Kona Lanes was a 40-lane bowling center in Costa Mesa, California, that
closed in 2003 after 45 years in business. Built during the advent of
Googie architecture, its Polynesian Tiki-themed styling extended from
the large roadside neon sign to what the Los Angeles Times called the
building's "flamboyant neon lights and ostentatious rooflines meant to
attract motorists like moths". At its peak, Kona Lanes was open 24 hours
a day, averaging more than 80 ten-frame games of bowling on each of its
40 lanes. The center also hosted music concerts and other events.
Following years of decline, Kona Lanes closed and was torn down in 2003;
a portion of the distinctive sign (pictured) was saved and sent to
Cincinnati, Ohio, for display in the American Sign Museum. Plans for a
department store on the Kona Lanes site were rejected; in 2010, the
still-unused land was rezoned for senior citizens' apartments and
commercial development. Construction on the apartment complex began in
2013 after the lot had sat empty for ten years.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kona_Lanes>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1537:
The main settlement Bacatá was conquered by Gonzalo Jiménez
de Quesada during the Spanish conquest of the Muisca, effectively ending
the Muisca Confederation in the Colombian Eastern Andes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacat%C3%A1>
1809:
War of the Fifth Coalition: Napoleon led a Franco-German force
to victory over a reinforced Austrian corps in the Battle of Abensberg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Abensberg>
1939:
Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday was celebrated as a national
holiday in Nazi Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_50th_birthday>
1968:
British Member of Parliament Enoch Powell made his
controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech in opposition to immigration and
anti-discrimination legislation, resulting in his removal from the
Shadow Cabinet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_Blood_speech>
2010:
An explosion on Deepwater Horizon, an offshore oil rig in the
Gulf of Mexico, caused the largest accidental marine oil spill in the
history of the petroleum industry.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
execration:
1. An act or instance of cursing; a curse dictated by violent feelings of
hatred; an imprecation; an expression of utter detestation.
2. That which is execrated; a detested thing.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/execration>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It's a rare man who is taken for what he truly is … There is
much misjudgment in the world. … We are not always what we seem, and
hardly ever what we dream.
--The Last Unicorn
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Last_Unicorn>