From the Staten Island Advance (Jan. 6, 2004)
The final frame
With little fanfare, lots of laughs and plenty of tears, Victory Lanes closes its doors for good after 65-plus years
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
By BERNIE AUGUSTINE
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
"This is 'Cheers,'" explained Betsy Rydell. And like the fictional Boston watering hole, Victory Lanes was a place where everybody knew your name. "It's family," said Jimmy Terlizzi, who as been bowling at the Castleton Corners house for 16 years. "I grew up with these people."
But also like Cheers, the doors to Victory Lanes have closed forever. When the final ball was rolled at Victory last night -- the bowling alley will soon be a bank -- there were tears.
"It's very depressing," Terlizzi said. "I have so many good memories here. "This is where I learned to bowl." And Terlizzi isn't the only person who made good memories and lasting friendships at 1836 Victory Blvd. "A lot of regulars came to sulk and cry with us," Victory Lanes co-owner Rick Coriasco said last night, "and to share good times."
Rick and his wife Pat have been co-owners along with Tim and Laurie McAuliffe for the last 18 years. Victory opened for business in 1938. Victory's closing leaves only two houses on Staten Island -- Rab's Country Lanes and Bowling on the Green, located within two miles of each other on the East Shore.
"The Showplace opened in 1987," Coriasco said of the defunct alleys near the West Shore Expressway, "and some people thought we were crazy (to invest at Victory). That place was state of the art and this was an old building."
But perhaps that was what drew people to Victory. The small house had just 10 lanes, a snack bar with six stools, a bar, pool table and a Quick Draw monitor. "I love the closeness," Bob Kanowcz said, "and most of the people are neighborhood people."
But why decide to close down?
"It came down to a business decision," Coriasco said. "We had to put our feelings aside."
Coriasco explained how real estate taxes were ultimately the driving force behind the decision to sell the building.
"Taxes were originally 9,000," he said, "and they are now more than 50,000."
So last night, regulars, newcomers, and everyone in between gathered to reminisce and close out the bar and the lanes for one last time.
"I had no idea it was closing," said Carianne Leandro.
Leandro and her husband Frank brought their 2 1/2-year-old daughter Gabriella to Victory last night for her first night of bowling.
"We just had nothing to do on a rainy night," she said.
Others knew exactly what they were doing -- getting together with family.
"Everyone is laughing now," Rydell said last night, "but there are going to be a lot of tears around 11:30 p.m."
"I'm really going to miss this place," Kanowcz said, "Everyone who comes in here asks, 'You here for the funeral?'"
"I'm going to have to ask Laurie for a Rolodex," Terlizzi said, "because I don't want to lose the friends I made here."
