Blackstone Bowl got its start in 1959

Question: What is the history of the Blackstone Bowl?

– John Geston Jr., Fresno

Answer: Blackstone Bowl bowling center opened near Blackstone and Shaw avenues in about 1959. By the mid-1980s, the center had 36 lanes.

In 1985, owner Don Dickinson moved it to a new $4.5-million, 50,300-square-foot, 48-lane facility in the Sierra Village Shopping Center on the northeast corner of Blackstone and Sierra avenues. It was the largest bowling facility in Fresno.

The new center featured an automatic scoring system with a split-screen feature so bowlers could watch television and their score at the same time.

The air-conditioned center also had a nursery with separate sections for infants and children. An outdoor children’s play area was planned.

The ball-return areas at each lane were equipped with touch-tone phones, so bowlers could contact the control center, the mechanic or other areas of the center.

The center was painted in a purple, lavender and peach color scheme. The lounge featured a two-level bar. There were separate locker areas for juniors and adults, with lockers large enough to accommodate two bowling balls.

Dickinson retired in 1992 and sold the bowling center to Concourse Family Bowling Centers of Los Angeles. AMF Bowling Inc. bought the center in 1998 and changed the name to Sierra Lanes.

The original bowling center at Blackstone and Shaw was torn down to make way for a shopping center.

Q: What is the history of the Mendes General Store on Olive Avenue?

– Betty Jo Atkins, Fresno

A: The late William Lawrence “Willie” Mendes opened Mendes General Store in 1970, selling Western wear — shirts, pants, boots, hats and accessories — from a small storefront on West Olive Avenue near Highway 99.

In about 1975, Mendes moved the store to a larger space at 1915 W. Olive, about a block away. He had already begun developing Mendes Park next to the new store, a grassy half-acre oasis for travelers with flowers, several trees, a patio, picnic tables and chairs, barbecue, wishing well, windmill and flag pole. A special feature was the hand-operated water pump Mendes salvaged from the kitchen sink of his childhood home on Shirk Road in Visalia.

By 1983, the Mendes store carried thousands of pairs of denim pants, Western shirts, cowboy boots and hats.

Shirley Sudden of Fresno recalled meeting Mendes in 1973 when she stopped by the store to pick up a few work shirts for her husband. “Willie overheard me telling the clerk I was retiring in a few months,” Sudden said.

Mendes asked Sudden what kind of work she did. When she told him she was a bookkeeper, he asked if she would write out some payroll checks for him while she was there.

Sudden is still the bookkeeper for current owner Helen Myers, who began working for Mendes in 1982 and took over ownership in 2001.

Mendes kept the store open on holidays, Myers recalled, so out-of-town customers in town for the holidays could visit the store.

Mendes General Store still specializes in Western wear, especially in extended sizes, Myers said. She carries cowboy boots from toddler sizes to men’s size 17 and pants up to a 66-inch waist and 40-inch inseam. And they carry the white pants that are part of the uniform for Future Farmers of America and 4-H members.

Mendes grew up in Visalia. In 1935, then 13, he began competing as a steer wrestler and bareback bronc rider. He eventually performed in rodeos from Clovis to Calgary, winning several events. Mendes served in World War II and moved to Fresno in 1945.

Before opening the store, Mendes had been a card dealer in Las Vegas, worked for the city of Fresno and operated a bar on Blackstone Avenue. He later raised Watusi cattle on his Madera County ranch. Mendes died in 2000 at 78.

More about Ryan’s Auditorium

After the answer to a question about Ryan’s Auditorium ran on Jan. 17, Lawrence Galemba of Fresno called about the Ringside Cafe on Fresno Street, named for the nearby boxing arena at Fresno and D streets.

Galemba said his mother, Marie Paradis, and aunt, Louise Martin, opened the cafe in 1950 and served Italian food. Firefighters from the nearby Station 3, police officers and spectators from Ryan’s were regular customers, he said.

Like its namesake, the Ringside Cafe closed in 1955 to make way for construction of Highway 99.

By Paula Lloyd / The Fresno Bee