This story is part of KNAU’s series Unmapped Route 66, which chronicles the people and places of the Mother Road’s past and present during its centennial year.
Most of the bowling lanes at Starlite Lanes on Route 66 in Flagstaff are occupied, even on this Wednesday afternoon.
On one side, a family celebrates their daughter's birthday while coworkers at a team-building event bowl next to them.
The balls crash into pins so rhythmically that the combined sounds of the lanes mimic ocean waves.
“Where we are right now is on the concourse of our small 16-lane boutique center that's been operating here on Route 66 since 1957,” says Ron Getto.
He’s owned the joint, along with his wife, since 2010.
And he’s beaming as he stands at the top of the stairs, overlooking the bustling bowling hall.
At his feet, a German shepherd never strays too far — she monitors every scent the bowling alley offers.
“That's our mascot, Althea. She was born and raised here and now she’s almost 9 years old,” Getto says.
Starlite Lanes is the second-oldest bowling alley in the state.
And as so many other bowling alleys have closed since their height in the mid-1960s, Starlite Lanes is going stronger than ever.
Much of that strength is a result of Getto himself, who says the business had suffered from under-investment before he and his wife bought it.
But for all he has put into the bowling center, Getto remains a contradiction in this place.
Even after living in Flagstaff for well over a decade, his accent reveals his Long Island origin. And as he walks into his back office, he seems to relax.
“The last time I bowled, and this is no joke, probably not in the last three years, not once,” Getto says.
No, it's not bowling but business that makes Getto tick — that’s clear as he runs down the changes he’s made since buying Starlight Lanes from the restaurant to replacing the old pin machine.
“When you have free-falling pins, you need a full-time mechanic: so the big savings is labor,” Getto remarks.
It’s a strikingly unromantic way to view a place otherwise drenched in Americana.
And it’s a view honed in a very different world.
“Prior to buying the bowling alley, I spent my career on Wall Street,” he explains.
Enter the 2008 financial crisis.
“You learn what risk and reward mean. And risk is discovering that there are no jobs available. And that caused me to cast a wider net,” Getto says.
In 2010, he was driving past a vacant strip mall when a friend mused whether a bowling alley could fill the space. The remark got Getto thinking.
As he dug in, he found thousands of bowling alleys across the country had disappeared, many torn down to make way for big-box stores.
“More people wanted to bowl, and yet, bowling alleys were slowly disappearing. And I just saw, as a trained economist during my college days, when demand outstrips supply, that's a pretty good time to buy,” Getto says. “And with that, I found a little bowling alley in Flagstaff, Arizona at the back of a bowling alley magazine for sale.”
And Getto says his career on the Mother Road is the last place he would have imagined himself and his family ending up.
“There was no way this East Coast Ivy League-educated person was going to be buying a small operating company, focused on community members, and the most diversified customer base you could imagine,” Getto laughs. “The only way that would have happened is if I were put into the witness protection program.”
Odd career changes are no stranger to Starlite lanes.
The man who opened it got his start as an NFL defensive back playing for teams in Miami, Brooklyn and Washington, D.C., in the 1940s before moving to Flagstaff.
That tradition is set to continue.
Chris Stewart has been the general manager for three years.
Today, he stands behind the desk, running through the bowling league schedule and school groups expected to visit Starlite Lanes in the coming days.
Unlike Getto, bowling is at his core.
“I grew up in bowling. I started bowling before I could walk,” Stewart says.
Chris was 20 years into a career in natural gas, bowling as part of a league with friends and managing the third-party pro-shop in Starlite Lanes.
He had already tried a career running a bowling alley in New Mexico. But when that fell apart, he thought any future in bowling would simply be as a league member.
That changed when Getto approached him one day after league play in 2022.
“He said, ‘Hey, I need to see you in my office for a minute.’ and then he closed the door; I really, at 40 some years old, felt like I was in the principal's office,” Stewart says.
Stewart was in for more trouble than he thought — Getto offered him the position of general manager and eventually, owner.
“As you can imagine, that was quite a shock. And then as you start thinking about it and things start settling in, the shock wears off and the fear sets in,” Stewart says.
It wasn’t just fear though. Stewart says it was also an honor.
“For him to see something in me that says, ‘You're the guy.’ When the day comes that we sign over that and he turns over the keys will probably be one of, if not, the biggest accomplishments in my life,” Stewart says.
Until then, Getto says he’ll enjoy the perks of the bowling alley that Wall Street just can't offer.
“I walk outside my office and I get to see everybody having a great time, and occasionally, meltdown on aisle six.”
KNAU's Richard Alun Davis contributed to this story.
