Post #37149 by SpaceAgeCity on Tue, Jun 3, 2003 2:00 PM

As of yesterday, Kona Lanes' big roadside sign was laying on the ground in the parking lot. It looks like they were careful not to cause much damage in removing it, so perhaps someone who cares landed it for their collection.

Workmen were putting a fence up around the property, but I still got in to take a few photos. (Not yet developed.)

The interior is about 1/2 to 2/3 gutted.

The only good news is that a few of the nicer plants outside have been carefully removed. Let's hope they found good homes.

For those interested, 5 of the original scoring/projection tables were snapped up by the "vintage" store across the street. These aren't the tables used recently, but were stored somewhere in a back room all these years.

Anyway, the vintage store is a bit hard to spot. Look for a record store called "Noise, Noise, Noise," and the vintage store (which has no sign, but is called "53rd & 3rd") is just a couple doors down. I'd guess the tables are for sale, but they haven't been priced yet. (The owner was out when I stopped past.)

As for earlier comments about the Costa Mesa city council,... They long ago assessed their options for saving the Kona. They wanted it to stay, but they didn't have much leverage. Thanks to our (ahem) esteemed Governor, I'd be surprised if the city could afford enough lawyers to fight the Seagarstroms. (I'd guess the city doesn't want to cross swords with the Segarstroms anyway. It would be like Anaheim fighting Disney.)

Did I mention that the bar at Kona Lanes was originally Polynesian themed? Wish I had a photo of THAT!

CJ