HAS MORE FROM WORCESTER.
WITH CLAIR CLASSIC CARS IN MY REARVIEW MIRROR ARE NEW ENGLAND
FOR SALE ROAD TRIP HEADS WEST TO WORCESTER WHERE FOR 60 YEARS
COLONIAL BOWLING CENTER WAS THE GO-TO PLACE TO PRACTICE THIS
UNIQUELY LOCAL PASTIME WORCESTER WAS THE CENTER OF THE HOME THE
BIRTHPLACE OF THE CANDLEPIN AND THE HAMMER.
WAS BORN HERE.
IT WAS BORN HERE, RIGHT?
HE WAS BORN HERE BORN HERE, BUT HEATHER RENZONI DAUGHTER OF
COLONIAL FOUNDER, NICK ANDRESEN POINTS OUT THAT BEFORE HER
FAMILY LOCAL CANDLEPIN WAS LITERALLY UNDERGROUND.
THEY WERE EVEN BASEMENTS OR UP TO A THREE FLIGHTS AND OLDER
BUILDINGS DOWNTOWN, RIGHT?
AND SO THIS HERE WAS BRAND NEW BRIGHT CLEAN.
YEAH MODERN AND PEOPLE FLOCKED HERE BECAUSE OF THAT.
SO WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT ALL THE EARLY DAYS HERE THE
WONDERFUL WEEKS?
THAT MY FATHER HAD THEY WERE FROM LOCAL BUSINESSES.
THEY WERE FROM THE LARGE FACTORIES LIKE NORTON’S AND
DURING THE DAYTIME YOU HAD THE SCHOOL TEACHERS LEAGUE, YOU
KNOW, WHO THE MOST MOST CUTTHROAT BOWLERS THE RETIREES?
THE PICTURES JUST DON’T RELAY THE ENERGY OF A SPORTS.
SO POPULAR IN THE MID 80S.
IT WAS FEATURED WEEKLY ON CANDLEPIN BOWLING HOSTED RIGHT
HERE ON WCVB BY SPORTS LEGEND.
DON GILLIS, RIGHT?
THIS WCVB CANDLES IN BOWLER DOESN’T QUITE MEET THOSE
STANDARDS.
WE COULD BE HERE ALL DAY.
THROUGH MARCH OF 2020 PATRONS LACED UP MUCH THE SAME WAY THEY
DID WHEN IT OPENED IN MARCH OF 1960.
SO NOTHING HAS CHANGED HERE.
I CAN’T GET OVER THIS ALL THIS OLD EQUIPMENT WHICH WAS
AUTOMATED LIKE 40 YEARS AGO.
YOUR DAD DIDN’T GO IN FOR THAT.
HE DID NOT KNOW HE JUST WANTED TO KEEP THINGS THE WAY THEY WERE
RIGHT.
THERE’S NO AUTOMATIC SCORING HERE.
HE LIKED TO WRITE DOWN THE SCORE ON YOUR SHEET.
HE FELT.
THAT’S WHAT PRESERVED THIS BUSINESS AND HE WANTED TO KEEP
IT THAT WAY, BUT THE TELEGRAM CAME DOWN, BUT FATHER TIME IS
UNDEFEATED AND JUST AS THE YOUNG BOWLER IN THIS OLD NEWSPAPER
FEATURE EVENTUALLY GREW UP TO BECOME HEATHER RENZONI COLONIAL
THE LAST CANDLEPIN BOWLING IN THE CITY THAT INVENTED IT
EVENTUALLY CLOSED ITS DOORS WHAT WENT INTO THE DECISION TO
FINALLY CLOSE.
OBVIOUSLY THE PANDEMIC FIGURED IN ABSOLUTELY, CORRECT.
HE OPENED IT ON HIS TERMS AND HE CLOSED IT ON HIS TERMS.
HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SAD TO OPERATE THIS.
ON A DIFFERENT SCALE WITH RESTRICTIONS.
SO THIS PIECE OF BOWLING HISTORY ON THE BANKS OF THE COAST
RESERVOIR CAN BE YOURS FOR JUST UNDER ONE AND A HALF MILLION
BUCKS.
