Let the good times roll : The new Lowell entertainment center opens today.
Posted on Tuesday, July 1, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/63355/
ROGERS — If you enter the doors at Fastlane Entertainment, which opens at noon today in Lowell, and you don’t venture past the bright lights of the arcade games, you’ve missed the point of the establishment.
If you wander to the southern side of the arcade and find your way into the two-story laser-tag arena that features a pirate ship and a castle but you go no farther, you’ve missed the point.
If you follow your nose and your stomach but stray no farther than the food, which is served from opening to closing, you’ve missed the point.
Buried in the rear of Fastlane, way in the back, lie two sets of bowling alleys. Even though they were placed like an afterthought, this was the point.
Frank Jameson, Fastlane’s operations manager, said bowling is very important to the people behind the entertainment venue.
That is why there are two bowling rooms: a larger main room and a smaller one primarily for corporate or private events.
Then came the arcade.
“ Those old traditional (bowling ) centers don’t make the revenue this kind can, ” Jameson said.
It was actually the restaurant, Jameson said, that was the afterthought. Initially, only bar-type food was planned.
“ If we’re going to build this type of facility, let’s offer real food, ” Jameson said.
It was that food and the bar that took the early spotlight Tuesday night during a VIP event at Fastlane, just south of Pleasant Grove Road on Dixieland Road, as Lowell officials wandered and partook in their city’s newest attraction. The bowling came later, kicked off by the “ inaugural balls” bowled by city leaders, contractors, Brunswick officials and the people running Fastlane. Several took out all 10 pins, but Jameson’s ball hit the gutter.