SJ & Bob Discuss Heil's Bar 701 Whittaker Avenue, The Burg
SJBill said...
This place is on the corner of Beatty and Whittaker? Wasn't this
John and Jake Heil's Bar and Restaurant, back in the day? There
were two open doors to the bowling alley section of the business.
As pinboys in the pits, we used to come into the bar area to fill
up empty soda bottles with water. For the adults, Rock and Rye
and or a beer was the favorite in this place. ;-)
Bob Reck said...
Remember it well. I also was a pinboy there. Remember jumping
up on a ledge so the ball didn't hit us. I was there one night,
playing pinball with a cigarette dangling from my mouth. My mom
walks in to catch me smoking. All she said was ( all right big
shot )and she gave me a wallop with her handbag, the that had
everything she owned in it including the frig. Damn near sent
me through the wall.
Later this became Chianti's of course:)
3 comments:
.....I'd like to say Hi to all the former Pin Boys. I sat up pins for 2 cents a game at Carabelli's place in Brown's Mills. When we built the Hamilton Bowling Lanes in 1955 and installed automatic pin setters, I knew what a big change it made in the bowling business. We had a bunch of good kids at the Olden Bowling Alleys, but AMF changed all that. Regards
Setting pins at Heils taught character early.
No "working papers" were required for the underaged.
It involved tough kids that fought for a break. It was hard work, and paid very little, and the conditions were hot and uncomfortable for most of the year.
Setting pins could be sometimes be hazardous to your health (like when "Bobo" Schultheis, who worked at the Trenton Sewer Department, could lay down a 30 mph fastball on the maple without a sound, and having it bounce off your knees while you were down in the pit.
Getting hit by the ball was either a screw up or a major black & blue pointer.
Bob Reck
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