Levittown Bowling Alley Reopens With Temperature Checks, Masks

LEVITTOWN, NY — Pins fell Monday at Levittown Lanes for the first time since mid-March, when the neighborhood bowling alley was forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic. After nearly five months of uncertainty and empty lanes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week said bowling alleys in New York could reopen, so long as certain protocols were in place.

Under state guidelines, bowling alleys were allowed to reopen Monday, but had to remain at or below 50 percent capacity. All bowlers and staff must wear face coverings, and every other lane must be closed. Parties must stay at their lane, and any food or beverages served must be ordered and delivered by staff.

Levittown Lanes, owned by the Mormando family since 1953, reopened its doors as soon as it was allowed, and community members wasted no time hitting up the lanes. In the first four days since reopening, general manager Keith Pappas told Patch it’s been “very, very busy.” Indeed, when Patch first reached out Wednesday afternoon to learn how Levittown Lanes adapted, Pappas was too busy to talk — "I’m slammed," he said.

The bowling alley is currently "a little short-staffed," currently, since they don't know who's going to come in, he said, but Levittown Lanes has enough manpower to attend to all guests and provide on-lane food and beverage service.

"We cater as much as we can to the customer, and we also make sure our customers are safe," he said.

Visitors have included returning high school students, seniors and families with younger children.

“It’s been a great mix," Pappas said. “It’s nice to see all the different types of families returning.”

While Pappas and the staff at Levittown Lanes have been preparing to reopen for weeks, he was "pleasantly surprised" that people were eager to return to bowling as fast as they did.

The bowling alley implemented various measures to follow state guidelines and ensure the safety of both bowlers and staff. Bowlers will find dividers between lanes and hand sanitizing stations throughout. Markings on the ground now encourage people to keep a safe distance away from others, and the alley’s monitors continuously display reminders to social distance and abide by other guidelines. Masks are required, and both workers and visitors have their temperatures checked once they enter. Additionally, guests fill out a contact tracing form when they visit and use separate doors to enter and exit the facility, a measure designed to control the flow of traffic. All guests must also reserve a lane online before visiting.

The bowling alley’s reopening has been long-awaited, as the past five months have been filled with uncertainty and fear about the future of the family-owned neighborhood spot. The Mormando family has owned Levittown Lanes for three generations.

“It was probably the worst five and a half months of my life. Not knowing when or if we were ever going to get back to work, not knowing if we could survive,” Pappas said. “To have somebody who's been a big focal point of the community not be able to continue what they've done for 57 years would have been a just total detriment to the game.”

When Cuomo announced that bowling alleys could finally reopen, Pappas, who said he had been an advocate for reopening since March, was “ecstatic.”

For weeks, he had contacted various elected officials to ask that bowling alleys be allowed to reopen. Levittown Lanes eventually gained recognition from lawmakers including county Executive Laura Curran and Legislator John Ferretti, who both visited the bowling alley earlier this month. Ferretti said in an Aug. 7 Facebook post that his first job, at age 14, was at Levittown Lanes.

“They are ready to roll,” Curran wrote in an Aug. 8 Facebook post, adding that Levittown Lanes had implemented “smart and innovative modifications.”

And after weeks of advocacy, “finally, we were heard," Pappas said.