RENO, NEVADA: LANES PAVED WITH GOLD

LEFT BEHIND BY LAS VEGAS, RENO BOWLS ITS WAY TO A TOURIST RESURGENCE

It's hard to miss from Virginia Street, Reno's main drag: an 80-ft. aluminum geodesic dome that looks like nothing so much as a huge bowling ball, proudly and appropriately perched atop the city's new $47.5 million National Bowling Stadium. Three years in construction, the Taj Mahal of tenpins opened in February. Its 80 lanes, under a 42-ft. ceiling, are wider than a football field; it has mauve banquettes, purple and green trim and permanent seating for 1,100 spectators. Scoring is fully automatic and displayed on the world's longest rigid, backlit video screen. Every aspect of the operation is overseen from a...

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