Kingpin Lanes

Save us a little work, folks. Insert your own "Big Lebowski" caption here. (Credit: Joseph Lord, special to Velocity)

Certain activities go hand-in-hand with libations. Bowling is one of them, and this Bar Hopper is certainly aware.

In my younger days, desperate for pocket cash to blow on CDs now gathering dust in a closet somewhere, I worked as a "go-fer" at J-town Lanes in the heart of Jeffersontown. If a pin ended up in the gutter beyond the reach of the pinsetter, I was to scurry down and knock it back. The rest of the time I pushed a trash can, emptying ashtrays and disposing of beer bottles, from which I never took sips when no one was looking.

It was the first time I was exposed to an actual bar, even though I wasn't allowed to breach the threshold between the bowling alley and the dim, dirty lounge right out of a Tom Waits song. But it nevertheless shaped my concept of what bars were supposed to be like -- dark, menacing rooms with lots of beer and lots of beer drinkers. And pool tables. Can't forget those.

J-town Lanes has been gone for years. But J-townites -- well, my mom and dad -- were pleased when Kingpin Lanes opened in 2006 in the same shopping center. This is not the worn-down, '70s-era bowling alley I'd come up with. And Kingpin's bar, dubbed the Lounge, is nothing like that Tom Waits joint I remembered from years ago.

The Lounge is bright and colorful, with pin-shaped columns and cushy chairs to rest in before and after league games. The beer selection beats the usual Coors and Bud, with AmberBock and a few imports on draught. They'll mix any drink you want, too, even if it's 11 a.m. The bowling center also has a draught selection at the café closer to the lanes, for bowlers who want to grab a few without the risk of holding up a game. Kingpin has several lanes of run-of-the-mill bowling and X-treme bowling, with the blacklights and what-have-you -- you know, for the kids, who can also knock themselves out in an abundant game room.

This Bar Hopper thought he'd be content to drink an AmberBock with his ladyfriend in the Lounge; I'm on the Barack Obama side of bowling averages. But, sure enough, I found myself rolling before long. For non-bowlers, there's karaoke on Friday and bands on Saturday.

Kingpin Lanes -- including the Lounge -- is open from 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

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