The Fireside Bowl - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Fireside Bowl is a bowling alley and music venue

Music venue

A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Typically, different types of venues host different genres of music...

established in the 1940s, located at 2648 W Fullerton Ave in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

History

The building was an ice factory in its early days. In the summer of 1941 renovations began and the owner Hank Sophie converted it into a bowling alley, cashing-in on the bowling craze that began in mid-20th century America. It started as a twelve lane pin boy bowling alley and thrived throughout the 40s and 50s. In 1956 it was expanded and AMF automatic pinspotters were installed and the remodeled. The Fireside was expanded by four lanes bringing the total to 16 lanes.

Ownership

The Fireside was owned and operated by Hank Sophie until 1966 when Rich Lapinski and Alec "Mac" McGuire bought the bowling alley from an ailing Hank Sophie. Lapinski and McGuire operated it together until 1971 when Lapinski bought out McGuire. From 1971 until 1990 Lapinski operated it as a thriving bowling alley. As the neighborhood changed and Fireside fell into disrepair Lapinski handed the establishment to his son Jim. The neighborhood was getting rough and business slowed so Fireside began to showcase live music on a part time basis in 1994.

Music venue

While the bowling lanes were used less and less, music was filling in on more nights. There was still bowling on a few nights, in particular the Bucktown Bowling League made up of several neighborhood establishments took to the lanes every Monday night as they had been doing for many years. However, music was now the primary focus.

Gradually, more and more shows were held there until 1999 when the City of Chicago

Chicago

wanted to expand the nearby Haas Park. For the next several years the cloud of eminent domain

Eminent domain

Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...

hung over Fireside, but it continued to host shows promoted by Brian Peterson and Dave Eaves. As time went on and the neighborhood changed neighbors became increasingly more vocal about the live music acts. Then in 2003 the City of Chicago dropped the eminent domain suit and it was decided by the owners and family, with talks to the alderman concerning it continued status that if Fireside was to continue over the long term it needed to get back to its roots of bowling.

Back to bowling

In the Summer of 2004 renovations were made to update things such as automatic scoring, new lanes and equipment and upgrades to the building and its amenities. It restated as a bowling alley without ever closing in the fall of 2004. Since then Fireside has retaken its status as Logan Square's neighborhood bowling alley.

In 2010 the Fireside Bowl started hosting live music again.

Popular culture

Several external scenes from the 1992 film Rapid Fire
Rapid Fire
Rapid Fire is the name of several films:*Rapid Fire , starring Brandon Lee*Rapid Fire Other*Rapid Fire,a song by Judas Priest*Rapid Fire , a fictional character in the G.I. Joe universe...

, featuring Brandon Lee

Brandon Lee

Brandon Bruce Lee was an American actor and martial artist. He was the son of martial arts film star Bruce Lee...

and Powers Boothe

Powers Boothe

Powers Allen Boothe is an American television and film actor. Some of his most notable roles include his Emmy-winning 1980 portrayal of Jim Jones and his turn as Cy Tolliver on Deadwood, as well as Vice-President Noah Daniels on 24....

prominently show the Fireside. In the film it was used as the headquarters of Boothe's character Det. Mace Ryan and his team.

In 2000, The Fireside earned a mention in the song "Goodbye Forever" by Chicago-based band, the Alkaline Trio

Alkaline Trio

Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band that formed in McHenry, Illinois, in 1996. The band's line-up consists of Matt Skiba , Dan Andriano , and Derek Grant...

. The song appears on the Alkaline Trio's self-titled album

Alkaline Trio (album)

Alkaline Trio is a compilation album by the Chicago-based punk rock band Alkaline Trio, released April 18, 2000 through Asian Man Records. It includes all of the tracks from their EPs For Your Lungs Only and I Lied My Face Off , as well as both tracks from the "Sundials" single and several tracks...

, and includes the line "Remember last April when we saw U.S. Maple

U.S. Maple

U.S. Maple was an American noise rock band. The group formed in Chicago in 1995. The band consists of Al Johnson , Mark Shippy , Pat Samson , and Todd Rittmann — who banded together with the intent of becoming the deconstructionists of rock and roll.-Formation and first single:U.S...

? / Somehow the singer showed the Fireside exactly how I feel."

The bowling scenes from the 2006 film The Break-Up
The Break-Up
The Break-Up is a 2006 American comedy-drama romance film directed by Peyton Reed, starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. It was written by Jay Lavender and Jeremy Garelick and produced by Universal Pictures.-Plot:...

, featuring Vince Vaughn

Vince Vaughn

Vincent Anthony "Vince" Vaughn is an American film actor, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 movie Swingers...

and Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, film director, and producer, best known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career,...

, were filmed at the Fireside.

The Fireside can be seen in an episode of Fox TV

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

show The Chicago Code entitled "Hog Butcher", which aired on Feb 14, 2011.

External links

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