Matt Marcinkowski
The Corner Bar is a story of accessories—how a fifth-generation shoemaker, Jason Bibb, bought the country’s last pair of cocked-hat bowling lanes. Named for the “smartass” (Bibb’s word) way that men wore their derbies while rolling, cocked-hat bowling uses three regular pins and a candlepin ball (think bocce ball but with no holes for your fingers) instead of your standard-issue 10 pins. Bibb says the place has been around since 1865, the alley’s been continuously in use since 1875, and this is probably the last place on earth where you can play three-pin bowling. Not that he wants to advertise it. “It’s a word-of-mouth place, and we keep it that way,” he says.
During Prohibition, Bibb says, The Corner Bar was an old saloon. During the ’60s and ’70s, it was a place where wives would poke their heads in to summon their husbands for supper. These days, to gain entry, head to the back and descend through a trapdoor. It’s easy to envision how it operated in the 19th century. Nothing’s automated: High school students work as pinsetters, catching the ball at the end of the lane and rolling it back via a chute. Also the same, though not quite as old: much of the clientele. Some of the men’s league teams have been around for 50 years, Bibb says. “They’re like old women at the bridge table. They get real snooty with their bowling. I’m like, ‘Come on, Larry.’ They take it way too seriously.”
Follow us on Instagram @stlouismag and tag a photo of your favorite secret spot in St. Louis with #SecretSTL.
