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Studio City Bowling League was formed in 1990 at Sports Center Bowl (now PINZ Bowling & Entertainment Center) in Studio City, California. At the time, there were a few LGBT bowling leagues in the Los Angeles area but there was enough interest in the community for another league. With the help of Denny Johnson, President of the Saturday evening LAMBDA Bowling League and Tom Cristi, Manager of Sport Center Bowl, we kicked off our first summer league in June 1990 and our first winter league in September.
SCBL started that year with just 10 teams. The founding officers were Mike Malone – President, (JT) John Tupper - Vice-President and Kenny Miller - Secretary/Treasurer. The league grew over the years, even moving from Wednesday night to Thursday night to allow for our continued growth. By the late 1990’s, SCBL’s winter season was using all 32 lanes of Sport Center Bowl. The group keeps it fun when bowling and we have our own DJ (Lee Straus) who loads up his iPod with the latest pop and dance tunes, plugs it into the sound system and everyone is off grooving and bowling to the music.
Early in the leagues formation, it was established that part of the SCBL philosophy would be to raise funds for causes important to the LGBT Community. To this day, SCBL has kept that philosophy alive. Throughout its many years, tens of thousands of dollars have been raised by our 50/50 raffle. Proceeds have been given to causes such as Project Angel Food, Pediatrics AIDS Foundation, Aid for AIDS, The Trevor Project, LA Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing, California AIDS Ride, LA Gay & Lesbian Center, HRC and Equality California’s No on 8 Campaign, Camp Heartland (now One Heartland), and many others. In 2001, through the generosity of the bowlers, SCBL contributed $4,500 to The Stonewall Foundation for the September 11th Gay & Lesbian Family Fund. And most recently, a contribution of $3,350 was made to the LGBT American’s for Earthquake Relief in Haiti through the American Red Cross.
It is the forethought of the SCBL founders and the generosity of its members throughout the years that have enabled SCBL to make, and continue to make, a difference in the community. This commitment to the community has allowed SCBL to grow to a very diverse 32 teams, making SCBL the largest gay bowling league in Los Angeles and one of the largest LGBT leagues in America.
SCBL is extremely proud of its past and just as proud of where we are headed in our future. If you would like to learn more about our league, stop by PINZ Bowling Center any Wednesday night at 8pm.
SCBL is a member league of the International Gay Bowling Organization (IGBO). IGBO is the largest Gay and Lesbian sports organization in existence today. For more information, please visit: www.igbo.org .