The old tube amps were real workhorses and like most things in that time era built to last. Good luck finding a replacement tube today. The lenses would be a nice thing to have for your own collection and that's about it.
The old carbon arc lights. At least a couple of years ago, about 2013, the ones in the Canton Ohio Memorial Civic Center were still in use. One of the guys who worked there showed me one of them. He said the rods had to be changed every 20 minutes. Use HEAVY gloves because you couldn't wait for them to cool down during a show. I thought it said Super Trouper.
Looks like a full on funkadelic time machine. I didn't know coloured bowling balls were that old, I though they were all black with white lettering back in the day
I really appreciate you Motts for getting back to us with your explanation of how you were able to find this cool bowling alley. Just wonder why such a nice place was covered over or deemed no longer needed.
The access hole was more of an opening for the infrastructure for the building (HVAC, electricity, etc); a bit of a squeeze and you dropped into the sealed up bowling alley on the lower floor. A super fun way to get in!
Darlene - I thought the same when I stumbled upon my first one, but they have since kept popping up in other psychiatric hospitals. I suppose it's been proven to be a pretty safe, fun indoor sport that can appeal to many people.
Iceberg - the extensions on the building may have once been outdoor solaria, open to the weather (judging from the downspouts protruding from the facade), but have been transformed into indoor space. They appeared to be common/day rooms, with the narrow bedrooms lining the recessed wall.
Nicole - many of the closed buildings had these number unceremoniously spray painted on them; I presume they are building numbers that correspond to campus maps, to help identify structures on-site for the maintenance / redevelopment teams.