I was an admirer of the 1956 Covina Bowl in its latter years before its 2017 closure. Now, a housing developer is putting 132 units on the property while saving the bulk of the building, the 60-foot-tall sign and other distinctive features. I took a tour for my Sunday column.

By way of background, I’d been mulling writing a column on this for a long time but wondered if I could justify it, in my own mind at least, since Covina is a little west of even the westernmost part of the IE. Then, by chance, I learned that the historic consultant for the project is a Riverside acquaintance who is active in historic preservation there. She offered to arrange a tour with the developer. Bingo, column achieved!

Covina Bowl, the subject of a column and a blog post last year, is closing after being open since 1956. This bowler is sad. The bulk of Wednesday’s column is about a farewell event that took place last weekend; the center closes Sunday.

Wednesday’s column starts with a report on the bowling alley in Covina, which turned 60 last week. Have you bowled there? After that come three Culture Corner items and a few paragraphs about the Chino Hills High basketball team.

I intended to write a series of posts on bowling alleys, set up a format to do so, produced one on San Bernardino’s Arrowhead Lanes in November 2011, and then never wrote another one. Oops. Well, here’s the second in the series, and I promise not to wait three years for the next one.

Possibly my favorite local bowling alley, Bowlium Lanes offers a burst of style on a dispirited stretch of Holt, even if the enormous pole sign fell victim to sign codes a few years back. Behind the flagstones, arches and dingbats on the exterior you’ll find more retro style inside: a cozy enclosed diner and vintage signs for restrooms and cocktails.

The interior is well-maintained too. The lanes are kept well-oiled (possibly too well-oiled) and they have plenty of balls to choose from. The scoring machines are tricky to program, with directional arrows in multiple colors for navigation, and I kind of hate them. The graphics on the overhead screens are entertaining. Besides the bowling, there’s a pro shop, a bar and a game room.

Bowlium is open 9 a.m. to midnight Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. That’s not 24-hour bowling, but 17-hour bowling is impressive.

Address: 4666 Holt Blvd.

Number of lanes: 32

Owner: Scott and Teresa Poddig

Year opened: 1958

Architect: Powers, Daly and DeRosa

Neighbors: vacant lot, quaint real estate office, elementary school

Games: Game room

Bar: Yes, with vintage “Cocktails” sign

Coffee shop: Yes, with counter and stools

Ambience: The Jetsons meet the Flintstones

Deal: Monday 9 p.m. to midnight: $1.25 per game, but there are more here.

Website: bowlium.com

That’s the motto of St. Louis’ Saratoga Lanes, built in 1916 on the second story of a building in suburban Maplewood. Yes, you have to walk upstairs to bowl; there’s a storefront office tenant on the first floor. (Noisy neighbors?)

Once you’re upstairs, you find billiards, a bar and eight lanes that evidently were last remodeled in the mid-1950s. There’s automatic pinsetting and ball return — at least they don’t still employ pinboys — but the ball return is ancient and all scoring must be done by hand, just like the old days. No TV screens, no flashy graphics. Also, the seating is lovably plastic, and they still have ashtrays.

I learned how to keep score from my Dad back in the 1970s, before our town’s lanes implemented electronic scoring. Saratoga’s daytime manager told me that newcomers freak out about the scoring and sometimes stay away for that reason, but he always offers to show people how to do it.

An occasional bowler, I’d been to Saratoga once before and found the place amazing. I returned during my recent visit home. I was the only bowler there that afternoon. My parents watched me bowl three middling games — my scores were 127 to 144 — and my Dad took a video of me bowling a random frame. You can watch that video here.

Saratoga is on the National Register of Historic Places and in 2008 was named the city’s best lanes by Riverfront Times. I’d link to Saratoga’s website, but it’s so minimal it may not have been updated since the 1950s either.

Thunderbird Lanes, 1555 N. Mountain Ave., was a bowling alley just below the 10 Freeway in Ontario that operated from 1960 until about 1991. It was torn down in 1996 to make way for the Edwards 14 multiplex. A vertical pole sign spelled out the name Thunderbird and was crowned by a neon-edged bird, wings extended.

As Charles Phoenix’s “Cruising the Pomona Valley, 1930 Thru 1970,” the source of the above rendering, put it:

“Visible from miles around, perched high above the action below, the giant spread eagle thunderbird with a 17 foot wingspan was aglow in yellow neon and alive with red light bulb eyes.”

I never bowled there, arriving after the center closed, but I remember the sign being just tall enough that from the freeway the bird could be seen peeking above the barrier.

At the Ontario Library’s Model Colony History Room, I paged through some phone books for information. The nifty 1960 ad at right notes that the Thunderbird, 1555 N. Mountain Ave., had 32 lanes and “free instruction.” The 1968 ad boasts that the Thunderbird had a “Daytime Housewives’ Leagues” (!) and was open 24 hours (!!). Definitely a good era for bowlers.

By the 1980 ad, the only portion still open 24/7 was the Thunderbird’s coffee shop, named the Trucker’s Spot. Makes me wonder if passing truckers had been among the night-owl bowling crowd.

Anyway, as I said, the bowling alley was demolished, but the Thunderbird figure atop the sign was saved, repaired and placed in the city’s Museum of History and Art. That’s the bird below. The museum, at 225 S. Lemon Ave. (essentially, the southeast corner of Holt and Euclid), is definitely worth a visit.

The two photos above were contributed by reader David Sutherland, who took them circa 1986. Annie’s was the coffee shop name at that point.

You’re encouraged to leave a comment if you have a memory of the Thunderbird, or even if you just think the bird is cool.

Montclair’s Bowlium Lanes opened in 1958 at 4666 Holt Blvd., just west of Monte Vista Avenue, and the oldest surviving bowling alley in the Inland Valley is still setting ’em up.

The 32-lane bowling center recently gained a new, snazzier sign (see above). It’s a far cry from the astonishing sign (see below) that lured motorists from 1958 until its demolition in 1999, but it’s better than the two bland monument signs that filled in in the interim.

Friday’s column (read it here) has more about the signs and also about Shakey’s Pizza down the street, Montclair’s oldest restaurant.

Headed to San Bernardino’s National Orange Show recently, I was delighted to pass by a bowling alley. I made a stop on my way back.

And speaking of way back, Arrowhead Lanes is a pleasant throwback. The scoring machine looks like something from the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, and it must baffle newcomers, because the woman at the counter routinely asks if bowlers would like her to enter their names for them. Meanwhile, the ball return sends balls into a teardrop-shaped bin where they swirl around like thoughts in Herman Cain’s head.

The monitors above the lanes give you your score and nothing else — no fancy graphics, no ads. Helpfully, if you bowl multiple games, it shows you the same frame from each game, so you can instantly compare, say, your fourth frame from this game to your previous two.

The lanes are in good condition and the balls are neatly organized, with all the balls of the same weight grouped together, all the same color. I really liked my experience there. I don’t know how often I’ll drive to San Bernardino to bowl (perhaps never again), but this place makes it tempting. A few particulars:

Address: 299 W. Orange Show Road

Number of lanes: 32

Owner: AMF

Year opened: 1959

Architect: Paul R. Williams

Neighbors: Maytag Superstore, Turner’s Outdoorsman

Games: Billiards, video

Bar: Yes (with vintage “Cocktails” sign)

Ambience: Scarcely updated 1960s equipment and furniture; serious bowlers; working class vibe

Deal: $10 an hour beats $3.95 per game

Website: www.amf.com/arrowheadlanes