Antique Bowling Alley From 1920s - The Rohman's Inn (1849)

Everyone knows that Bowling has been a relatively inexpensive game that allows you to compete against your friends or have fun together as a family. When Bowling, we often take modern conveniences for granted such as the automatic ball return and pin setter, but what if it wasn't modern? Well one location is offering that exact thing, an old fashioned Bowling Alley with Manual Everything! The Rohman's Inn, built in 1849 has a second floor, four lane Manual Bowling Alley. After this experience, I think it's the most fun I've ever had Bowling. So come along with me as we do some Antique Bowling. Enjoy
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[@philkaiser4693]

AWESOME!!! to see this. My father used to be a pin boy and described setting pins exactly the way it's being done in this video. Amazing to see the old ball return de-accelerator working too. Check out my mini bowling lanes if you're looking for a lane in your house but don't have the room for full size lanes. www.minibowlinglanes.com

[@tweeleaf]

Hey Phil! Big fan.

[@coasterp2199]

@@tweeleaf Thank you.

[@myraandersen9881]

When I was a kid they would pay us .15 a game to sit back there and reset the pins. Great way to earn some candy money.

[@restierosales6093]

Do you oil the lanes, just like same oiling they do on professional bowling lanes.

[@meerkat8090]

@@restierosales6093 back then oiling the lane wasn’t as common and they typically used less oil

[@GoodDayforDecay]

This was one of my favorite times we had making a video... You did a awesome job on the video slow down and reverse then sped up I looked like a penguin walking down the lanes lol...Great job..love the music too

[@martyjones9374]

Great find Mike, love that place. Looks so fun!!

[@adventuringwithtrevor447]

lol most famous butt crack on youtube! That is hilarious!

[@JPVideos81]

😁

[@adamtereska8734]

That is such a cool location. The video is excellent and this would be a cool creator meetup spot

[@JPVideos81]

If you or someone sets it up, I'd definitely go back.

[@cymraegaussie]

You guys should have a mini-tournament amongst the creators. The grand prize can be the bragging rights to being the best bowler in the group :-)

[@mrsmithnet]

That is a great idea!

[@edithdavis2848]

MARVELOUS. Love the whole place. Mike you did good finding that one. My brother and his wife were into it big time in the 60s 70s. Had huge trophys ..

[@elnabjelland-hughes8172]

That is a beautiful sight !! You don’t find a bowling alley nowadays looking this good !

[@richdiscoveries]

Doing this place is freaking incredible!! Awesome find on this one mike. I'm glad it was preserved. Who would damage of a place like that with thier name on the ceiling though?? . Unfortunately, I can't say that it surprises me.😥

[@JPVideos81]

Not far from NY. Worth renting it for an hour.

[@richdiscoveries]

@@JPVideos81 I may look into that, really is a cool looking place.

[@WallieB26]

As a league bowler with an average of 190 and a complete fanatic of bowling in general, I approve of this video! This place has been on my bucket list for a long long time. I assume I couldnt use my equipment (bowling balls) here as they probably dont oil the lanes at all and even my plastic and rubber ball would hook right into the left gutter. LOL Still... this is freakin awesome!

[@JPVideos81]

Just use their balls and have a blast bowling back in time.

[@LowEnd31st]

I hope they would oil it sometimes or else the lanes would be ruined

[@karenpacker8862]

The bowling alley is soooo amazing. What a blast! The bar is so beautiful and love all the antiques! Great to be able to rent this!!!Awesome Mike found this!!!

[@judydelaet1471]

that was cool! now I want to go bowling!!! I love the old bar too! Looked like a tin ceiling. All the woodwork in the old buildings is beautiful! Thanks!

[@JPVideos81]

It was tin!

[@SingleStacked]

Very interesting. Wonder if that place was "speakeasy" in the 20s? They probably had pin boys back in the day. No running back and forth.

[@martyjones9374]

That place is CRAZY COOL!!Love vintage! That bar & seats, awesome. Have never seen bowling on a top floor. Ball return really neat. Price is great. I am so ready to bowl, look out gutter here I come! Lol. Great to see Mike. So much fun watching!! :)

[@JPVideos81]

👍😁💙

[@dtaylorstephens9067]

Being a bowler for ten years on a league, really enjoyed this video! My how times have changed in the bowling industry!

[@paulablaski3521]

My Dad who is 93 was a pin setter in a similar place in Wi.

