BALTIMORE — When it shuttered around this time two years ago, it devastated folks in Southeast Baltimore.
But starting Thursday, you can bowl - duckpin bowl - again, at the century-old spot near Patterson Park. The new leaders business cut the ribbon on the business, which features two lanes and arcade games in its basement.
It's a fresh frame for "Patterson Pins," the successor to the old Patterson Bowling Center, which confirmed its closure in December 2022.
READ MORE: Nearly 100-year-old bowling alley set to close
"It was an opportunity to bring life back into a building, that had been left behind," said Kristian Spannhake, a partner and longtime resident of the community.
It's not lost on Spannhake how upset folks were when the old alley closed there; in the new space, the business is giving folks a chance to cement their memories on its "nostalgia wall" on the way down to the basement. If you bring a 5x7 photo, the business will frame it.
I think what we've tried to do," Spannhake continued, "is thread the needle on honoring the history, as well as embracing the future. So this space is, it's kind of got some retro vibes, but also that futuristic element to it."
The new development also features apartments, which the new city council president sees as knocking out two pins at once.
"What they've been able to do here, to me, is the perfect win win. Upstairs there are 15 brand new beautiful units, we know that across this country there is a crisis with not enough housing. And we see that in the city of Baltimore. So they are adding to our housing stock," Zeke Cohen, the new Baltimore City Council President, told reporters at the Thursday ribbon-cutting.
Cohen worked to preserve duckpin bowling at the location, and said state partners helped the owners get a liquor license for the space.
He sees the new site as preserving a game, and the quirkiness, the city loves.
"What I'm hoping," Spannhake added, "I think what we're all hoping, is that it becomes another community hub where folks who are looking for a place to unwind after a long day's work, or a place to hang on the weekends or celebrate with a party or birthday gathering, that they could come here, it's in the community, it's walkable. And those not in the community, come down and check us out."
