Around Maryland

In its early days, Patterson Lanes was an important spot for the working class men and women of East Baltimore to socialize and compete. It took a handful of pennies to play a game and pins were set by “pin boys,” young neighborhood kids who usually worked two lanes at a time.

Not much has changed since Patterson Lanes opened in 1927. Located on Eastern Avenue, near Patterson Park, it’s still a place for fierce league action, weekend party-bowling and fun open play. It is also a place where the heritage of the sport, working-class Baltimore and even early Orioles history comes together.

Legend has it that two famous Orioles players (and baseball hall-of-famers), John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson, started the game by shaving pins down to the duckpin size and creating smaller balls in order to make it more difficult (this was the old Baltimore Orioles franchise that moved to New York in 1903 and became the modern-day Yankees). At Patterson Lanes, a large photo of Baltimore Babe Ruth bowling duckpins hangs proudly on the first floor, a tribute to the early days of the tradition. 

Another tribute to its early days: the fact that a “perfect game” – that is, a score of 300 – has never been achieved!

Patterson Lanes was run by the Ruzin family until fairly recently. In the 1950s, Martin Ruzin’s son, Bernie, took it over and finally sold it in 1995 to the current owners, Charles and Theresa McElhose. Charles recalls that Bernie wanted it to remain a duckpin house because of his love of the sport and its history. Charles did just that with some minor adjustments; he installed electronic scoring systems, which make things a whole lot easier for bowlers. The Ruzin’s replaced “pin boys” with mid-century automated pin setting machines. For these now anachronistic machines, Charles has the daunting task of finding replacement parts in duckpin houses that unfortunately have to close.

In the past decade, the duckpin game has taken some major blows with the closure of lanes throughout Baltimore and beyond.  This leaves Patterson Lanes as the oldest duckpin bowling center in the world, a place where the tradition and the sport are being kept alive one strike at a time.

Patterson Bowling Center Duckpin Lanes is Maryland Traditions’ 2011 ALTA (Achievement in Living Traditions & Arts) Award Recipient for Place. It was honored at the December 3^rd ALTA Awards Ceremony and Concert at the Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring. For more information, visit www.marylandtraditions.org.