Chris Nichols is a longtime preservationist and senior editor at Los Angeles magazine. For many years, he worked with the Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee, serving a term as chairman of the group. In addition to creating tours, exhibitions, and lectures about historic Los Angeles, Nichols has advocated for endangered buildings all over Southern California, including the Cinerama Dome and the world's oldest McDonald's in Downey. His books include Walt Disney’s Disneyland for Taschen and The Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister. He writes the Ask Chris column in Los Angeles magazine and has served on the board of Hollywood Heritage. His latest book is Bowlarama!: The Architecture of Mid-Century Bowling and he recently talked about it with Daryl Maxwell for the LAPL Blog.
What was your inspiration for Bowlarama?
This came out of ten years of research following an exhibition I curated at the Architecture and Design Museum on Wilshire Blvd. THAT show came from a lifelong interest and love of Covina Bowl, my hometown bowling center, and Googie landmark, which was endangered. Adriene Biondo and I spent years advocating for Covina Bowl and this book is meant to recognize that it was part of a larger movement and key to the development of these palaces.
Can you tell us a bit about your research for writing Bowlarama?
We encountered endless dead ends and brick walls. This great, big, beautiful world of bowling came and went without much documentation. In my lifetime, these places have always been funky and run down but I wanted to show them at peak freshness, new and sparkling and wonderful. My partner Adriene Biondo, who I initially met when she had a vintage store on Melrose in the 80s, tracked down this jaw-dropping original color painting of Mission Hills Bowl, where we had previously only seen black and white copies. Our goal was to elevate the material and really show off the sort of James Bond elegance of the best of these places. I interviewed dozens of primary sources (many of which have sadly since left us), from architects to engineers to owners. I gave the poor 90+-year-old architect of Covina Bowl such a hard time for not keeping anything. He said he never had his projects photographed because he preferred to drive potential clients to Covina Bowl and let them see it for themselves
What was the most interesting or surprising thing that you learned during your research?
The outrageous arms race that developed between these places, each trying to outdo the other, and how short-lived it all was. From all the technology that changed the game from a saloon sport to a family-friendly pastime, the uniformed nurses in the supervised playrooms with free childcare for moms in the new suburbs to the Las Vegas-style showrooms and the beautifully appointed themed bars ranging from tiki to pirate to space. One center had a full-time bird specialist on staff to care for the aviary.
Were you able to visit any of the bowling alleys documented in Bowlarama? Do you have a favorite of the ones you were able to visit? A favorite you may have visited at some point but no longer exists?
Covina Bowl will always remain near and dear to my heart. We threw a big 60th birthday party in 2015 shortly before it closed with a Covina Bowl-shaped cake and had the son of the opening day MC come host it. My family moved to the suburbs of the San Gabriel Valley in the 1950s and this is sort of my origin story. In the midst of researching the book, I met Troy Walker, a lounge singer who had performed on the bowling circuit and asked him to recreate one of his old shows at the incredibly intact La Habra "300" Bowl in Orange County. Of course, we had to get a special permit from the city, fix up the room a little, remove all the beer signs, reprint the napkins and ashtrays, add back tablecloths and lanterns, and insist all our guests were in period costumes for the full effect. I've put together a huge spreadsheet of more than 900 bowling centers built in California during the 1950s and 60s. The vast majority have been demolished, but I'm still anxious to go see more survivors.
Is there a bowling alley you wish you had visited before it was closed but didn't have the chance?
The biggest and most lavish ever might have been Willow Grove Park Lanes near Philadelphia, designed by Long Beach architects Powers, Daly & DeRosa. It was briefly the largest in the world and had a giant indoor waterfall, tiki bar, Hofbrau, and all sorts of bells and whistles. Walt Disney helped build Celebrity Lanes in Denver, which had an indoor swimming pool so large that they used fans to race sailboats on it. For me, it's not really about the bowling. It's about this whole "country club of the people" experience these places created.
Is there one that has been closed or torn down that, if you were able, you would have saved?
The Italian family who built Covina Bowl opened another center in Anaheim, and they decked it out to resemble imperial Rome a la Googie. How I would have loved to see that!
