Renovation For Ojai Valley Bowl?

Interior photographs of the former bowling alley’s coffee shop reveal an advanced state of dilapidation.

By Nao Braverman
Longtime Ojai residents remember when the abandoned concrete block on 1202 E. Ojai Ave. was once an integral part of Ojai’s night life, a thriving business that catered to all ages.
Last known as the Ojai Valley Bowl, the 16-lane bowling alley had a coffee shop and restaurant at the entrance, a lounge with a full bar in the back, and even a small pro shop where bowling balls and other equipment could be purchased.
Local bowlers practiced daily and Ojai’s kids celebrated birthdays there. Five nights a week, bowlers participated in organized leagues.
But for the past 10 years the dilapidated building has remained unoccupied. Deemed structurally unsound by the planning department in recent years, and occasionally occupied by vagrants, the property now wards off all such visitors with a forbidding chain-link fence.
Current property owner Gail Bazzano, a Louisiana resident, said there was still a chance she might bring the old bowling alley back. After confirming rumors that a Los Angeles woman had expressed interest in resurrecting the bowling business, she said the proposal is still up in the air.
“We’re tossing around the idea to see how much interest people in Ojai would have,” she said. “Before putting four to five million dollars into something, we would want to know if people are really going to use it. We really don’t know at this point. We’re still doing research.” she said.
Bazzano, who purchased the property seven years ago, initially planned to fill the building with retail and office spaces. With a daughter living in Santa Monica she frequently visits, Bazzano was interested in purchasing the nearby lot with the hopes of developing it.
“I love Ojai, it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen,” she said.
But she recalls the planning officials she met with in 2002 told her she could not keep the building where it was, set back from the street.
“They told me I was going to have to tear it down and move it to the sidewalk. The building had to have parking behind it and not in front, which created a huge problem for me because I didn’t want to tear the building down,” she said.
City manager Jere Kersnar, who was not employed with the city at the time of her application, explained that the building was structurally unsound and did not meet seismic standards; primarily because of a groundwater problem that caused the building to flood after significant rainfall. As the cost to retrofit the building was greater than the cost of new construction, by the Planning department’s estimation, the Planning Commission has asked Bazzano to move it to the street.
Bazzano still intends to use the old building. Recent studies have revealed ways to bring the building up to building standards more cost effectively than a complete reconstruction, she said.
“Despite the fact that it has been vacant for a while, we shouldn’t lift our general design regulations for the sake of expediency,” said Kersnar.
Nonetheless, few could argue that a bowling center of some kind would be preferred by most residents over the present eyesore that has marred East Ojai Avenue for at least 10 years.
“Whatever regulations there are could certainly be worked around,” he said.
The former owner, Winifred Boersch, who sold it to Bazzano, last opened the doors to allowed Oprah Winfrey to film “Before Women Had Wings,” a 1997 made-for-television movie, and also proposed to turn the property into a Rite Aid to the opposition of many locals in 1998.
Before that, Planning Department records reveal a sign permit was issued to Joseph and Cherie Borgaro, and a conditional use permit was issued to Robert and Mary Oblinger in 1982. The first permit was issued to Ralph Jost in 1960 when it was initially opened as Topa Lanes.
Bazzano had set her plans aside after initially being rejected by planning officials. “It has only been the past six months or a year that I have been considering the idea of making it a bowling alley again,” she said. “I would love to know if the residents are interested. If the townspeople would really use a bowling alley and really want it made, I would be a willing participant.”