BOWLARENA FELT PROFOUND LOSS WHEN FOUNDER PETTIE DIED

When Ben Pettie died, maybe Bowlarena Lanes died too.

Pettie, Bowlarena’s founder in 1973, died in November of 1986. Bowlarena lasted another 18 months but was never the same with Pettie gone.

Bowlarena was closed May 30. There have been rumors that the property at 101 S. State Road 7, Margate, will be leased for a used car lot, but a For Sale sign still hangs on the property.

“I feel real bad about it,” said Joyce Demming, the day manager at Bowlarena for seven years. “Bowlarena was a nice little house, almost like a doll house. The people I worked with were nice and the customers were nice.”

Bowlarena was surrounded by four other bowling centers — Brunswick Margate Lanes, Don Carter’s Tamarac Lanes, Dolphin Lanes and Holiday Springs Lanes — in northwestern Broward County. With 22 lanes, Bowlarena was the smallest of the four.

Bowlarena began losing some of its business to the surrounding houses shortly after the popular Pettie died.

“We have been seeing a lot of new faces,” said Sherri Yochum, manager of Brunswick Margate Lanes. “I am sure we got some individuals from Bowlarena. It was happening even before Bowlarena closed.”