engineering

Kona Lanes

Kona Lanes is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kona Lanes rather than just read about it. In short: Kona Lanes was a bowling center in Costa Mesa, California, United States, that operated from 1958 to 2003. Known for its futuristic design, it featured 40 wood-floor bowling lanes, a game room, a lounge, and a coffee shop that eventually became a Mexican diner.

Key takeaways

Kona Lanes belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kona Lanes to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kona Lanes from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kona Lanes was a bowling center in Costa Mesa, California, United States, that operated from 1958 to 2003. Known for its futuristic design, it featured 40 wood-floor bowling lanes, a game room, a lounge, and a coffee shop that eventually became a Mexican diner. Built during the advent of Googie architecture, its Polynesian-inspired Tiki styling extended from the large roadside sign to the building's neon lights and exaggerated rooflines. When Kona Lanes was demolished in 2003, it was one of the last remaining examples of the Googie style in the region; its sister center, Java Lanes in Long Beach, was razed in 2004. Much of Kona's equipment was sold prior to the demolition, but the distinctive sign was saved and sent to Cincinnati, where a portion is on permanent display in the American Sign Museum. Costa Mesa's planning commission approved a proposal to build a department store on the site, but those plans were scrapped following public outcry. In 2010, the still-vacant land was rezoned for senior citizens' apartments and commercial development. Construction on the apartments began ten years after Kona Lanes was demolished.

History

Early years

Kona Lanes opened in 1958, featuring the Tiki-inspired signage and architecture that became popular following World War II, including what the Los Angeles Times called its "flamboyant neon lights and ostentatious rooflines meant to attract motorists like moths". The building on Harbor Boulevard near Adams Avenue was one of three in the Googie style that architects Powers, Daly, & DeRosa designed at around the same time; Kona Lanes and its sister center, Java Lanes, used names that suggested South Pacific island locales. Author Andrew Hurley called them "expensive and attractive buildings that screamed, 'Have fun here'", and Kona retained much of that atmosphere over the years. Its massive neon-lit street sign remained for the life of the building, and Kona was the only bowling establishment in the area to reject automatic scoring equipment throughout its existence. Kona Lanes hosted the Southern California PBA Open twice in 1964; Billy Hardwick won in April and Jerry Hale in December. Longtime general manager Dick Stoeffler, known at the time as the producer and host of TV Bowling Tournament on KTLA, finished third during the televised finals in his own building in December, behind Hale and Hardwick. When Stoeffler rolled back-to-back 300 games in one league session at Kona in 1968, he was one of only four men in the United States to have managed the feat.

Peak years

Champions who bowled at Kona Lanes during its 45-year history include three-time Professional Bowlers Association Tour winner Jack Biondolillo; six-time male Bowling Writers Association of America Bowler of the Year and future PBA Hall of Famer Don Carter; John Haveles, an Orange County Bowling Hall of Fame inductee who began a stint as Kona's manager in 1974; future Michigan Women's Bowling Association Hall of Famer Cora Fiebig; two-time female BWAA Bowler of the Year Aleta Sill; repeat bowler of the year and WIBC Hall of Famer Donna Adamek; and Barry Asher, the multiple PBA Tour champion and Hall of Fame inductee who later ran the pro shop at Fountain Bowl in nearby Fountain Valley. Kona Lanes and Tustin Lanes hosted nearly 10,000 teams of five players each taking part in the United States Bowling Congress Women's Championships in 1986. Under Dick Stoeffler's management, Kona Lanes kept busy 24 hours a day, which made him one of the most successful proprietors in the country. Stoeffler met his future wife there; other couples had similar experiences, including at least one wedding. The center was often so busy that customers had to make reservations to get a lane during open bowling hours. At its peak, Kona Lanes averaged more than 80 lines on each of its 40 lanes. Bowling as a participation sport flourished in the early 1960s, but its popularity was diluted due to overbuilding; the number of bowling alleys sanctioned by the then-American Bowling Congress peaked at about 11,000 by mid-decade, and Kona was one of more than 30 in southern California alone. A decline in league bowling starting in the 1980s was also blamed for the downturn, but an AMF Bowling official argued that the customer base remained steady because an increase in open bowling made up for fewer league bowlers. Jack Mann bought Kona Lanes in 1980 and re-branded it New Kona Lanes the following year. Mann's family owned several bowling centers in the region; he was behind the creation of Fountain Bowl in 1973 and the short-lived Regal Lanes in Orange in 1974. He also owned Tustin Lanes before selling it to his youngest son, Alex. Mann bought Kona Lanes not because he loved bowling, but because it would continue to pay dividends if he was no longer able to work. He later sold it to his son Jack Jr.

Music The center's lounge, the Outrigger Room, hosted many local artists over the years. Jazz quintet The Redd Foxx Bbq released four songs recorded there, and Roscoe Holland recorded a set of eight live performances for his album Beyond the Reef. In later years, much of the bowlers' area was taped off for rock concerts and weekend promotions like Club Crush, which proved popular among teenagers and also led to album recordings. A planned event featuring a local punk rock group was shut down by the Costa Mesa Police Department, leading to negative publicity.

Decline and demolition

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kona Lanes

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kona Lanes claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kona Lanes before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kona Lanes ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kona Lanes

In research: Kona Lanes appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kona Lanes in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kona Lanes is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1958 establishments in California, 2003 disestablishments in California, Buildings and structures completed in 1958, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kona Lanes outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kona Lanes in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kona Lanes means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kona Lanes out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kona Lanes in simple terms?

Why does Kona Lanes matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kona Lanes?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kona Lanes.