How did the book evolve and change as you researched, wrote, and revised it?
I kept imagining there was some mother lode archive hiding out there. Besides the absolutely incredible photos Ralph Crane took for Life magazine in 1958, there wasn't one major source for artful material that would tell the story on the level we wanted to tell it at. Most everything arrived one item at a time from families, architects, collector shows, friends, eBay, and countless hours of poking around library collections online.
Are you, or have you ever been, a bowler?
I get a group of friends together once a month. Again, it's not about the game for me but the community that comes together around the lanes. If it were 1962, we could be meeting in the fine dining restaurant or the lounge and probably never lace up our bowling shoes
Your biography says that you are also the author of two other books: Walt Disney's Disneyland and The Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister. What drew you to research and write about Disneyland?
Back in 1995, I organized a 40th anniversary tour of Disneyland for the Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee. The park has been examined in every way possible since then, but in the 90s, it was a very niche thing, and folks loved seeing the environments of Disneyland as a midcentury time capsule. I self-published a little booklet that I gave away to friends. This was pre-internet, so it was super challenging and rewarding to research and design this little pamphlet. I had done some projects with an editor at Taschen, and when she asked if I knew anyone interested in a Disneyland project, I threw up my hand. The McAllister book grew out of my friendship with the architect following advocacy for his Bob's Big Boy in Burbank. To befriend someone who had lived through bathtub gin and the Al Capone gangster era and hear these stories firsthand was mindblowing. My favorite thing is shining a light on creative people who should be better known, which I've also been doing at Los Angeles magazine for many years. My "Ask Chris" column has allowed me to write about some pretty amazing Angelenos.
What is your favorite current ride or attraction? One that is no longer there? One that you wish you had had the chance to experience?
I have hazy memories of Adventure Thru Inner Space in Tomorrowland, but things like that giant eyeball really stick with you. That whole 1967 version of Tomorrowland, which is still kinda hanging on–at least architecturally–was so magnificent. There's a great moment of kinetic energy that I always marvel at where the Monorail goes over the Submarine Voyage, and you can see the Autopia cars gliding by, and it's just all so electric and exciting. The way they were able to expertly thread the needle and cram so much into such a small space is brilliant. I knew him before the book, but working with original Imagineer Bob Gurr, who designed all the ride vehicles for the park, was inspiring. There's nothing like hearing the stories about the creation of that place from someone who was there.
What drew you to research and write about Wayne McAllister and his work?
I thought he was a cool dude, and I just loved his designs. I had read about him in Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture, the book that set me on this course as a teenager. I met Wayne through Bob's but then learned that he sort of invented Las Vegas and was still afraid that the gangsters were going to come looking for him.
Can you tell us a bit about your work with the Los Angeles Conservancy? How did you get involved with them? Do you have any favorites of the buildings you have worked to preserve? Any buildings you regret not being able to save?
Every day on my walk home from high school, I passed the abandoned 1950s McDonald's in Azusa. My teenage brain couldn't comprehend this futuristic building falling into ruin, but I loved it so much. When I was gifted the Googie book I made my parents drive me around to all the coffee shops listed in the back, and then I cold called the author Alan Hess out of the phone book and he became my mentor and changed my life. He advised me to join the L.A. Conservancy and look into this "Fifties Task Force" (later the Modern Committee) that was trying to save midcentury architecture. I eventually became the chairman and spent many, many years advocating, creating lectures, exhibitions, and tours, and trying to keep these amazing buildings around. Armet & Davis became my favorite architects, and I was lucky enough to build friendships with Eldon David and the whole family of wonderful creatives that passed through those doors. Pann's is their best-surviving masterwork, and I get over there as often as I can. We didn't save the Azusa McDonald's, but the Downey location is almost identical to it, and I am there often.
In the opening of your introduction, you cite that bowling is, even now, "the most popular participation sport in the United States" and that it is currently a $10 billion industry. Why or how do you think this is true now and has been true for literally decades?
Isn't that crazy? Who knew? I think it's because if you find yourself at a bowling alley, chances are you're going to pick up a ball. If you find yourself at Dodger Stadium, you're not going to be doing that. I think the game still appeals to all corners of society, and there are leagues for men, women, children, seniors, children, disabled folks, and every kind of community. Plus, there's a very low barrier to entry. It's cheap and easy.
