Holler House

Last updated
Holler House
Holler House 0056.jpg
Sport Ten-pin bowling
Founded1908
Location2042 W. Lincoln Ave. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
ChairmanMarcy Skowronski
Official website
www.geneandmarcyhollerhouse.com
Flag of the United States.svg

Holler House is a tavern that houses the oldest sanctioned tenpin bowling alley in the United States. [1] [2] [3] [4] It contains the two oldest sanctioned lanes in the nation, [5] which are still tended by human pinsetters. [6]

Contents

It was opened in the Lincoln Village neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1908. [3] Its 100th anniversary party was held on Saturday, September 14, 2008. [7] Esquire has rated it one of the best bars in America. [8]

History

Holler House was founded on September 13, 1908, by "Iron Mike" Skoronski as Skowronski's. [9] [10] [11] His son, Gene, married Marcy in 1952 and they renamed it Gene and Marcy's. After Gene died in 1990, Marcy Skowronski ran the tavern until her death in December 2019. Her family continues the business.

Tradition

Pinboys at Holler House bowling alley HollerHousePinboys.jpg
Pinboys at Holler House bowling alley

Starting in the mid-twentieth century, Holler House began a tradition that has since accumulated nearly 1,000 bras. This tradition started when the owner Marcy Skowronski was drinking with her friends, after which they started taking their clothes off. [5] This has now grown into a tradition in which women autograph and hang their bras from various fixtures in the tavern on their first visit. [12] When the bras started fraying, Skowronski boxed up most of them to make room for new ones to be displayed. [13]

100th anniversary

In preparation for its 100th anniversary, Holler House received its first thorough cleaning in 40 years. During this cleaning, five two-hole 15-pound wooden bowling balls were found. [3]

Original vintage appearance

Holler House still looks much the same as it did a century ago. The lanes are of real wood laid over a century ago, not the synthetic wood found in modern bowling alleys. [3] It still has a manual pin-spotting mechanism on each lane, and pin boys return bowlers' balls by rolling them down a traditional "overlane" return-track between the two lanes. [3] Game scores are recorded on paper hanging on the wall. [3]

Memorabilia and the beer sold

Memorabilia dating back to as early as 1912 is displayed. Prices in the early days were 25 cents for a hot beef sandwich and 25 cents plus deposit for a half-gallon of beer. During Prohibition, liquor was stored under a baby's crib on the assumption the police would not look there. There are no chairs in the bowling alley. [3] Reflecting the ethnic background of the neighborhood, there are Polish eagle crests above the bowling lanes. [14]

Holler House sells only bottled beer, with the exception of Schlitz in a can. There is nothing on tap. [2]

Notable bowlers and visitors

[16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five-pin bowling</span> Form of bowling

Five-pin bowling is a bowling variant which is played in Canada, where many bowling alleys offer it, either alone or in combination with ten-pin bowling. It was devised around 1909 by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto, Ontario, at his Toronto Bowling Club, in response to customers who complained that the ten-pin game was too strenuous. He cut five tenpins down to about 75% of their size, and used hand-sized hard rubber balls, thus inventing the original version of five-pin bowling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ten-pin bowling</span> Type of bowling

Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll of the ball, or failing that, on the second roll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bowling alley</span> Facility for the sport of bowling

A bowling alley is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling house.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl Anthony</span> American professional bowler (1938–2001)

Earl Roderick Anthony was an American professional bowler who amassed records of 43 titles and six Player of the Year awards on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. For over two decades, his career title count was listed as 41. The count was amended to 43 in 2008, when the PBA chose to retroactively award PBA titles for ABC Masters championships if won by a PBA member at the time. He is widely credited for having increased bowling's popularity in the United States. He was the first bowler to earn over $100,000 in a season (1975), and the first to reach $1,000,000 in lifetime PBA earnings (1982). His ten professional major titles—six PBA National Championships, two Firestone Tournament of Champions titles, and two ABC Masters titles—are the second most all time, tied with Pete Weber and five behind Jason Belmonte.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duckpin bowling</span> A variation of the sport of bowling

Duckpin bowling is a variation of the sport of bowling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perfect game (bowling)</span> Highest score possible in a bowling game

A perfect game is the highest score possible in a game of bowling, achieved by scoring a strike in every frame. In bowling games that use 10 pins, such as ten-pin bowling, candlepin bowling, and duckpin bowling, the highest possible score is 300, achieved by bowling 12 strikes in a row in a traditional single game: one strike in each of the first nine frames, and three more in the tenth frame.