[@dr.leonardhofstadtersavage6413]

That is a really amazing place, and that smell of old wood fixtures. It really is vintage, one of a kind place.

[@robdaugherty2010]

This is one of your coolest locations I’ve seen! Although I’ve heard of them, I’ve never seen a manual bowling alley before. Thanks for bringing this amazing location to us!

[@JPVideos81]

My pleasure

[@AndreaLFusco]

I have been to one of these. When I was of pre-school age my parents used to bowl at a place like this. I went with them and set in those type audience seats. At that time there were pinboys who used to sit above the pins and would set them back up after someone bowled. I used to get a bottle of Orange pop and was not allowed to go where the the players sat. I can't believe that one of those alleys still exists. I grew up in Western Pa. Washington County near WVa state line. I never thought I would miss Pa., but now I do at age 71. I live in SC and wish I was back in Pa. Thanks for this and all your other videos. I also enjoyed the presidential video from Old Forge. Take care and keep producing these great videos.

[@JPVideos81]

Glad you enjoy the content

[@jeniw8586]

Now that is a blast from the past! Fun video JP and Mike.

[@sharondelaney5346]

That was Great Fun guys ..looks like you enjoyed yourselves..Thanks for sharing!!!😁👍👍👍

[@davidmeek3104]

That was an absolutely awesome video JP. You and Mike had a good time even though it was manual it's still worked good. I just wonder who the better molar is you or Mike lol

[@JPVideos81]

Mike is the better molar...😁

[@cynthiacleaver9742]

That place is cool!! It’s always fun to hang out with the two of you!!

[@digitalwoodshop]

Great Video. I live in Shohola. They just had the Winter Olympics another Rohman's Annual event. My 89 year old Step Father set pins as a kid.

[@rikspector]

Jay, We had the Pines Maple ways in my home town of Lakewood, back in the mid fifties. I used to be a pin boy, you got 10 cents and the alley got 15, or the other way around. The pin spikes went higher than the ones in those alleys. Easier to load the pins. There were more lanes and some of the bigger kids could set two alleys quickly. They also had duck pins and candle pins.There was a walkway along the alley edge and a platform you could sit on above the pit. There were also pinball machines where you could win money, 5 cents per so any points. A different era, but those alleys bring back a lot of memories. Thanks, Rik Spector

[@harryhall5092]

Bingo pinball machines!

[@rikspector]

@@harryhall5092 Right!, I couldn't remember what they were called.:) Cheers, Rik Spector

[@saigenrose1032]

Awesome, you guys bowl great looked like a lot of fun! 😀👍

[@JPVideos81]

This was my best game. especially since i didnt keep score 😁

[@PinDominator]

Very neat! They have something similar to this in Chicago. I'm too young to enter however. :(

[@shirleynelson526]

This bowling alley was used since 1920 for over 100 years old bowling alley

[@karendworschack756]

Looks like you 2 were having lots of fun! Looks like a lot of work, going back and forth! I'm not a good bowler, but I have fun when I do go! (I always come in last place!😊) Well, that was a great find! Thanks for sharing! 👍

[@JPVideos81]

Im lucky if i even place lol

[@NaydeenHhog]

Reminds me of a Tom and Jerry cartoon episode titled ' Bowling Alley Cat' and the layout is really similar to this

[@musicfanhawk4523]

Very cool!! Thanks for sharing this neat place.

[@robinmontgomery8917]

WOW! VERY impressive place! I like seeing old fashioned things. I like the phone booth, the bar but mostly the bowling alley! There definitely is some history in that place! Awesome video!

[@JPVideos81]

You don't see places like this everyday.

[@efogg3]

thats flipping insane!! thats so cool. i wish i was there..... and its upstairs???

[@tweeleaf]

sucks that i live on the complete opposite end of PA, would love to visit this place.

[@harryhall5092]

So neat guys, I am going on 72 years young and have been around bowling alleys all my life being my dad was in the jukebox business and we had arcade equipment and jukes in them. I have made bowling pin lamps and have a pin from the bowling place in my home town. I have always wondered why the holes in the bottom of the pins and now I know why. Thanks for showing, I really loved the video and such a neat place! By the way the jukebox in the video is an AMI Rowe R90 year 1986 definitely newer than the place is!

[@JPVideos81]

Thanks for watching and sharing

[@diannemc4840]

That is just way too cool👍🏻 Awesome place!!

