Lost Omaha I: the 40 Bowl

40 Bowl at 120 North 40th Street in Omaha, 1947-1965.

Conversation came up this morning about a meeting long ago at the 40 Bowl, at 40th and Dodge. Naturally this piqued my interest since this is my home neighborhood and I don't recall the 40 Bowl.

So I had to do a bit of digging, as I am wont to do.

June 19, 1947
Omaha World-Herald advertisement

The 40 Bowl was a 28 lane bowling alley, which opened in 1947 near the southwest corner of 40th and Dodge by Sam H. Stern and A.S. Purcello (Omaha World-Herald, May 11, 1947). In 1954, the 40 Bowl was the first bowling alley in Omaha to install automatic pinsetters. In 1962, 12 lanes in the basement were removed and billiard tables were installed.

The bowling alley operated near the southwest corner of 40th and Dodge until December, 1965 (Omaha World-Herald, December 3, 1965). Stern also owned Parkway Bowl, which opened in 1941 and closed in 1959. The Sterns were closing the alley due to declining business.

According to son Skip, the bowling lanes would be removed and the upstairs would be leased to Indoor Golf, Inc., while he would still own and operate Mister Q Billiards in the basement.  Indoor Golf, Inc., operating under the trade name Golf-O-Mat, was the seventh indoor golf range allowing players to drive a ball at a projection screen while a computer calculated direction and velocity, and a projector would roll images to give the illusion of the golf ball in flight. Joe Murphy, a retired chief master sergeant, was President of Indoor Golf, Inc. (Omaha World-Herald, December 3, 1965) Golf-O-Mat moved out in early 1967.

In September, 1967, Stern announced the opening of the Carousel, a nightclub to operate in the building. The club would seat 500 and be decorated in a carousel motif, with a 35-foot wide carousel suspended form the ceiling. The club would cater to young adults in the 21-35 age bracket, according to Fred Corbino, the club operator.

Fire gutted the building in June, 1968, destroying the Carousel, Mister Q Billiards, and a coin-operated laundry operating within the building (Omaha World-Herald, June 2, 1968).

In January 19, 1971 McDonald's corporation took out a $48,000 building permit on the site, and a McDonald's restaurant opened at 122 N. 40th Street in about 1972. There is a single reference to a Speedy Car Wash on the site in the early 1980s, and I vaguely recall a carwash at the corner of 40th and Dodge (just north of the McDonald's, where their parking lot is today), though I can't find any references to substantiate the car wash.

Aerial shot of 40th Street, c. 1960. The 40 Bowl is in the lower right-hand corner
and the Admiral movie theater on the lower left-hand side.