Nashville has been waiting on pins and needles (get it?) ever since the announcement of Eastside Bowl, a bowling alley/diner/bar/music venue now open in the old K-Mart space on Gallatin Avenue.
But the wait was worth it: With 94,00 square feet of space and countless amenities, this Madison entertainment complex is set to become a destination for neighbors and non-eastsiders alike. For the brains behind the bowling alley—Chark Kinsolving, Tommy Pierce, and Jamie Rubin—that gleaming white empty superstore was the perfect space to execute a truly modern vision inspired by the past.
“We are heavily steeped in 1973,” says Rubin, who formerly owned the beloved East Nashville restaurant Family Wash. “It’s my partner Chark’s favorite year in music and I’m right there with him, so we’ve kind of used that as our North Star.”
With a giant sputnik hanging overhead upon entry, vinyl booths throughout, vintage games (there’s even an old-school arcade) and accessories, and a funky color scheme that gives everything from the carpets to the walls a groovy vibe, it’s clear the ’70s were a key inspiration.
The design of each space has been flawlessly executed by Lyon Porter, the visionary behind Urban Cowboy and the Dive Motel. Hand stenciled bowling pin wallpaper adorns the walls of the bar, gleaming white vinyl booths create opulent yet comfortable seating in the diner, and a funky carpet created especially for the space by an artist in Australia all add to the vintage aesthetic.
And though the spaces share a common theme, each offers a very different attraction. In the 16-lane bowling alley, custom lanes have been outfitted with “hyper-bowling” elements (think bumper bowling but with lights and sensors) that give your bowling game a pinball-like twist. In fact, Eastside Bowl is the only alley within 300 miles that offers the game. Each lane has its own lounge space with plush forest green booths, and because no detail has been overlooked, the bowling balls are designed to look like billiard balls.
The restaurant space has been fashioned after traditional diners, an aesthetic Rubin takes very seriously. “As a New Englander, I grew up 20 miles from where the diner car was invented. I grew up with diners everywhere and Nashville is really lacking that,” he says. And in true diner fashion, this one will offer up breakfast, lunch, and dinner from early morning to late, late-night. Some of Rubin’s Family Wash recipes will be served, including the beloved Shepherd’s Pie.
Those late-night eats will surely come in handy for those attending shows in the space’s music venue, The Wash at Eastside Bowl. The 750-person-capacity, 5,000-square-foot space has two stages, a bar, a private balcony viewing area, and its own entrance and box office, so ticketholders don’t have to make their way through the bowling masses to see a show.
“It’s been a really incredible journey for us. We’ve assembled this dream team of people who get where we’re coming from and understand our vision,” says Rubin. “Yes, it’s a bowling alley, but you have to come here to really get the experience. We want people to come here and have a good time. We want them to disconnect from their media and focus on each other and have fun together.”
(1508 Gallatin Pike S., Madison; facebook.com/eastsidebowl)