[@robertmanley7556]

This was really COOL !! Loved it good to know how it was done before ball returns !! The bar was a amazing site as well !! Glad to see something this historic is still in use !! Blows me away it on the second floor !! Imagine the noise downstairs in the bar wow !! Really great video big thumbs up way up ! 👍👍👍

[@JPVideos81]

The ball return was my favorite part lol

[@t.c.bowling1934]

That was a cool place! Thanks for posting!

[@buttonvalley]

Shohola was the site of a terrible train crash in 1864 when a train carrying over 800 Confederate POW's to the camp at Elmira NY collided head on with a train hauling coal. 44 prisoners, 17 guards, and 4 railroad employees were killed. I don't know if the rail line where it happened is still active or not. Perhaps an idea for a future video. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shohola_train_wreck

[@JPVideos81]

Didnt know that. Thank you

[@christinehuseby6884]

Thanks for sharing. This looks like fun ....and a great workout 😄. I love the diversity of your videos. You’ll always get a thumbs up from me!

[@JPVideos81]

💙😊

[@caroleroseburgh1344]

This was totally awesome. 😃🖐🏼💯

[@qeensadie2385]

Exercise and fun, cool video, great technique with the camera, bar is beautiful nothing like I seen just awesome. I m glad that you can see and experience it for yourself thanks for a tour of a 1920 bowling alley and inn

[@JPVideos81]

😊

[@catherineengle4196]

Omg! How dam cool is that place! Wow! I love to bowl...that would be so awesome to bowl there. Love the backward granny ball...lol. Wow thanks for sharing this was too 😎..

[@JPVideos81]

Backward worked 👍

[@catherineengle4196]

@@JPVideos81 😂😂😂😂

[@jaykozokas2983]

This is by far one of the coolest things I've seen. I need to go here in person.

[@JPVideos81]

It was a blast and a good workout.

[@georgetrains6168]

My mom love to bowl and had her own bowling ball

[@jeanjean9343]

Wow, What a fantastic show, the videography, the music, the mixing. 10 out of 10. Nice work JP and Mike. The close-up of the Pins being struck, different angles, this video just works for me. Thanks for the great content.

[@JPVideos81]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@cafdnw]

Wow that’s a cool bowling alley!! I’ve never been to one that’s manual like that one 🎳 I would like to have a beer in the cool vintage bar too 🍺 Thanks guys 👍🏻❤️ Love your editing JP!! ❤️❤️

[@JPVideos81]

😁

[@juliestockmeyer5871]

Once having been an avid bowler, I’d love to try that place out!! Such nostalgia!! Great find guys!! Thanks for sharing!!

[@MikeOrkid]

Looks like I know where I'm taking the wife this weekend. Thanks for another great video JP.

[@JPVideos81]

Hope you bring someone to set the pins lol

[@sherrybaby1809]

Amazing place for a nice adventure. Curious why there is not more of this style left around to visit. Classic bowling :)

[@JPVideos81]

I guess most people like modern conveniences. This was so much fun though.

[@elnabjelland-hughes8172]

My sister and I when we lived in Brooklyn New York we would go bowling after we got off duty as nurses and we would bowl till 4 o’clock in the morning - we weren’t the best bowlers but by 4 AM we were simply dropping them but it was a lot of fun. I would love to go to this place because this was really neat thank you for sharing 😁👍💕

[@JPVideos81]

With that much bowling you must have been really good.

[@elnabjelland-hughes8172]

I started out as a good bowler but by the time 4 AM came around my hands were weak I was dropping the ball 😂 My father was a champion bowler for his league - he could have gone pro but he wasn’t interested - he taught me everything he knew about being a good bowler and I taught my sister - we challenged each other at every game and never gave up until the two of us were exhausted 😂😂

[@gaylebrodt676]

Oh how cool! What an awesome place, a manual bowling alley, how neat, the whole place looks so cool! I love antiques and anything vintage! Looks like you guys had a great time! Super fun video!

[@Oddbodswithme197]

4:31 lever funny! 😂

[@pamcastiron4274]

How cool I s that bowling alley! Love it!

[@donnicholas7552]

That was wild!! I loved the vintage bar downstairs!

[@lisatrozzo234]

Those are antiques

[@annebell7274]

Lol. A lot of fun. I don't know if I'd be able to do it, they're very big balls.... but I'll give it a try 😆😆😆😆 yahoooooo 😂😂💟🌹💟

[@JPVideos81]

Takes big balls to knock em down haha

[@annebell7274]

@@JPVideos81 😂😂❤💪💪❤🌷❤

[@EdKrisiak]

Great stuff !!!!!!!!!!!!

