The popular Cove Bowling Lanes in Great Barrington has been in the news several times over the past few decades. Back in 1998, it was widely reported as the inspiration for the bowling alley portion of the film “The Big Lebowski.” The Cove was also home to national champion bowler Tom Hankey Jr. And now the bowling center is back in the headlines as the site is scheduled for a foreclosure auction in mid-December.
The property has quite a history. The Cove Inn on Stockbridge Road was founded by Herbert Ladd in 1933. In a field next to the Inn known as “Ladd’s Lot,” the proprietor offered special attractions such as the circus-like show depicted in the poster shown at right.
Medric and Catherine Nault ran the popular lodge throughout the 1940s. The original, two-story structure was named after a nearby oxbow-shaped pond, close to the Housatonic River, that was used for ice-skating and competitive hockey games.
The property was purchased in 1950 by the Asklipious family, who added a modern restaurant as shown in several of the photographs below. The family then opened the adjoining Cove Bowling Lanes in 1960.
Gordon “Red” McIntyre then operated the business for 30 years, until he sold it in 2008.
The original inn burned in 1958, but the dining room addition survived the fire and continued as the Cove Inn Restaurant. It later changed names several times and operated as the Tahiti, Great Steakout, and Thelma’s Roadside Diner. An antiques store currently occupies the site of the old restaurant. The future of the Bowling Lanes is unclear.
