Where everybody knows your name: these lanes may be a throwback, but the camaraderie—and the competition—rival anything you'll find in a bigger center.

Bowling Digest, Spring, 2004 by Angelique Anacleto

JIM HAMMERSMITH'S BUSIness card reads, "Bowl a couple lines and have a few drinks." And from the look and feel of his Skokie Lanes in Skokie, Ill., it doesn't get more casual than this.

Free of flash and fanfare, the real emphasis of this treasured, tucked-away alley is fun and friendliness. Stripped down to good old-fashioned essentials like a vintage ball return and projection-screen scoring, die-hard players can get back to their roots and appreciate both the spirit of the game and the warm familiarity of bowling with buddies.

The minute you step inside Skokie Lanes, it's as if the clock stopped and bowling set up shop here. And in Hammersmith's mind, that's a good thing: "This place is a landmark, and I wouldn't change a thing. Doing that would take everything out of it."

The building's homespun, timeworn appearance--with lush, curved wooden seating and pair upon pair of oft-used bowling shoes--gives way to colorful murals painted by Peter Bucks, a former league player at Skokie.

The building itself, constructed in the 1920s, was the stomping ground to a number of bowling luminaries, including the legendary Andy Varipapa, and was originally called the Niles Center Recreational Building. Originally, Hammersmith co-owned the operation with Iris older brother. John ("Freddy Flintstone"), who died of a heart attack in April 2001.

Previous to Skokie Lanes, the two owned The Candlelight, an Italian restaurant in downtown Chicago. While switching banks in 1975, a loan officer alerted them to the possible sale of Skokie Lanes by a widow whose husband had owned the lanes for three decades.

The appeal of owning, rather than leasing, property tugged at the two. So Jim, at the tender age of 26, along with his 32-year-old brother, boldly broke into a new world of pins and ball returns while simultaneously managing their restaurant for two more years. Recalls Hammersmith: "I didn't know anything other than bowling was what you did once a year on a date with someone."

Some three decades later, the little bowling hideaway is Hammersmith's second home.

"The place runs itself," he says. "It's a place where people can bowl, watch TV. It's a watering hole. It's the 'Cheers' of bowling."

Business is definitely steady, especially with league play, as Hammersmith crams a robust 16-league schedule into the 10-lane center. "We do well with the Northwestern [University] kids coming here, but mostly there's a core neighborhood group."

League play is made up of regulars, some of whom travel into Skokie from as far away as Richmond, Wis. Many of them adorn Skokie's "Wall of Fame," which Hammersmith started 15 years ago to honor his "extended family" of trophy-winning players and regulars.

Among them is Harold "Dick" Springer, a 78-year-old league regular who still averages 144. Springer has bowled at Skokie Lanes for 50 years, and Hammersmith muses that the league vet may even have once worked as a pinsetter at the alley.

"People like bowling in a small center compared to a place that has 40 or 50 lanes. They like knowing the other person bowling in the next lane. It's the people who make the bar. Everybody knows everybody."

Skokie Lanes' unique layout has made it a natural match for Hollywood cameras. A scene at the start of 2000's "Novocaine," starring Steve Martin, was filmed there (John appeared in the bar scene to boot). "Uncle Buck," set in Chicago and starting John Candy, also wanted to use the lanes for several bowling scenes, but the low alley ceiling presented lighting difficulties.

Local bowling personality Duane Dow also makes a point to film his "Spotlight on Bowling" show, featuring bowlers and area merchants, at the Lanes once a year.

The Hollywood crowd aside, small throwback details like projection scoring stay true to form at Skokie Lanes. Amid today's glut of computerized scoring, Hammersmith familiarizes players with traditional scoring techniques by supplying a "Guide to Basic Scorekeeping."

One sign of the times, however, has managed to infiltrate operations and affect the Lanes' bottom line. Skokie's recently passed smoking ban prohibits individuals younger than 18 to enter the establishment because of the bar. "Kids used to have bowling parties here," Hammersmith says. "Now parents have to drive them to other places." As a result, Hammersmith has experienced a 10% to 20% drop in business.

And as for the long-ago, formerly long-haired bowling neophyte who once considered the game only as part of a mating ritual, Hammersmith now boasts a lofty 202 average and warmly challenges new blood to beat his score: "It's about time these young guys catch up to me!"