As Skyway Lanes Closes, Hundreds Say Goodbye To City’s Last Black-Owned Bowling Alley

JEFFERY MANOR — Shirley Crossley, 88, ordered a 6-pound bowling ball, the lightest allowed for league play, so she could keep rolling at her neighborhood bowling alley.

But Skyway Lanes, 9915 S. Torrence Ave., closed for good Sunday before Crossley’s ball could get there. She stopped by anyway.

“It’s bad news,” said Crossley, wearing a light-up cowboy hat covered in silver sequins. “This was something I looked forward to. Now, I won’t be playing.”

It was a bittersweet ending for the hundreds of South Siders who came to Skyway for $2 games Sunday and the chance to say goodbye. The aging alley — the city’s last Black-owned bowling center — hung on for a year after a fundraiser to save it collected over $25,000 from community members and sympathetic bowlers across the country.

But second-generation owner Brunetta Hill-Corley said her family couldn’t catch up with rising costs at the 35,000-square-foot facility, declining participation in leagues and needed repairs.

Hill-Corley, 67, had a brain aneurysm in September. On Sunday, her husband, Rico, worked the desk while her daughter, Jacquline, sold spare pins to anyone who wanted to take home a piece of Skyway, which had been the neighborhood since the ’50s.

Hill-Corley signed pins with personalized notes. A line formed.

“It feels good,” Hill-Corley said. “People understand.”

Customers bowl during the last day of operation at Skyway Bowl, 9915 S. Torrence Ave., in Jeffrey Manor on April 26, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Chicago had over 100 bowling alleys during the sport’s heyday in the mid-20th century, but that’s dwindled to under a dozen, with just three on the South Side. Bowling operators have told Block Club their sprawling properties are now more valuable than the businesses inside them.

James Morgan had been coming to Skyway since the late ’70s, back when it was tough to find an open lane on a Saturday or Sunday. Before the Hill family, the alley was run by the owner of one of Chicago’s largest Black banks, former economic drivers in Black communities that have seen declining populations in recent decades.

On Sunday, Morgan came to Skyway with his best friend of 40 years, who he said he met there.

“You have to be a special type of person now to make this place work. Bowling alleys are hands-on,” Morgan said. “It’s feast or famine.”

While some North Side bowling alleys have thrived off nostalgia to bring in casual players, South Side neighbors said Skyway’s closure marks the loss of one of their only community spaces for baby showers, graduations and birthday parties.

On Sunday, local political candidates hawked petitions and small businesses set up stands. Old friends hugged and bowlers stopped for pictures with the Skyway sign on their way out. Some who came didn’t bowl at all.

Cheryl Needham, who earned the bowling nickname “Dimples” for the many dents in her car, said she planned to be at the alley all day. She brought balloons and plenty of food.

“I’ll miss the people,” Needham said. “I’ll celebrate for all the time I can.”

Cheryl “Dimples” Needham celebrates throwing a strike during the last day of operation at Skyway Bowl, 9915 S. Torrence Ave., in Jeffrey Manor on April 26, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

A local Corvette club, Game Over Vette, was one of many groups that had thrown events at Skyway over the past year after Hill-Corley signaled the business was in trouble. Pam Monroe, the club’s event planner, said the club drew car enthusiasts from across the Midwest to Skyway and raised thousands for college scholarships. She wasn’t sure where they’d go next.

“Here feels like home,” Monroe said. “This place, it’s historical, and that’s definitely worth celebrating.”

Sue Bell grew up going to Skyway. As her two boys bowled their final frames Sunday, Bell said she was struggling to find other activities for them close to home.

“It’s a loss,” Bell said. “Everybody was like a family.”

Jacquline Corley, Rico Corley and Brunetta Hill-Corley during the last day of operation at Skyway Bowl, 9915 S. Torrence Ave., in Jeffrey Manor on April 26, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Buyers will start picking up Skyway’s lanes and equipment Monday, Hill-Corley said. She’ll soon list the building for sale. It won’t be a bowling alley, but she hopes it may be something for good, like a nursing home or a veterans center.

Her father, Johnnie Hill, was a political operator who bought and sold South Side businesses in his later life, making repairs himself and investments on blocks where others wouldn’t. He ran the bowling alley until his death in 2016.

Hill-Corley has a corporate background and never planned to run a bowling alley, but she said she felt an obligation to her father and community. Her health scare gave her clarity that it was finally OK to let go.

“There’s no sadness. I’ve done what I needed to do,” Hill-Corley said. “This last year, I’ve enjoyed all of that. We’ve met so many people, and the community came back. The people who grew up here came back.”

Bowler Mike Wells knows a thing or two about strikes and spares but not much about why Skyway had to close. He was one of many there Sunday who said they’d save the alley if they had the money for it.

“There’s probably a million reasons why not,” Wells said. “But if anyone were to ask me, I’d tell them it’s worth it.”

More photos from Skyway Lanes’ last day in business: