Mahall’s (13200 Madison Ave., 216-521-3280), the bowling alley/music venue/restaurant and bar in Lakewood, took a break from operations from Christmas Eve through the day after Christmas Day. When an employee popped into the building for a minute, he discovered an unwelcome surprise.
“He found water running through the entire building,” explains owner Cory Hajde. “It came from the second floor, where it was just pouring out of a pipe in an apartment, and went through the main bar, through the walls and all the way down into Pins.”
“Pins” is Pins & Needles, the retro-chic `70s-era lounge that opened in the lower level this past summer. The intimate bar was decked out with authentic, period-appropriate paneling, furniture and equipment – almost all of which was destroyed by water damage. The owners recently put out a plea on social media for furniture, vinyl and items that might help get the space in proper shape again.
Right now, Pins is largely gutted in order to dry the space out and ready it for rebuilding. That should begin next week, Hajde says. When it reopens, it might feel a little larger if management decides to remove the lower-level men’s room as planned.
The lower lanes, thankfully, were unaffected by the deluge, but the main bar is going through some things. As for the upstairs lanes, which were the topic of conversation when the distinctive two-tone bowling pews appeared at a local architectural salvage warehouse, Hajde was intentionally vague.
“We’re working on a pretty large project in the upstairs lanes,” he says. “That room hasn’t been touched since like the `70s.”
When pressed on the future state of bowling in the building, he replied, “We’re still going to have our original 10 lanes downstairs. We’re never going to get rid of those.”
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This article appears in Dec 28, 2022 – Jan 10, 2023.
