Photo Story: Highland Bowl

 Highland Bowl, located at 2123 NW 9th St, Corvallis, was first opened on May 29, 1959. The current owner is Scott Yarrow, who has been with Highland for several years. Highland has been a staple of Corvallis, with some regulars bowling at Highland for as long as it has been in business. Highland Bowl has 20 lanes for bowling, a kitchen, bar and lounge, and a small arcade. It also hosts bowling leagues six out of the seven days of the week, some days holding multiple leagues per day. While its main crowd consists of the league bowlers who come in at the same times every week, Highland also is frequented by several families and college students looking for a fun time.


Highland Bowl, located at 2123 NW 9th St, Corvallis, on a busy Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday nights are when the Nationals league bowls, so 10 of the 20 lanes are taken up for the league. A packed parking lot is a common sight on a league night.

A lone pair of Highland's bowling shoes sit on the counter, with the Tuesday night Ladies Classic league in full swing in the background. Ladies Classic is one of two leagues on Tuesday, with the Exiles league taking place at the same time on the other half of the alley. Ladies is just one of the 15 leagues Highland Bowl hosts.


Manager Jon Magnani announcing the beginning of the Exiles league. All leagues have a practice period where bowlers are able to warm up. Once that period is over, an employee will use the microphone to announce that practice is over, and that once the scores are up and machines are reset, everyone is free to begin their league bowling. Another frequent use of the microphone is to make trouble calls to the back for an employee to fix a machine.


Tristan Bailey (Front) and Edgar Alvarez (Back) work to serve customers their drinks on a busy Thursday night during league. The Thursday night Happy Hour league has 20 lanes, filling out the entire bowling alley. The rush that comes with that league keeps employees always moving until about an hour later when everything settles.

Manager Jon Magnani moving the oiler in order to prepare the lanes for league bowling. New oil needs to be applied to keep the lanes fresh every so often. The oiler gets filled with oil and cleaner, then gets moved and set on each lane before it automatically goes down the lane and applies new oil.


The machines that run the lanes at Highland Bowl. Pins are taken from the bottom of the machine to the pin setter, which places them in their holders, waiting to be set up for the next full rack. 20 machines are in the back of the building, away from the view of any customers. Employees come back here to fix trouble calls or do regular maintenance throughout the day.






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