The last pin will fall soon

On Saturday, Charlie’s Lanes will close its doors.
“Saturday night,” owner Charlie Bergeron said, “we will have jackpot bowling, give it all away. Then, turn out the lights. … It’s sad.”
Charlie’s Lanes is located at 7722 La. 182 East in Morgan City. Bergeron has been the owner for the last 12 years.
Bowling has had quite a history in Morgan City. “Most people don’t know the history here,” Bergeron said. “I wouldn’t know if I wasn’t involved.”
According to a historical survey that was compiled, edited and produced by John F. Rogers, bowling has been recorded in Morgan City as far back as 1875. In the July 10, 1875, newspaper Brashear News, an ad stated that Pierre Lahitte constructed a bowling alley and a platform for dancing on the New Road to Lake Palourde.
According to Rogers, modern bowling began in Morgan City on Sept. 20, 1940. It was a four-lane alley located at 217 Everett St., and it was owned by Maurice D. Shannon and Sam Citrano.
After that, M.D. Shannon Jr. and Frank Smith built a bowling alley on a quarter boat moored on Front Street. It was named Victory Bowling Alleys and opened on Feb. 14, 1942.
In the building that is today Cannata’s Family Market, 6010 La. 182, there was a restaurant, a bar/lounge, a ballroom and on March 21, 1942, a four-lane bowling alley. This business was called the Shell Inn Recreation.
Rogers writes that the Shell Inn closed early in 1952, and Morgan City was without local bowling until 1960.
In the spring of that year, five local businessmen — Frank Domino, C.J. Cutrone, Julian Fernandez, Ned Russo and Nick Russo — opened Keglers Lanes on the corner of Seventh and Greenwood streets.
Keglers Lanes was a 12-lane center and was an immediate success. Its success led the owners to build a larger establishment.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held July 5, 1961, for the building and on Jan. 13, 1962, the new 24-lane center opened. It was also named Keglers Lanes.
Keglers Lanes went through different owners, but kept the same name until 2007 when Bergeron purchased the building and business and changed the name to Charlie’s Lanes.
Bergeron didn’t just change the name. He remodeled and updated what was available.
“The lanes got automatic scoring,” Bergeron said. “We did the lanes over, put new carpet, we remodeled the whole place. We put pool tables and a bar upstairs. We have six pool tables. We catered mostly to our pool players upstairs.”
Bergeron also opened up to a new sport that local schools adopted. Morgan City, Central Catholic and Berwick high schools all used the bowling alley for practices and competition for their bowling teams.
“Losing the bowling alley for the youth is what bothers me the most,” Bergeron said. “For those that can’t play baseball, football, basketball, whatever, they can bowl.
“We had a lot of youth that wanted to bowl. We also had Special Olympics coming in October. We are hoping, for the youth, that someone might walk in tomorrow and want to keep the bowling center,” Bergeron said.
The decision to close was hard for Bergeron but “you can’t keep putting good money to bad. That’s what I decided because I did put good money to bad, and I can’t do it anymore.”
Bergeron said he saw the closure coming “with the economy, it’s not only Morgan City either, bowling around the nation is really slacking off, too. It’s a sad thing, but the older people are dying off and the younger people aren’t picking it up.
“In this little town, there is a lot of competition. Every weekend there is something going on in this town now. It’s not like it was years ago. The only thing to do then was to go to the show or go bowling. Now every weekend there is something going on. I’m not saying I don’t like all of that stuff, but it just puts people not coming to your place,” Bergeron said.
“So, I had to make a decision, and I made it. I’m not saying I like it,” Bergeron said. “I didn’t know the best route to go, but when I saw my numbers going down and down, well, I guess I was too late.”