The Patriot Bowling Alley was a symbolic landmark of the old-new, ramshackle-glitz schizophrenia in the District. Like other buildings in this block, it dated back to the mid-twentieth century. Its Modernist blandness hadn’t been renovated since.
The rainbow spray-painted graffiti on one side looked more like bored-youth scribblings than territorial g**g markers. A sign loomed over the door with an outsized bowling bowl tilted down toward entering guests, threatening more of a head-strike than a pin-strike.
Over in one corner of the parking lot, a pile of fresh lumber, gleaming steel, and paint cans hinted at the tired building’s visions of rehabilitation. Far more interesting was the sight of Shannon Krugh and Gary Zabowski in the middle of a heated argument. It was so heated, neither o
