Bowled Over in Douglas Park: Part Sport, Part Ceremony

Clara Sturak
Mirror Contributing Writer

It's the outfits that cause you to slow down when driving by Douglas Park on Wilshire at Chelsea: white shirts, white shorts, white hats and white shoes, that whiteness contrasting so perfectly with the green, green lawn. But it's not just a lawn, it's a bowling green. And those stately senior citizens are not out to wow you with their style, they're there to bowl, baby.

Lawn bowl, that is. Lawn Bowling, a close relative of the Italian sport of Bocce, and the French Petonk, is an ancient game dating back, some say, to 5000 years B.C. when the ancient Egyptians amused themselves by rolling rounded objects along the ground. In the way it's been played for at least 700 years the game is complex, a thinking person's game, "more like chess" than anything else according to its players. But, basically, it consists of rolling elliptical balls (or bowls as they're called in the sport) from one end of the green to the other. The object is to have your bowls stop closer to the jack —a small white ball that is bowled onto the green to begin play—than your opponent's. The trick is that those crazy bowls are smaller on one side than the other —they don't go in a straight line. But, for the whole story, please consult Bill Grant.

Bill Grant, 74, is a member of the Santa Monica Lawn Bowl Club. He no longer bowls, due to arthritis, but he's the man whose phone number graces the sign that hangs on the chain link fence surrounding the green: "Lawn Bowling. Call: (310) 828-6182." Grant's hope is that new blood can be infused into the club. Of the 45 club members, only 35 are currently active, the rest, like Grant, are no longer able to play. So, he volunteers his time introducing the sport to anyone who might be interested. Grant is also the Greens Chairman for the club, and he's proud of his work. "I work with a contractor (paid for by the city) in order to keep the green in shape. He does the greens-keeping, I supervise. We've been here since 1949, but we're not the only green in the area (there are greens in Holmby Hills and Beverly Hills) so we have to be our best." Of the job, he says, "It keeps me out of the saloons."

Al Hamblin is testing the green. "The grass is thick today. That makes the bowls harder to roll. As it gets walked on, it'll get easier...just one of the complexities of Lawn Bowling." Al, a lanky man, has been bowling since 1991. "I square dance, you know, and some fellow dancers were trying to get me out to bowl. I kept telling them I would, but two years later, I still hadn't. One day they made an appointment for me to take a lesson. 'How're you going to talk your way out of this?,' they asked me. Well, I went. I wish they'd made the appointment two years earlier. Or that somebody had gotten me into Lawn Bowling 30 years ago, so that I wouldn't have missed out on 30 years of one of the enjoyable things in life."

Al's enthusiasm is shared by fellow club members Max and Anne Wurwund. The husband and wife pair hail from South Africa, where the game is a popular past-time. They split time between Santa Monica and Cape Town, and while they're here, wouldn't miss their regular bowling dates with the club. According to Anne, "it's a more casual atmosphere in Santa Monica. But it's the same game. Anywhere in the world, it's good sport."

Today, while his club mates play a few doubles matches, Grant is teaching the game to four young people, hoping it will enchant them the way it did him. Craig Ekedahl, 29, told his pals to "be ready at 11:30." He didn't tell them he had scheduled a free lawn bowling lesson with Bill. What possessed him to do so? His answer is not surprising: "We'd all driven by the other day. We saw them playing, and thought it looked like fun." His friend Ryan Moore, 24, chimes in, "We're all new to the area. We're looking for interesting things to do in Santa Monica. Yeah, I think we'll be back. It's a good way to get outside for a while—you don't have to sweat, and it's competitive." And what about those outfits? "Oh, we'll be in white. When we join, that's what we'll have to wear," Moore adds with a smile. Bill Grant will be pleased.

Free Lawn Bowling lessons are given every Sunday at 12:00 noon; by appointment only. Call Bill Grant at (310) 828-6182.