment and the owners, Ballard residents for several generations, closed it and sold it. They are the ones responsible for this turn of events. no one else is to blame, only them.

    Want to blame anyone? Blame any person in Ballard who sold their property for a profit….seems to be a lot of them around.

  71. I'm sorry to hear about all the fighting over this. The sunset bowl's loss was a sad sad thing. But it happened over a year ago. I work in the Ballard Market annex right across the street from the building and ever since the close we've had to see drunken fights, drug deals, people sh*ting on the sidewalk, pissing on our back door. I can't park my car near our office anymore because I would get harassed every time I got to work or left. Yes, today they knocked the building down, but it's not like they were going to reopen sunset bowl. Yes, there will be an empty lot, but how much worse is that than watching a once-great place get vandalized and pissed on and make our neighborhood unsafe for years to come until they decide to build? I sympathize with those to whom the sunset bowl was a second home, but we should remember it as it was, not as an eyesore.

  73. This is very sad. Not so much the actual demolition (as the building had become derelict), but the loss of the bowling alley, the community it generated and the old-fashioned, curmudgeonly charm of Ballard. And for those of you in condos – of course you aren't all assholes, but a lot of you appear to be. There is a certain attitude that has permeated Ballard, and I would simply name it “entitled”. If you are new to a neighborhood, try fitting into it rather than expecting it to make room for you. Try waving when someone waits for you to drive past – particularly now that there are so many more cars; try saying hello to the few elderly people left in this neighborhood; try having a sense of humor; and try not to blame the derelict building that was Sunset Bowl for the drug trafficking and homelessness in this neighborhood. While you are right that “Condo Overlords” didn't force the owners of the bowling alley to sell, nor force the owners of the countless houses that have disappeared and been replaced with singularly ugly and poorly constructed “townhomes”, the contractors and city of Seattle have managed to make it pretty hard for people to turn down the offers. Who can afford to pass up the huge amounts of extra money being offered?
    The drug trafficking has to do with demand – and there is a upwardly-mobile, heavy-partying, crowd in Ballard now. A little northern Bell Town. And the homeless people hanging around abandoned buildings – where the hell else are they supposed to go? Don't be smug and judgemental – look out for someone else.

  79. “You the community” were unwilling to pay the bowling fees required to make it worth “they the owners” time to run the place as a bowling alley.

  81. The sense of entitlement appears to be from…people who already live here. Pass some terribly restrictive zoning laws if you want to keep this from happening. Just be sure that you've already sold out to the highest bidder beforehand.

  83. ” try fitting into it rather than expecting it to make room for you”

    Is that what the Indians said to your when you arrived?

  84. Actually it is our money. A lot of these speculative real estate ventures are the reason that the taxpayers have had to bail out bank after bank.

  86. No, the place was packed and the bar was usually full too on weekends. The bowling alley was very profitable, but not as easy as a quick pile of cash for the land underneath it. The owners decided to get all their money out at once and they profit while the community suffers for their choice. It doesn't mean that we can't mourn the loss that we the community feel just because that's the way it is and the owners are okay with it.

  88. IF THATS ALL YOU SEE IN MY COMENT THEN YOU DONT GET THE WHOLE PICTURE. I HOPE YOU DONT HAVE KIDS IF YOU DID YOU MITE NO WHAT IAM TALKING ABOUT. I RASIED 3 KIDS IN BALLARD AND I NEW WHERE WHEN AND WHO THey WERE WITH AND HAD PHONE # SO IF ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS MISPELLED WORDS OR CAPS LOCKED SHAME ON YOU

  90. with a salute to DT for the 1st an obviously poignant comment . . .

    but for me, growing up in the midwest –

    bowling alleys do not bring back any good memories

  91. I do care about proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar amongst other more important issues. It's a shame that your point, whatever it may be, gets lost in the fury of all caps, misspelled words, and lack of punctuation. I'm hardly perfect in this regard, but I do care enough about my own opinion to put in the effort to get it across in a reasonably understandable way.
    Perhaps you can understand it better with this analogy: If a person comes into the coffee shop smelling of feces and screaming at the top of their lungs the message tends to get ignored because of the delivery. In the online discussion, the ALL CAPS key means you are raising your voice. The inability to use proper grammar and spelling makes your post difficult to read and makes it more likely that your point gets lost because of the delivery.

  92. what a shame i fill sorry for people like you when there is so much bad going on in the world and all you care about is some one else's spelling.shame,shame.

  94. J'accuse, I'm very relieved to see that you've turned off the caps lock key. You should however take this opportunity to learn the wonders of the shift key. It allows you to capitalize the first letter of your sentence without capitalizing all the words.
    Tomorrow we can learn about punctuation and the apostrophe. That's going to be fun!

  95. J'accuse, No need to feel sorry for me or try to shame me. I have many cares, and punctuation and spelling aren't particularly high on the list. My other cares however, are no excuse for me to not even try to spell or communicate properly.

  99. i worked there doing Karaoke for years, great customers.fun times
    thank you for letting me host that party for all those years
    i did miss you when i left,

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