Ten Pin Alley: bowling for celebrity watchers
Published: Jun 5, 2009
Ten Pin Alley does have bowling lanes, bowling shoes and nachos, but any comparisons to a traditional bowling alley end there.
How many bowling alleys have a champagne menu, private chef, crystal chandeliers, leather couches or a dress code that forbids whiteT-shirts or sports jerseys? Ten Pin Alley is more like a chic nightclub that just happens to have bowling lanes.
Located in Atlantic Station, the hip alley operates next to sister restaurant Dolce and is part of the Dolce Group, whose L.A. owners include a long list of celebrities headed by Ashton Kutcher and including 2006 Big Brother All Stars winner Mike “Boogie” Melvin.
Celebrity owners equal prime celebrity watching. You can keep an eye out for A-listers, slip away to a private bowling lane or perch on the top floor with an eagle’s view of the entire bar. The vintage décor aims for a speakeasy vibe, with secret entrances and a smattering of odd little mobster cartoons.
For hoi polloi, up to six bowlers can try for strikes at $40 an hour weekdays, $60 on weekends, in the 10 public lanes underneath projection screen TVs and op-art bubble lights. Bowling at one of the three VIP lanes, with a private lounge and big screen TV, is $200 an hour ($300 on weekends) — but, hey, that includes shoe rental. Two second- and third-floor VIP billiard rooms go to $20 to $30 per hour.
Chef Don Diem’s menu includes “opening frame” appetizers, seared sesame tuna with wasabi mayo, jumbo shrimp cocktail and Grandma’s meatball sub. For better chow, slip next door to the swanky Dolce.
The champagne menu includes a Domaine Chandon Rose ($60 a bottle), Moet et Chandon White Star ($100), Moet et Chandon’s Dom Perignon ($325), Louis Roederer’s Cristal ($550) or Armand de Brignac’s Ace of Spades ($600). You can also buy bottles of other pricy liquids such as Absolut, Grey Goose, Hennessy VS, Remy Cru and Courvoisier. (If you have to ask the price, you probably can’t afford it.)
The “strictly enforced” dress code bans all sweats or athletic wear, sports jerseys, exposed intimate apparel, white T-shirts, clothing with offensive writing, hats, work boots, excessively baggy clothing, torn or soiled clothing and sleeveless shirts on men.
Ten Pin Alley Bowling Rates
- by Diane Loupe, Atlanta Reporter for HelloMetro
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