Thursday, December 12, 2019

Cocked Hat Bowling

I work out in Lake St. Louis now and so our happy hours all take place in areas I'm not familiar with. The county being beige at heart means most of the bars and restaurants therein have the history and uniqueness of a loaf of Wonder Bread. So I was really excited when I discovered the 154 year old Corner Bar in St. Charles and I was able to pull a couple of coworkers there instead of Applebee's.

St. Louis Magazine here: "The Corner Bar is a story of accessories—how a fifth-generation shoemaker, Jason Bibb, bought the country’s last pair of cocked-hat bowling lanes. Named for the “smartass” (Bibb’s word) way that men wore their derbies while rolling, cocked-hat bowling uses three regular pins and a candlepin ball (think bocce ball but with no holes for your fingers) instead of your standard-issue 10 pins. Bibb says the place has been around since 1865, the alley’s been continuously in use since 1875, and this is probably the last place on earth where you can play three-pin bowling. "


It was funny because if you just walked into the bar you'd see no evidence of the Anne Frank bowling alley and think nothing of it. The alley is accessible through a pretty steep staircase with a trap door at the top. The regulars were pretty grumpy about people using the staircase while they were bowling.


We chatted with the players a bit but it was a little awkward as there are only two little lanes and we were the only other people down there.


I might need to actually book this place.


The set up was completely manual, with a person on the other end setting the pins back up between frames. Seeing as how there were only 3 pins that didn't seem too challenging.

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