Bowling Alleys

For two months, Orange County's gay community turned out in force to the Lucky Strike bowling alley for Spin Tuesdays, a nightclub-style event with DJs spinning pop, dance and '80s music, and a velvet-rope entrance for as many as 1,000 bowlers, pool players and dancers.

At the Canoga Park Bowl, everyone knew James Shamp. His job was to clean, but he did so much more. Bowlers described him as a comedian and their loyal cheerleader. He greeted regulars with a big handshake followed by a succession of jokes that would continue through their games. "He was the black Chevy Chase," said Robert Battle, a member of the Equally Offensive bowling team. .

There are still polished wooden lanes, the thud and roll of heavy balls and the crash of scattering pins. But now there are light shows, music videos, electric fog, laser tag and go-karts -- all aimed at making bowling attractive to new audiences. Many teens are embracing bowling as a way to have fun with their friends and compete for high school teams and college scholarships.

The head of a company that owns several U.S. bowling alleys, including a popular one in Greenwich Village, said Thursday that it was severing ties with a group linked to Yasser Arafat and would return its $1.3-million investment. The late Palestinian leader invested the money in New York-based Strike Holdings, owner of Bowlmor Lanes in Greenwich Village, through a holding company he created called Onyx Funds, according to Bloomberg Markets magazine.

Forget about "bowling alone" -- a phrase that reflects political scientist Robert D. Putnam's observation that you can measure America's weakening sense of community by the decline in bowling leagues. In Costa Mesa, you can't bowl at all. The city's last bowling alley -- the landmark Kona Lanes, sporting a neon Tiki marquee outside and 40 wood-floor alleys inside -- quietly closed after 45 years of strikes, spares and splits.

Here's a list of some bowling leagues available at Orange County locations. Contact specific bowling alleys for complete schedules. * Carter Bowl 1501 S. Lemon Anaheim (714) 526-7725 TUESDAYS: Major Challenge begins at 7:30 p.m. June 3; four-person, coed, scratch. $26 per person. Eastside Christian Church begins at 6:30 p.m. June 17; four-person, coed. $9 per person. THURSDAYS: Hunt Wesson begins at 6:15 p.m. May 29; four-person, coed. $11 per person. FRIDAY: Allie Kittens begins at 6:15 p.m.

Panorama Bowl, which has been closed for more than six years, will be renovated and reopened as an ice and roller rink, according to an executive with Recreation World, the company building the new facility. The renovations are expected to cost $2.5 million and should be completed by the end of the year.

Last year, President Clinton quietly brought Harvard University professor Robert Putnam to Camp David to brief him and the Cabinet on a new threat to American democracy. A few months later, preparing for his State of the Union speech, Clinton called the international relations expert to the White House for another update. The creeping menace, the professor warned the president, is not a hostile foreign power, but an enemy within.

Move over, Ralph Kramden: The pinstripe-and-wingtip crowd at Goldman, Sachs & Co. wants to join the bowling leagues. The Wall Street investment bank was reportedly in talks Friday to buy AMF Corp., the nation's biggest owner of bowling alleys and a bowling equipment manufacturer, sources close to the negotiations said. AMF could fetch as much as $1 billion, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The sound of the future in downtown Reno--the Second City in a state with only two--came at 11:45 on Friday morning when 78 Nevada luminaries rolled out ceremonial bowling balls, unleashing the thunder of heavy resin on polished wood. Fireworks blasted, a laser light show flashed and the doors of the National Bowling Stadium swung open.