The historic bowling alley on Sewells Point Road closed Monday night after welcoming its loyal regulars for a few final rounds of action.
The alley, which opened in 1959, was the last in Norfolk to feature duckpins, a sport once more popular in the area than the now-dominant tenpin game.
The cinderblock building will be torn down and the property sold to Nusbaum Realty. Owners Gina and Harry Forehand said that with more than $100,000 in maintenance costs hanging over their heads, they simply couldn't refuse the offer.
The tenpin side was empty Monday night as about 40 people on the duckpin side sent 5-inch balls flying down the lanes as many people walked back and forth, talking to old friends.
"This was our dream - to own our own bowling center," Harry Forehand said. "We wanted to try to make this place work."
The Forehands bought the struggling alley in 2004 and converted half of its 32 lanes from duckpin to tenpin. But the change wasn't enough to reverse the decline in business.
Over the years, many duckpin legends have played at Bowlarama, such as Oneil Wynne, 86.
Wynne sat in the back Monday, cheering on his family members as they bowled and laughing as his nephew was beaten by his nephew's son.
"It's a second home," he said. "I'm sad, very sad."
Wynne no longer bowls because of his bad knees, but he still showed up several nights a week to watch. Inducted into the National Bowling Congress Hall of Fame in 1969, he had the highest duckpin average in the nation during the 1960-61 season. It was 133.
To a tenpin bowler, that may sound pathetic. But most tenpin bowlers have never taken aim at duckpins.
They're are about half the size of tenpins. The balls weigh less than 4 pounds and have no finger holes. You can roll one straight down the middle and only knock over two pins. In duckpin bowling, it's believed that no one has ever rolled a perfect 300.
"If you average 100 when you first come here, you're doing good," Harry Forehand said.
The phone rang continuously Monday with duckpin fans wanting to know why the Forehands were closing the doors. The couple took turns answering calls.
"We're a pretty busy place all the sudden," Harry said. "A lot of people are disappointed that we're closing, but they understand."
For the Forehands, Bowlarama is a family business. They own the alley along with their daughter and son-in-law and Gina's brother. Their son, Joey, is the head mechanic, and the couple have six grandchildren who bowl. One of them, Joseph, had the fifth-highest bowling average in the country among 9-year-olds.
"It's a complete family affair," Gina said. "We're going to miss this place. We're going to miss the bowlers."
Harry recalled a lot of joking over the years from the two sides of the alley about which was tougher, duckpins or tenpins. Though he's a tenpin bowler at heart, he's come to appreciate the sport that many of his regular customers adore.
Gina said that when the family wants to bowl duckpins, they'll now have to go to the area's lone remaining duckpin alley, Victory Lanes Bowling Center in Portsmouth.
Many of Bowlarama's duckpin leagues will move to the Portsmouth alley, including the youth league, which has about 40 bowlers.
Gina said she believes Bowlarama would have done better if in 2004 they had installed more tenpin lanes.
But she has no regrets.
Though they're open to other opportunities in the bowling business, the Forehands will move on to other jobs. Harry said he'll try to go back to the Norfolk Naval Station, where he worked for 28 years.
"We made a whole lot of friends - real close friends," he said. "Maybe sometime down the road, we can all meet again."