Bowling for Dollars is a television game show on which people could play the sport of bowling to win cash and sometimes prizes based on how well they bowled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinsetter</span> Machine used to set bowling pins

In bowling, a pinsetter or pinspotter is an automated mechanical device that sets bowling pins back in their original positions, returns bowling balls to the front of the alley, and clears fallen pins on the pin deck. Prior to the machine's invention, pinsetters were boys or young men hired at bowling alleys to manually reset pins and returned balls to the player. The first mechanical pinsetter was invented by Gottfried (Fred) Schmidt, who sold the patent in 1941 to AMF. Pinsetting machines have largely done away with pinsetting as a manual profession, although a small number of bowling alleys still uses human pinsetters. While humans usually no longer set the pins, a pinchaser is often stationed near the equipment to ensure it is clean and working properly, and to clear minor jams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milwaukee Public Museum</span> Public museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) is a natural and human history museum in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The museum was chartered in 1882 and opened to the public in 1884; it is a not-for-profit organization operated by the Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc. MPM has three floors of exhibits and the first Dome Theater in Wisconsin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Automatic scorer</span> Scoring system for ten-pin bowling

An automatic scorer is the computerized scoring system to keep track of scoring in ten-pin bowling. It was introduced en masse in bowling alleys in the 1970s and combined with mechanical pinsetters to detect overturned pins.

John Petraglia Sr. is an American professional bowler. He is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), where he won 14 PBA Tour titles. He has also won eight PBA Senior Tour titles. He is a member of both the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Varipapa</span> Italian bowling player (1891–1984)

Andy Varipapa was a professional and trick bowler. He became famous around the world for his trick bowling shots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nine-pin bowling</span> Type of bowling

Nine-pin bowling is a bowling game played primarily in Europe. European championships are held each year. In Europe overall, there are some 130,000 players. Nine-pin bowling lanes are mostly found in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Estonia, Switzerland, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland, North Macedonia, Hungary, Brazil and Liechtenstein.

Brunswick Bowling & Billiards was the business segment of Brunswick Corporation that historically encompassed the following three divisions:

A 900 series refers to three consecutive perfect games bowled by an individual bowler. A 300 is a perfect score in one game, thus a player's maximum possible score would be 900 in a series of three consecutive games. To achieve the feat, a bowler would have to bowl 36 consecutive strikes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bowling</span> Class of sports in which a player rolls a ball towards a target

Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins or another target. The term bowling usually refers to pin bowling, though in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, bowling could also refer to target bowling, such as lawn bowls.

Bowlmor Lanes is the upscale brand of ten-pin bowling and entertainment centers operated by Bowlero Corporation. There are currently 18 Bowlmor Lanes centers, nine of which are former AMF 300 centers and three are former AMF Bowling Centers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azana Spa shooting</span> Shooting at a spa in Brookfield, Wisconsin

On October 21, 2012, a shooting occurred at the Azana Spa in Brookfield, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. Four people, including the shooter by suicide, died in the incident; four others were injured. The shooter was identified as 45-year-old Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, the estranged husband of a spa worker killed in the shooting.

Jack F. Reichert was the retired chairman and CEO of Brunswick Corp, who made Brunswick a global leader, and helped the company "develop a presence that was virtually synonymous with the bowling and marine industries, two of the pillars of Brunswick’s current world leadership in recreation and leisure".

Robert K. Pinkalla, better known as Bob Pinkalla, was an American ten-pin bowler and owner of Pinky's Bowl in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

References

  1. National Trust for Historic Preservation. "The Holler House in Milwaukee".
  2. 1 2 Cigelske, Tim (2006-06-15). "Marcy Skowronski of Holler House". Bartender of the Week. MKonline. Archived from the original on 2007-12-12. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Oldest Bowling Alley in America Turns 100". via Associated Press . Fox News. 2008-09-15. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  4. "Milwaukee bowling alley, oldest in US, turns 100". WAOW . 2008-08-13. Archived from the original on 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  5. 1 2 Feldman (2004), p. 152.
  6. Bie (2002), p. 79.
  7. Ramde, Dinesh (2008-09-14). "Milwaukee gives a holler to favorite bowling alley". WJLA News. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  8. "Holler House". The Best Bars in America. Esquire. Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  9. Gamble, Molly (2008-09-04). "Oldest bowling alley in nation turns 100". The Marquette Tribune . Archived from the original on 2017-10-15. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  10. McClelland, Edward (2006). "Milwaukee's Best". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on 2008-09-06. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  11. McClelland (2008), p. 28.
  12. Crowley, Jeff (2007-09-30). "Bowling for ages at Holler House". Evansville Courier & Press . Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  13. Ramde, Dinesh. "Milwaukee gives a holler to favorite bowling alley" . Retrieved 2008-09-14.[ dead link ]
  14. Tarnoff, Andy (2006-07-11). "Unique bar guide: Part III". OnMilwaukee. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  15. 1 2 3 4 McClelland (2008), p. 29.
  16. "Milwaukee fan joins Jack White on stage; rest of world jealous" . Retrieved 2018-02-22.

Bibliography

43°00′12″N87°56′23″W / 43.0034°N 87.9396°W / 43.0034; -87.9396