There is a bowling alley in Anaconda, MT that is in an old quonset hut type building. We have attended may tournaments there and it also has one really fine little restaurant.
The late Art Curren, who was the true master of the technique, referred to it as kitmingling- a word that implies considerable finesse (this definitely applied in Art's case).
The picture from montanan is not a Quonset hut, but a prestressed wooden beam arch construction. This type of construction was popular in the 50's for providing a large interior space without interior supports - think gymnasium, supermarket, bowling alley. Another common variation incorporated a reverse curve at the ends of the arch, giving a gull-wing effect. Safeway built a number of supermarkets in this fashion.
Candy, first, make sure whatever style you build this in blends in well with the rest of your locale. That photo of the "Spare Room" looks like something one would see here in the west, where the alley would have lots of land around it. Or even simply on a very large retail/industrial lot. Most of what you've modeled is more east-coast style older urban areas. For the era of the 50-60s, east coast alleys wouldn't be in this style. On the other hand, if you are modeling a "brand new (for the time)" suburban alley, they would begin to take up a lot more room as large "stand alone" buildings with lots of parking. But, back east, I would expect them to still be mostly brick (or brick facade) or wood and brick. I cannot remember seeing anything like the above in upstate NY back in the early 70s (where I spent my college years). Here's a photo, from Albany NY, of an alley from that era The other thing I've been pondering: you mention detailing lanes, etc. Are you planning on a removable (or transparent) roof? I cannot recall any bowling alley with windows that allow seeing the lanes.
I've decided on brick. I'm building it with DPM stuff. And I did notice the absence of windows so I'm ordering a lot of blank wall sections. I want to make my roof removable
That looks just like the one they built in Oconto Falls, WI in about 1980 and now is used as a wearhouse.
I'd love to find a photo of the four-lane building in Holderness, NH which looked like just another store front in small town New England in the 50s.
All kinds of town history groups on Facebook. Lots of pictures of things and places, which I never believed would be seen by my eyes again.
I've seen and been in quite a few of those 4 laners up here in northeastern Wisconsin. There were three in Green Bay alone. They are probably all gone by now. There were two in the southeast counties as well. Like you say they all looked like regular store fronts.
Many of the old ones in eastern MT were 3-4 lanes in the basement or on the main floor of the DPM style brick front buildings. It sure looks like you have a good challenge ahead of you! But we are sure you are more than able to pull it off exceptionally well!
When I think of kit mingling I think of all the left over bits from my finished or partly finished kits that all get put into zip lock bag for possible use in other projects.
