Harper Recreation Demolished

**Detroit Signal** · January-17-12, 07:39 PM

Just drove by St Cyril and Harper yesterday and noticed a crew knocking down this old eastside bowling alley. Been closed sinced the early 1990s, correct??

**DetroitZack** · January-18-12, 08:44 PM

As usual, DetroitZack was on top of a demolition.

180 by Zack Blackerby's Detroit, on Flickr

181 by Zack Blackerby's Detroit, on Flickr

182 by Zack Blackerby's Detroit, on Flickr

**mikefmich** · January-18-12, 09:23 PM

***sigh***

**cman710** · January-18-12, 09:26 PM

Too bad that another one bites the dust. I was reading recently in Bowlers Journal International that the Detroit metro area still has the greatest number of sanctioned bowlers of any metro area, at about 50,000. This is far fewer than only a few decades ago, though.

**Modusvivendi** · January-18-12, 11:40 PM

There's a Bowlers Journal International?

**EZZ** · January-19-12, 12:34 AM

The urban prarie lives on. That place urgently needed to be torn down - yeah right.

**EZZ** · January-19-12, 12:46 AM

Yeah what an eyesore. Plus it was dangerous. Drug dealers hung there. Coming soon-empty field.
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**grumpyoldlady** · January-19-12, 06:39 AM

I used to date a guy who was a pin jumper there when he was in high school. We [[teams from Denby H.S.) bowled there against teams from Kettering in late '66 or early '67. If there was a problem with one of the lanes, he'd go in back and fix it, even though he didn't work there any more.

Back then it was clean and well maintained.

**EastsideAl** · January-19-12, 02:14 PM

I bowled there quite a bit as a kid in the early '70s. Went there later as a young adult in the '80s with friends from the area when the place hosted Club UBQ. Also went bowling there again then for a while, and the place had actually been spiffed up and had a relaxed old school R&B kind of vibe. Sorry to see it go, like the Eastown and so much of the rest of our east side history in that neighborhood.

**JohnR101** · January-21-12, 10:14 AM

I used to be the manager of Atlanta Bread Company, on Mack at Moross [[Pointe Plaza), and the owner of this place, Tony Riff, used to come in there every day [[7 days a week) for lunch. He was a really nice guy and always enjoyed chatting with him. Would talk about this place often.

**Detroit Signal** · January-21-12, 10:23 AM

I got to meet Tony a few years back when I was in the bowling biz. NIce guy.

**Danny** · January-21-12, 11:51 AM

Detroit has lost one of its fine bowling alleys in the upper east side area. Now this city has Garden Bowl and Rennaisance Bowling Center both of Woodward Ave. and still up and running.

Also this year Metro-Detroit Area has lost 2 bowling alleys

Garden Lanes, Garden City, MI.

Oxford Lanes, Dearborn, MI.

What more bowling alleys are about to be close? What places in Metro-Detroit Area can we go bowling without driving 10 to 20 miles crosstown to find another Bowling Alley? Surely a decent bowling away should be a around the corner from my old neighborhood but its not there anymore.