During the 1960s Illawarra's oldest bowling alley was converted into the Wonderland Disco and hosted the Beach Boys on April 28, 1970.

It was a similar to the scenes that occurred more than two decades earlier when floods forced the venue to close for six months.

In both cases people seemed to the miss the opportunity to get a little retro with family or friends for a game of ten pin bowling.

In 1998 the closure resulted in a total refurbishment of the centre.

And 22 years later the COVID-19 lockdown from March to June provided the family owned business with a similar opportunity to make major improvements to ensure the oldest bowling alley in the Illawarra is safer and better than before.

Further upgrades are planned so the venue continues to evolve and take on a new look with the latest technology and arcade games while keeping its retro feel.

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The recent work is the latest transformation in six decades of changes being made to the building that first opened its doors as a bowling alley in 1961 and where the first perfect 300 game in Australia was played by Joe Vello in 1963.

But it has not always been a bowling alley.

In 1967 it was converted it into a dance hall that opened in 1968 and hosted major artists such as the Beach Boys at the height of their career and Stevie Wright in the Evie days.

The transformation included name change to 'Wonderland Disco' and 'Capitol Hall" which was renowned for providing live entertainment and dances every Saturday night.

Among those present for the Beach Boys on April 28, 1970 was Harry Mitchell who was a member of local band Fantasy which was invited to be the support act. Other members of Fantasy were Rob Krauss, Ray Wales, Kevin Sheehan and Graeme Bailey.

Mr Mitchell recalled Normie Rowe's manager Ivan Damon owned Cloudland in Brisbane at the time and was involved in converting the bowling centre to Wonderland. He said local promoter George Rossall was involved in getting the Beach Boys to Wollongong for two shows.

"The played a matinee show and they did a night show," Mitchell said.

"And we played both shows with them. They used our equipment including our drums. I remembered they started with the song 'Do It Again' which the Tornadoes recorded in 1973. I still have that record and you can see it on Youtube. Capitol Records sent the Beach Boys to tour Australia at that time because of what was happening with Charles Manson at the time."

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Brian Wilson was not on the tour but his brothers Dennis and Carl, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine were. Mr Mitchell said each member of Fantasy chaperoned one of the Beach Boys for the day.

"What a hoot that was. George said they are under your control and Mike Love was my responsibility. I remember Janine Cullen interviewed the father Murry Wilson for Gong Beat at the time".

In 1973, the building became an industrial site and transport company storage facility before the premises was converted back into a bowling alley in 1984. Since 2003, it has been owned by the Hugo family and has been hosting bowling leagues, birthday parties, school sport groups, disability groups and bumper bowling with ramps ever since.

Manager Sandii Hughes said the primary focus of the building for almost 50 years of its life has been to provide a place a fun, adventure and entertainment to the Wollongong community.

"I started working here in the almost in the 1980s and then came back in 2017 as manager," she said.

"We are proud of the long history that has made Northern Bowl the well-known and much loved family venue it is today. Some locals told us they visited as kids, and now as adults bring their children."

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Ms Hughes said it wasn't just the first decade that saw international attention focused on the building on Bellambi Lane.

"In 2017 the front of the ten pin bowling centre with a Mercedes Benz parked outside was featured in a 2Pac and Ice Cube film clip for the song Fear Nothing. It has also featured on album covers for a band called Pinheads, appeared in Japanese commercials. And in March 2019 it was the location for the filming for an Apple/Commonwealth Bank commercial".

Ms Hughes said she loved working at Northern Bowl the first time around so much it was easy to come back in 2017. And she loves how the sport for some and recreation for others keeps becoming popular, especially in the winter months.

"I love the atmosphere. All age groups can do ten pin bowling. We are back into the flow of popularity already this winter."

Ms Hughes encouraged those who have stories and photos from decades past to share them on Northern Bowl's Facebook page. And for those who haven't been to the bowling alley for a while to come back and see the transformation that has taken place in recent months.

"While COVID-19 has been the centre's biggest challenge. The closure has also provided us with an opportunity to use this period to revamp the centre. While maintaining its familiar retro character, the centre has invested in new licensed amusement machines, updated monitors above lanes and a new computer scoring system.

"We've prepared the centre for re-opening and getting it COVID-19 safe by setting up protective glass-screen partitions between lanes to maintain social distancing and launching a new website including COVID-19 safety information.

"As well as our usual sanitising of shoes, bowling balls and key pads, we have also introduced sanitising of all hard surfaces within the centre after each customer, point of contact forms for all patrons and single use items in our cafe.

"With plenty of space, we want visitors to feel safe when stepping into our centre and we'll continue working on improvements to make it a fun entertainment experience. We thank the Illawarra community for their continued support of our local business during this time."

Northern Bowl is planning further improvements and renovations in the future with more amusement machines and activities to constantly create a new look and experience for a new generation of ten-pin bowling fans and their families.

It is open from 10am and 8pm Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 6pm on Sunday.

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