[@ghostcityshelton9378]

A British anthropologist Sir Flanders Petrie, discovered in the 1930's a collection of objects in a child's grave in Egypt that appeared to him to be used for a crude form of bowling. If he was correct, then bowling traces it's ancestry to 3200 BC. In 1840 the 1st indoor bowling alley opened in Kinckerbocker Alleys in New York City. They used clay instead of wooden floors 5:48-- That is where the pin setter folks would sit, on those boards. 😎

[@lorenab6354]

Looks like fun!

[@ghostcityshelton9378]

Hey Adam! I'm on top of you! (LOL) When I was a child & lived Up State New York we had a bowling alley where guys sat on top of boards above the pins and their job was to reset the pins and roll the balls back. That's how they did it back then. Behind the tables/chairs, everyone had to score their own games but they had a snack bar with stools and a jute box.

[@SueGirling68]

Mike did it again with another superb find, what an awesome place. I really loved the look of the alley with the polished lanes and it's unique with how you have to set your own pins and the ball return. The bar area downstairs looks beautiful too and I bet it fills up come the weekend and it has a great atmosphere too. A very cool place, thanks for sharing, now to get Cliff and RJ there with you both I'm sure it would be a scream. xx

[@FeatheredLife]

Little town that I spent my summers in, had 6 lane bowling alley. Same set up as this one. Uncle worked for them a couple of summers, 'pin and ball' boy. He got hit of times from strong bowlers that would send that ball flying down the alley. Great fun video.

[@glenndavis6793]

I wonder is it longer than a regular bowling alley

[@JPVideos81]

I think shorter

[@lisatrozzo234]

wow NICE FIND

[@allanmn]

Nice family show. Love your channel! I always watch it. Keep up the great job...

[@ericashelton1096]

WATCH VIDEO, READ AS MANY MSG & REPLY AS U CAN. Okay this is way too cool! I had a couple of questions but read others comments and had them answered. Ended up with a couple of different questions, but kept reading all the posts and responses and ended up having a lot more knowledge of Vintage & Vintage Entertainment than I started my day off with! Some questions I have had for many years. Some I was reminded of/some just came to realization by reading all the posts and responses. Now to handle this situation correctly. I am heading to my Calendar to set reminders to come back and read more of them, every so often. Because I feel like I would be doing myself a Major Disservice by not! Big Thanks to both of you JP & Mike!

[@giniwalters8401]

Mike did a great job on finding the place!!! Jay you did a marvelous job on filming!!! That looks like so much fun!!! I don't even know how long it's been since I bowled!!! Wonderful job guys!!!

[@frankdaly5655]

This is wicked cool. I think there's a real old one in Milwaukee too. But back then pin boys. Also, no reactive equipment. Lacquer lanes. And very heavy solid maple pins. Now 300 happens frequently. Back then 190 was really good. I love seeing history like this. Time capsule.

[@RhondaO]

Very cool

[@oldenweery7510]

I was surprised, many years ago (1970s?), to find that in the early days ballrooms were often built on upper floors (sometimes with _springs_ under the hardwood floors!), but I've never before seen a bowling alley upstairs. I never got involved with bowling, although both my uncle and aunt (brother and sister) were on bowling teams, in leagues, and my eldest brother and a couple of his friends worked as pin-spotters in one of our local alleys (we had two or three---in a village of less than a thousand people). I'm more familiar with bars, particularly during my sports car racing days (I invented a mixed drink!), though I didn't know until later in the time that bars often had the best food, at reasonable prices. A larger percentage served pizza, some of it damn _good_ pizza! I do recognize that bowling is a good game for families. Good video, guys!

[@marsha3961]

There is a book. Milwaukee's Historic Bowling Alleys if you want to know more.

[@carlavision6143]

JP, what an awesome and cool bowling alley! Really enjoyed your video!

[@richardheizmann2756]

For a few minutes I thought the building was at Reinholds on the Reading's R&C branch. Just before going to my Reading Company library I backtracked on your video to find the postcard view of (how did I miss it) Shohola.

[@soul1513]

I think they would hire two kids to set up the pins cuz I think it’s physically impossible for a kid to reach the front pin while holding the lever

[@b.j.hinote4301]

Awesome. I grew up in a bowling alley. I remember going from the old wooden returns to newer ones. Loved it.

