The above caption is a random fact noted by the New York Times in the 130th edition of the Statistical Abstract of the United States, the annual profile of the country published on Thursday by the Census Bureau.
Offhand, of course we have no hard stats, but with the decline of bowling alleys throughout Brooklyn and NYC and the increase in bicycle lanes, the trend might be the opposite in our town.
It is hard to envision that bowling is (or could have once been) so popular. When Mark Lanes was being closed in 2006 to make way for a new parking garage for Century 21, the Bay Ridge Paper ran a story reporting that in 1962, there were 11,476 bowling alleys nationwide with 163,323 lanes. In 2006 there were only 5,811 alleys with 119,815 lanes. Brooklyn has just 157 of those lanes.
This is evidence that either a) bowling really isn't too popular in these parts or b) the amount of young adults cycling is truly dismally low despite the efforts being made to promote bicycling and health in NYC.
Hmmm, there's more of a story in here... in the meantime, see this Google map of bowling lanes and bicycle routes
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