They called the bowling alley 'the poor man's country club.' Then the industry cut its buildings almost in half — 6,148 to 3,154 — and rebuilt the survivors for a customer who could pay more.
The Professional Bowlers Association built its first stars out of forklift drivers and machinists — Earl Anthony drove a forklift for West Coast Grocery, and Don Carter worked a warehouse floor before the cameras came. In 1958 the American Society of Planning Officials put a name on the room those men learned in: the poor man's country club. A game ran about 25 cents — roughly $2.75 in today's money — and the guy on the next lane worked your same factory shift. For the price of a few games you got everything the rich man paid a membership for: a team, a place to belong, a standing Tuesday night.
Then the U.S. Census Bureau's County Business Patterns program (NAICS 713950) counted what happened to the buildings: 6,148 bowling centers with paid employees in 1986, down to 3,154 by 2023 — and roughly three of every four gone from the mid-1960s peak of about 12,000. But the survivors didn't lose money. The White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group's own industry research shows who bowls now: by 2007, 42% of bowlers came from households earning $75,000 or more when only 30% of the country did, and by 2015 more than half of casual bowlers came from college-educated households. The advice the industry paid that firm for gives the game away: "the more centers that match the tastes and values of upscale consumers, the more those consumers will come out to bowl."
Watch the full documentary: youtu.be/xLjNYxUGGbI