[@alexandria8255]

so fun! I love bowling not been in years tho...I met Pro Bowler Earl Anthony yrs ago when I worked at an off track betting place for Arlington Racecourse. He's a lefty like me lol...

[@randyporter3491]

What a treat this was, stepping back in time and visiting a piece of history. I was a "pin chaser" long ago, in a slightly more automated facility. So this was especially fascinating to see. Thank you for sharing !

[@janedoe9421]

Some fun watching!! The editing was the best😁👍I'd say Mike is the better bowler of you two😂👍tfs!!

[@soul1513]

I think they would hire two kids to set up the pins cuz it’s impossible for a kid to reach the front pin while holding down the lever

[@gigicostlow4414]

This was great fun. Such a beautiful place. The alley was built in 1941 in what was originally a dining room. The original inn burned to the ground and this one was built in 1875.

[@margaritacalzadilla-kishim1532]

That was amazing! I love the vintage and classic. And the Workout!!!

[@melissawo4672]

Never heard of this type of thing, but I do like bowling. I haven't been in years, but I would like to take my 3 kids. I kind of get competitive with my brother and his friends because they try to think that they're super cool at it.

[@ianandersen265]

That would be an excellent place to practice your spare shooting, and try to convert splits. No oil on the lane, means that if the ball hooks, either you did something wrong, or the ceiling is tilted somehow. Personally, I think it would have made more sense if the bowling lanes were at the basement level, but I guess they wanted natural lighting.

[@billydaniels7386]

Thornton Hall in Sharon Pennsylvania has 44 lanes on the 2nd floor manual scoring and above ground ball return But it does have electric pinsetters

[@sheapiland8779]

What a cool and fun video! This place is amazing and truly a treasure to find. Love something like this. Thanks for sharing.

[@donnaj5464]

That was a great find! And I love the bar area, I can just see it in its heyday!! Great video JP and Mike!! Awesome find!!!!

[@sandymathews2664]

We had a bowling here in San Antonio, the pins were set manually, but bowled 9 pins. They had pin setters. I bowled there in the 70s. A lot of the small communities also had these lanes. Don't bowl anymore so not sure if small! Communities still have this. The one here closed. It was called Turner Club.

[@suzanjournagan1112]

Sweet..How Fun is That 😎Awesome Camera Moves!!!👍🤩👏.Give it a go.🍒

[@beckyyoung725]

Love bowling! Too fun! Beautiful place! Great find!

[@ThatPAScratcherGuy]

Being from Pennsylvania, how have I never heard of this until now?

[@barbara-pigeonbray4579]

That was a lot of fun....and once again I learned something : ) Thanks for explaining the "pins" ...neat : ) The "olde time" music was right on. Thanks for sharing the fun of this unique place : )

[@JPVideos81]

My best game ever lol

[@christinevangilder6962]

Butt crack! BOOM! I'm DEAD! 😂😂😂👍

[@JPVideos81]

)(

[@christinevangilder6962]

LOL! I thoroughly enjoyed this video guys!! Live it when you explore together! Keep up the excellent work! 👍😂😂

[@jraoul711]

That's like a place trapped in time. Even the bar is really vintage and cool looking. I think l read that before automatic pin setters, they used to have pin boys that would sit above and reset the pins for you and return the ball. Maybe this place had them at one time.

[@pattyroosa1712]

What Fun! I don't think many people can manually keep score anymore. 🤣 $15 isn't bad at all!

[@bramwellprice8833]

There’s a bowling center in berkley Michigan called heart field lanes and the hat trick pub it has first and second floor bowling lanes i was born in 1977 it was there then and is still in operation today how ever it is all modernized now

[@ginaferracini5014]

Cool bowling haven't done this for years that's it nok em down.. Cool place jp

[@angieluzier7305]

Awesome! I’ll take Henry there because he loves bowling!

[@kendraiacouzze4930]

LMAO you two always have me laughing😂😂😂

[@sallychaney7317]

What a cool bar and Bowling ally, what fun you must have had. I would love to rent the lanes!!!!!

[@UrbanKiwiana]

Hi Jp wow this was super awesome, I've never seen one like this before, all manual loading and set ups, I've played this kind a few times I find it halirious cause I'm so bad at it and spend most of my time falling over 😂.great camera shots and presentation thank you

[@JPVideos81]

😁