12-Nov-14 – Since 1965, except when the building it was in was being gutted, there has always been a bowling alley at Marina City.

It was part of the original design. As early as 1960, the architect, Bertrand Goldberg, wanted a 54-lane bowling alley on the second floor of his ten-story office building along the north side of the property. The 54 lanes would stretch from Dearborn Street all the way east to State Street.

The office building ended up with 16 floors when it opened in 1964. In December 1964, it was announced that the Chicago Loop area would finally get a public bowling alley and it would be located at Marina City.

William A. Spencer signed a 20-year lease on December 18, 1964, agreeing to pay the 2014 equivalent of $383,920 per year.

Spencer’s Marina City Bowl opened the next year with 38 lanes, a restaurant, cocktail lounge, and an area for billiards. 16 lanes were lost from the original plan because the National Design Center, a major tenant on the west side of the building, needed the space.

(Above) A woman bowls at Spencer’s Marina City Bowl around 1965. Several people, most of them men wearing ties, are in the background. Behind them are lockers and Marina City’s distinctive eight-sided interior columns.

In the nearly three-year renovation of Marina City that started in 1995, the bowling alley took a break between frames. The office building was gutted in preparation for a new House of Blues hotel.

But on January 28, 1998, it was reported that AMF Bowling Inc. would build a $5 million, 40,000 square foot, 32-lane bowling center on the lower level of the building. That would later be scaled down to 24 lanes.

Whenever the hotel is sold, the commercial tenant spaces in the building are included. Since 2006, the building has been owned by LaSalle Hotel Properties, a real estate investment trust with headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. They paid $114.5 million for what is now Hotel Chicago and adjacent property that currently includes 10pin, Bar Louie, BIN 36, and Tortoise Club.

Sarah Marotta, 10pin’s event sales manager, says the new photos “offer guests a look inside of 10pin for their upcoming holiday parties and corporate events.” At some point, 10pin was sold back to the Spencer family. Marotta did not know when that happened and declined to provide contact information or the exact name of the business to help with a records search. (Left) In 2011 and 2012, 10pin was the host of the GEICO PBA Team Shootout that was broadcast on ESPN. Bowling Hall of Famer Pete Weber and an audience are seen here on May 29, 2012, watching a ball Weber has just delivered. Photo by Steven Dahlman.

(Above) The bar at the east end of 10pin. Photo by Geoff Scheerer.

Cosmopolitan Lounge at west end. Photo by Geoff Scheerer.

And the Martini Lounge, a semi-private space just east of the bar. Photo by Geoff Scheerer.

 Website: 10pin Bowling Lounge