200 N 14th St, between Wythe and Berry, Brooklyn; 718.387.3585
Once the sport of blue-collared kings, Bowling's since been de-balled by everything from toddler bumpers to black-lit "cosmo-bowls" blaring techno'd-up Bachman Turner Overdrive. Returning pin-smashing to its Schlitz-soaked roots: The Gutter.
The first alley to open in Brooklyn in 50 years, Gutter offers eight old-school lanes built with materials stripped from an old Ohio O-Rama (abandoned when its customers moved on to more refined pleasures, like couples skate). Even the technology's vintage, with Nixon-era ball returns, auto-pinsetters and black-and-white-screened Brunswick 2000 consoles -- manufactured in 1970, when 2000AD still promised levitating pins, super-advanced ashtrays, and intergalactic travel to "pleasure worlds". Overlooking this striker's Xanadu is a full bar outfitted with Beast-logo'd Tiffany lamps and serving pints/pitchers of 12 American microbrews -- admittedly an upgrade over the beer that made Milwaukee famous, but producing the same results (impulsive cheating resulting in a deserved Munson-ing from angry men in satin jackets).
The most notable throwback's the price: $6 games ($7 on weekends) and $4 shoes -- which everyone will steal, forcing Gutter to reticently inaugurate this cash-cow of ill repute: "Taking Care of Business Tuesdays (Now With Lasers!)".
