While researching something in Virginia, I ended up in Michigan (on Google Maps, that is). What I found was really interesting, and became this week’s building. We’re in Trenton, Michigan, to be specific, along a pretty ordinary-looking commercial strip. And our building is this pretty ordinary-looking strip plaza, in 2019:

This being Google Street View, we can go back in time. Obviously, this building didn’t always looks exactly like this, or I wouldn’t have featured it here. Any guesses? It’s interesting how the storefronts and the back of the building don’t quite match, isn’t it? Here’s the structure in 2018:

I’m not sure this view is much help in identifying what the building is/was, but you can see the roof was raised after the storefronts were built onto the front.

Here it is in 2017, in its original state, or at least its original use:

It’s a bowling alley converted into a strip mall! And the bowling alley happens to have a neat history too, as this post from 2010 in the local Trenton Trib explains:

Some local lore states that the domed roof is half of a blimp, and because of the shape, it’s easy to see how that could be possible. But Belmar II’s owner Joe Ezell set the record straight.

However, the airship [(Zeppelin Metal Clad 2] does play a significant role in the history of Belmar II Bowling Center. This airship was built by the Aircraft Development Corporation in a large domed hangar at the former Naval Air Station on Grosse Ile, and the bowling center is made from that hangar….the bowling center is actually a portion of the tall domed hangar in which the airship was built.

According to that article, the hanger was dismantled and moved in 1960, meaning the bowling alley dates to about that time. Given that this roof shape is quite common for bowling alleys, it’s interesting that this one actually used a piece of a preexisting structure (which would have been from the 1920s, because the airship was completed in 1929.)

Given how many bowling alleys sprouted up in the postwar era, and how many wartime hangar-type structures existed, I wonder if this actually happened fairly often. If you’re aware of anything like this, leave a comment or send an email!

Related Reading:

What Do You Think You’re Looking At? #8

What Do You Think You’re Looking At? #19

Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekend subscribers-only post, plus full access to the archive of nearly 200 posts and growing. And you’ll help ensure more material like this!

Share