Hidden PVD

Lang’s Bowlarama’s Secret Office is a Mad Men-Style Treasure

The bowling alley, in Cranston, has an office that hasn't been touched for decades

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The ‘50s and ‘60s were the golden age of bowling and nobody was a bigger booster of the sport than Ed Lang, the original owner of Lang’s Bowlarama in Cranston. Ed ran the lanes from 1960 to 1983, with the help of his son Bruce in the later years, at which point he leased the bowling alley to AMF, one of the largest chain of bowling lanes in the country. He leased it under two conditions: AMF had to keep the Lang’s name, and they couldn’t have access to his office.

Bruce’s sons Rich and Dave took back control of the bowling alley in 2012. Both Ed and Bruce had passed away at that point and the office they kept locked away from AMF had only rarely been accessed in 30 years. What Rich and Dave found when they unlocked it was like a scene out of Mad Men.

“Everything was pretty much exactly how they [Ed and Bruce] had it,” says Dayna Mancini, director of marketing and events at Lang’s. “It was like a time capsule.”


Think lots of wood paneling, furniture and artwork that would make your vintage-obsessed friend squeal. With the exception of some recently sponsored little league team plaques, the office doesn’t look like it has changed at all since the Johnson administration.

“Ed Lang was long on charm and humor and greeted every customer,” says Rich Lang. “He was a local legend in the world of bowling, which was immensely popular at the time. That spirit lives on today in his office.”

Lang’s Bowlarama

225 Niantic Avenue, Cranston.
944-0500
LangsBowlarama.com

mad men, the 50s, the 60s, lang's bowlarama, cranston, ed lang, rich lang

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