tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post3133476630625911259..comments2023-09-16T04:58:07.261-04:00Comments on the Annandale Blog: Annandale bowling alley: a modernistic gem as well as social gathering spotAnnandale Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543558586252790593noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-78047130260684997262013-02-10T20:10:58.032-05:002013-02-10T20:10:58.032-05:00Remnants of the building can be kept, especially t...Remnants of the building can be kept, especially the front. All it takes is some creative ingenuity, smart economics and good marketing. It could be a great asset to a mixed use center.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-39681086946761338672013-02-10T19:37:01.306-05:002013-02-10T19:37:01.306-05:00Great piece! Great old photo and story. Wish we ...Great piece! Great old photo and story. Wish we could keep the structure too but time has passed it by. The parking lot alone is worth several of our homes and just not a practical use of space in the center of town. Unless some huge store could move in and use all that square footage...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-44907181805246223382013-02-10T18:17:37.408-05:002013-02-10T18:17:37.408-05:00Absolutely Richard Zambito! Right on! Mollie Loef...Absolutely Richard Zambito! Right on! Mollie LoefflerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-75936006315933649492013-02-10T18:00:07.147-05:002013-02-10T18:00:07.147-05:00Thank you Annandale Blog for highlighting the arch...Thank you Annandale Blog for highlighting the architectural significance of this building. It was designed at a time when optimism and a can do attitude in America was our Country’s mantra. <br /><br />We could do anything and succeed. Send men to the moon, make color TV's and appliances that made our lives ever so much easier. Many Annandale homes once had the modern GE Kitchen with turquois and purple metal cabinets, not to far off from a scene out of the Jetsons. Push a button and presto your work was done. <br /><br />The vibrant colors and the futuristic forms shown in the rendering above demonstrated the spirit of looking beyond the horizon, seeking answers to a more fulfilled way of life. And it did: the 60’s turned out the young prince of Camelot, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Frank Lloyd Wright and Aero Saarinen (architect of the Dulles Airport terminal); and many other visionaries that followed their compass to a truism that we still all benefit from today. The 1964 NY World’s Fair demonstrated much of the World’s great achievements and future beyond many baby boomers’ imaginations. America lead the way and helped many other nations move forward with edge cutting technologies in space, computers, architecture, and who could forget the first push button telephone. And true, we had much fall out as well, the 60’s revolution, race riots, the Cold War, Vietnam, but it never kept us from believing we could still strive to reach the stars. <br /><br />Wouldn't it be great to restore this building as an adaptive re-use structure that would not only celebrate its formidable past but its vision that can continue to inspire us in ways that befits our present needs. It would make a great retail centerpiece, a snappy workout gym, an experimental theater workshop, an artists studio center/gallery, a restaurant; a social destination where one can feel its once infectious optimism. Annandale needs to restore its mid-century history, and what a great place to start. Reviving this building would give us all in Annandale a sense of history and a spike of pride by freezing this snapshot of this once youthful and unbridled experiment in hopeful futurism that we all yearn for today. <br /><br />Richard C. Zambito, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP<br />Architect<br />Parklawn Community<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com