In good times and hardship, Tyee Lanes has been a constant in Jerry Goforth’s life. The bowling alley closed forever on Sunday, leaving regulars without a hangout to call home.
Michael V. Martina / The Herald
“This is my home away from home,” Goforth said earlier. “Almost everybody here personally knows me. I’ve been on all kinds of leagues. I’m going to miss this place.”
On the north end of Everett’s Broadway since 1957, Tyee Lanes has been sold to make way for an Everett Community College parking lot. It is expected to be leveled by the start of fall quarter Sept. 19, said Michael Kerns, vice president for administration at EvCC.
Tyee friendships were tested in August when Goforth’s Marysville home burned down days after the death of his wife, Margie.
“They had a big fundraiser,” said Goforth, 63. “They had a giant bowling pin, and everybody put money in. After my wife died, this place was my release.”
This is a better year. In June, Goforth’s son, Jason, married a woman he’s known since childhood. The newlyweds met at Tyee Lanes, where the bride’s mother worked.
Goforth figures he spent 40 hours a week at Tyee. His Thursday bowling league will move to Strawberry Lanes in Marysville.
“We’re all just figuring out where to go next,” he said.
The building was sold by Jeanne and Dan Bracken of Seattle. Dan Bracken built Tyee and ran the business until 1984. Since then, it’s been run by Gordon Cea, who rented it and owns the equipment.
“We had 32 employees; they’re all out of work,” said Cea, 62. Among them are his wife, Darlene, and daughters, Darla Cea and Jeana Grinaker.
Kerns didn’t disclose the sale price, saying the paperwork wasn’t completed. Cea said he wasn’t compensated for his customer base. “That’s half the value,” he said.
“The hardest thing is going to be the people, the friends,” said Cea, near tears as he talked about Sunday’s closure.
“People had met their wives here. Some bowled here 35 years. It was sad, a lot of crying and a heck of a party,” Cea said.
In the lounge, Jeff Dygert was one of many whose farewells were in writing on the wall: “If I could, I would croon one last song, ‘Thanks for the Memories,’” he wrote.
The self-described “lounge lizard” rarely bowled. “This was where I went to watch ball games with friends,” said Dygert, 52, whose beverage of choice earned him the name “Coffee Jeff.”
“It was like ‘Cheers,’ a place where everybody knows your name,” Dygert said.
Employees are reeling from the loss of livelihood and camaraderie. “The reason everybody was still here is Gordy; he was the best boss,” said Vickie Pederson, 56, who worked in the office. She was once married to Cea’s late brother, Gary.
Kitchen manager Melody Klepper is known to customers as “Mama Mel.”
“I have watched kids here from the time they were babies,” Klepper said. Restaurant workers Tina Sanders and Janelle David grew up together, coming to the bowling alley after school. “I love this place,” Sanders said.
Birthday party kids, karaoke singers, couples out for a date night of “galactic bowling” with lights and music, all had a home – even serious bowlers.
Ida Bonneywell, 67, has been in bowling leagues since the 1960s. Tyee opened the year after she graduated from Everett High School in 1956.
“I always said I’ll keep bowling at Tyee as long as Gordy is there. He does anything he can to help,” said Bonneywell, who lives near Snohomish.
With Cea’s help, she and her husband, Bill, will move one of their leagues to Evergreen Lanes in Everett.
“This was a place a family could go,” Bonneywell said. “To tear it down, it’s a crying shame.”
For thousands of EvCC students, it’s progress.
Tyee is the first of several properties the college is buying, among them the Royal Motor Inn, a 20-unit apartment building, a pregnancy counseling center, a car lot, gas station and six houses. Kerns said growth will push the campus, now with 10,000 students, toward Broadway’s commercial district.
Dygert isn’t pleased with the progress. At the goodbye party, he couldn’t stop thinking of “that Joni Mitchell classic.” Remember the lyrics?
“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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