What's currently on your nightstand?
I have a way overdue book on Japanese gardeners in L.A. that I keep meaning to crack open (sorry, LAPL), and I picked up a book on Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal when I was at JFK a few weeks ago. I also bought a new book on the history of a psychedelic 1970s dark ride at Knott's Berry Farm called Knott's Bear-y Tales after attending an author talk at Central Library downtown.
Can you name your top five favorite or most influential authors?
Alan Hess earned probably four of the spots because he took the call of a goofy teenager asking about hamburger stands and treated me seriously. I can't overstate the significance he played in my life, inspiring me to get involved in the world of preservation. Alan introduced me to people and worlds I would have never encountered. I often remember Jake Halpern’s Braving Home about people living in impossible places. I also love Jim Heimannn's books, Charles Phoenix and I share an aesthetic brain, and what architecture nerd doesn't keep the Gebhard & Winter guide at their fingertips?
What was your favorite book when you were a child?
I think I always loved The Dot and the Line by Norton Juster and I liked The Giving Tree and Shel Silverstein's books even though his scowling author photo scared me a little. I'm named for the boy in Winnie-the-Pooh, which I think was my mom's favorite.
Was there a book you felt you needed to hide from your parents?
They gave me some freaky books in the 70s I wish I could have hidden from. I still have a panic attack thinking about Divorce is a Grown Up Problem.
Is there a book you've faked reading?
Ha! All fiction.
Can you name a book you've bought for the cover?
Sure! But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the content. Just glancing around the shelves, I see Hal Lifson’s 1966, The Wham-O Super Book, Our Friend the Atom, Ad Boy, Classic Dining, Nightmares of Halloween Past, Tiki Modern, VIP, The Mad World of Virgil Partch… all with dynamite covers that caught my attention.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture. Full stop.
Can you name a book for which you are an evangelist (and you think everyone should read)?
See above. Also, I wrote an essay for The Great Crump Presents His Magic about my favorite L.A. beatnik artist Rolly Crump, best known for his day job designing rides at Disneyland.
Is there a book you would most want to read again for the first time?
Again, it's got to be Googie. If a book sets you on a course that leads to your life's work, your best friends, your career, your marriage… it's pretty important to you.
What is the last piece of art (music, movies, TV, more traditional art forms) that you've experienced or that has impacted you?
I haven't seen it in person for a while, but just yesterday I was raving about how much I love Central Meridian, the garage installation at LACMA by Michael C. McMillen. I think Problemista was my favorite movie of last year for the way it addressed immigration and art and stratified society in such unique ways, I went to the John Waters exhibition at the Academy Museum multiple times because I love the idea of such a learned institution treating his ridiculousness so seriously. The juxtaposition of high and low art means a lot to me. Oh, Mary! on Broadway was fantastic.
What is your idea of THE perfect day (where you could go anywhere/meet with anyone)?
One of my favorite things is getting lost and making new discoveries. It's harder and harder since my favorite architecture is almost extinct. I DID spot a groovy donut shop in Artesia this weekend that I need to go back and investigate. I love seeing friends' reactions to my favorite places when they visit for the first time. I love being a tour guide. When my favorite architect, Eldon David, turned 90, we rented a party bus and had a late-night progressive dinner at Norms and Pann's and a bunch of his buildings with all of our Googie-loving friends, many of whom have left us. Wish I could do that again.
What is the question that you're always hoping you'll be asked but never have been?
Ha! Tough one. Ummm… maybe people don't understand why they should care about Googie.
What is your answer?
Because art changes hearts and minds, because architecture inspires and can take us places we've never been, and because the more you know about anything, the more you care about it. Googie didn't spring up out of the ground like a mushroom, there were so many talented people experimenting and flexing their creative muscles, inventing a whole new genre. I love showing them off.
What are you working on now?
I'm still touring with Bowlarama, still bowling once a month (last time I broke 100!) and still advocating for historic buildings. I have a few book ideas I've been meaning to pitch, but I should probably clean up my library and collections at home first.
