Time warp (it bowled us over)

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Published on Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Photo by Kate Jackman-Atkinson. In the basement of the Neepawa Dental Office and Tim Tom Asian Grocery is a somewhat forgotten part of Neepawa‘s history, as it was home to Tom Hyra’s Regent Bowling and Billiards. 

Submitted by Rick Sparling

The Neepawa Press

It was approximately 57 years ago since we last set foot in the bowling alleys, which were in the downstairs area in Alex and Tom Hyra’s Regent Bowling & Billiards. The year was circa 1959 when we last set pins for the Hyra’s and getting the chance to see our old stomping grounds was a huge treat on our recent visit to our old home town, Neepawa. It was the usual four hombres, Cam Smith, Ron Kleven, Barry Deveson and me. We usually get back to Neepawa at least a couple of times each year.

Half of the building was occupied by a Filipino food store and the other half by a dentist office. We always thought that the food store was the only part that was Hyra’s, but we were surprised to find out both businesses were involved. 

On the dentist office side were four 6 x 12 foot snooker tables, which stood spread out far enough to reach near the back door to the alley. Up front, there was a couple of pin ball machines and a phone booth. The food store portion was where the counter that the Hyra brothers worked behind, selling cigarettes (two for a nickel) or Cokes from the cooler for a dime. There were three more snooker tables spaced enough to reach the urinals near the back door. A total of seven snooker tables .

Upon arriving there, we knew the stairs leading directly to the bowling alley were right at the entrance of the food store, so we went in and asked the owner if we could get downstairs to explore. She advised us that the owner of the building was next door in the dentist office. We went next door and we were met by the smiling receptionists. (What else would you expect in a dentist office?) We eventually met up with Dr. Daniel J. Zettler, owner, operator and resident dentist, who was kind enough to lead us through his office and through to the back entrance to the lanes. An entrance that we didn’t even know existed. We first saw the alleys from the perspective of that which we last saw it...in the pit were the pins would be set up. Ron tried stepping on the clutch to see if the steel pegs came up. Those were the pegs that one would place the pins on as they had small holes on the bottom to accommodate them. They worked fine. We were amazed at the low, low ceilings at approximately seven feet high. It seemed much lower than we remembered.

We noticed many initials carved and written on the walls in the cramped area where we used to re-set the pins and return the balls from. There was a small shelf about 3 1/2 feet high up top of the gutter that you had to jump up on between tosses. Because your legs would be dangling off the shelf, it would be normal to have pins flying all around your shins, depending on who was doing the tossing. We also noticed more initials on the ceiling. The only full name I noticed was that of Billy Tremain. Many kids worked these alleys over the years. Four cents a line for five pin and six cents for 10 pin was the going rate. If you worked two lanes, over the course of a good night’s work, you could make $2 or $3! Considering that soft drinks were a dime and the pin ball machine was a nickel, that was pretty good coin!

Dr. Zettler seemed to have a keen interest in the building and had sent a few bowling balls down the chute to see if the balls would make it to the front. They did without any help of a push.

He had recently adorned his reception area with large photographs of early Neepawa Mountain Avenue, which included the Commerce bank , his building, the old Hunt’s Cafe building, which was earlier called The Paris Cafe and other stores towards the south. He had other old photos displayed as well and you could see his enthusiasm in our mission and for the way in which he has embraced Neepawa as his own, having moved here from Portage la Prairie. He went out of his way to show us around and, although he had some dentist equipment in storage there, he had thoughts of cleaning up the first two alleys and being able to do some bowling.

One of our foursome said, “You could run a special.    C’mon down to Dr. Zettler’s for a check up, teeth cleaning and a game of bowling for just $49.99”    

This whole experience was like walking into a time warp and as Yogi Berra once said, “It was deja vu all over again”