WE DON’T EVEN NEED TO LEAVE WORCESTER TO FIND OUR NEXT
PROPERTY BOWLING’S FRIDAY NIGHT COMPETITION IS ALSO FOR SALE
RIGHT HERE AT SKYLIGHT ROLLER SKATING CENTER.
THEY OPEN IN AUGUST OF 1980.
SO 1980 YOU WERE STILL CATCHING THAT HUGE.
ROLLER SKATING BOOM RIGHT VERY MUCH.
SO IT WAS CRAZY.
IT WAS OWNER MJ4S STARTED SKYLIGHT WITH HER LATE HUSBAND
PROFESSIONAL ROLLER SKATER RICHIE FORCE AND THEY KNEW THEY
WERE ON TO SOMETHING FROM DAY ONE AND WE WERE DRIVING DOWN
PARK AVENUE AND I SAW THIS HUGE LINE ON THE SIDEWALK.
FROM WAY DOWN.
I REALIZED THEY WERE ALL WAITING TO COME INTO THE RING.
VERY FIRST OPENING AND YOU COULD TELL THE PEOPLE WERE THINKING I
WAS TRYING TO CUT THE LINE, BUT I QUICKLY ASSURED THEM THAT NO,
I’M JUST HERE TO OPEN UP AND THAT WAS A SIGN OF HOW IT WAS
GONNA BE.
YES.
IT WAS LIKE LIKE THAT FOR MANY YEARS.
SO SKYLIGHTS SURVIVED THE COMPETITION BUT ALAS COULDN’T
OUTLAST THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IT GAVE ME A LOT OF SLEEPLESS
NIGHTS AND AFTER MY HUSBAND DIED, I REALLY WANTED TO KEEP
THIS PLACE GOING FOR HIM THE HIS MEMORY BUT CERTAINLY CAN’T KEEP
PEOPLE SIX FEET AWAY FROM ONE ANOTHER.
I THINK I MADE THE RIGHT DECISION.
CLOSE BOTH HERE AND AT COLONIAL BOWLING HAS BEEN MOURNED BY MANY
IN THE COMMUNITY INCLUDING THE MAN TASKED WITH SELLING THEM
WORCESTER REAL ESTATE BROKER DREW HIGGINS.
BOTH THESE BUILDINGS HAVE HAD A LOT OF MEMORIES GROWING UP WHEN
I WAS LITTLE KID UP UNTIL EVEN LAST YEAR.
MY WIFE’S 26TH BIRTHDAY WAS AT THE ROLLER SKATING RINK THE
WORCESTER MARKET BEFORE THE PANDEMIC WAS BOOMING WITH THE
WORCESTER RED SOX COMING.
TOWN THE PANDEMIC DEFINITELY CURB THINGS, BUT WE THINK
WORCESTER IS GOING TO COME BACK STRONGER THAN EVER GRANTED
CHANGES INEVITABLE.
BUT AS I LACE UP FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER 20 YEARS.
I WONDER WHAT’S BEING LOST PLACES LIKE THIS IN THE
COMMUNITY SKATING RINKS BOWLING ALLEYS THEY WERE REALLY
COMMUNITY CENTERS FOR PEOPLE IN A WAY WEREN’T THEY?
IT’S TRUE.
WE’RE FAMILIES COULD GO THIS WAS ALL ABOUT BEING WITH OTHERS,
RIGHT?
YOU ARE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE, RIGHT, WHICH WAS GREAT.
NOT JUST THUMBS.
YEAH, THIS LOCATION IS LISTED FOR 1.1 MILLION DOLLARS, BUT THE
MEMORIES MADE HERE.
PRICELESS TOTALLY AGREE AND BACK TO COLONIAL BOWLING NICK
ANDRESEN STARTED THE BUSINESS ON LAND HIS FATHER PURCHASED IN THE
1920S.
HIS FATHER WANTED HIS SON’S TO USE THE LAND TO START A BUSINESS
AFTER OPERATING THE BOWLING ALLEY FOR 60 YEARS NICK MADE
GOOD ON THAT GOAL.
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