One weekday evening after work I was bored. Decided I wanted to go somewhere I hadn't been in awhile. Then I recalled the Rock-A-Bowl!
Not far from where I was living at the time (early 1990) was an establishment, located at the intersection of Cypress Creek road and North Andrews avenue in north Ft Lauderdale Florida. It was a bowling alley with a lounge, they served basic "bar food" such as burgers and wings.
On Saturday nights, after 9pm or so they dimmed the lights and turned on blacklights, lazers and such, and blasted Pink Floyd music. Unlimited bowling for ten bucks or something. Thus the establishment's name. My friends and I used to go there back before we were 21 as we couldn't get in to a lot of the places to see music and such. Affordable entertainment for kids making not much over minimum wage
Now by 1990 I was 23, and certainly legal age to drink. And on this particular evening I learned it was dollar draft beer night or something, so I blowdried my mullet (hey, all the guys had one, look in any high school yearbook of that year and get back with me!) and hopped in my noisy, modified VW bug and bang shifted my way over there.
I don't recall what I ordered or ate but I do know I had a couple drafts. And at some point she saw me... a willowy blonde about my age. I don't know who struck up the conversation, but maaan she was putting the major flirt on me! Oh, flipping her hair back, giggling at my humor, lightly touching my arm, brushing her fingers along my open neck of my button up shirt!
I was glad at that point that I'd decided to do something different that evening. Why I was going to at least get a phone number for sure!
At some point she said "I gotta go pee honey, you just stay right here!"
I spun back around in my high back bar stool (important detail!) and ordered another draft from the bartender, who was a pleasant lady in her 30's. Then I got a tap on my shoulder, and turned...
I was faced with a somewhat stocky built guy with dark hair and glasses. He poked me in the chest with a finger and said "I think it's time for you to leave!" "Uh, excuse me?" I said. He said louder, while leaning in to my face with his beer breath "I said it's time for you to leave!" I quickly figured that what ever bug was up this seemingly intoxicated dudes ass, he wasn't going to back down.
I stalled... I said "Why do I have to leave? I'm just minding my own business here drinking my beer..."
See, I've always been more of a lover than a fighter, and I always feel you negotiate first, then resort if you have to to physical stuff. Now I still didn't know what was going on here but I sure wasn't going to back down and just walk out. I mean, he wasn't management and I hadn't done in my recollection anything to incite this dude!
By this time, I had swiveled my high back stool so it was against the lip of the bar. I started to draw my knees up, all while keeping him talking and making eye contact. He had at least 20-30 lbs on me so I had to be quick! My plan was to put one heel on each side of his pelvis with my legs like a jackrabbit, and push back as hard as possible! He would have gone over backwards across the small table behind him (I don't recall if anyone was at that table) and my skinny ass was going to run to the left right out the wide open door of the bar into the bowling alley entry, then out the door to my car!
Just then a big guy came over and asked what was going on. Mr "It's time for you to leave" looked at him and said slurringly "DA PROBLEM IS THIS FUGGIN GUY (jabbing his finger in my direction) DOZZIN' KNOW WHEN IT'S TIME TO LEAVE!" big guy (who I figured out was the bouncer) asked the bartender if I had been causing any trouble and of course she said "Nope, he's not any trouble"
At that point the bouncer told glasses dude "Come here! Follow me!" and after a few seconds of mumbled arguing he complied..
So once that cleared out, I finally figured out what had gone down. Cutie Ms hairflipper? Yeah, that was his girlfriend. Whom had come in with him. Seems he went off and shot pool, got shitfaced, and was IGNORING HER. So what a better way to get the attention of your boyfriend than to chat up some other dude? I mean what could POSSIBLY go wrong with this?
Possibly because some innocent guy like ME was going to get his nose broken with a right hook? I mean if the bouncer hadn't come over I have zero doubt this dude was going to throw hands. Or maybe she got off on watching her boyfriend kick some guys ass, I don't know!
I saw glasses guy and his pool playing buddy sent out the door by the bouncer. Decided I'd stay a tad longer just to make sure they weren't waiting for me outside the door with a tire iron or something!
-And I don't recall ever going in the Rock-A-Bowl again. :)
I think the building still stood in the mid 90's when I moved from south Florida, but at some point later the bowling alley was leveled, and a multi deck parking structure built to serve the Tri Rail train station which is there today.
