Barbara and Forrest Jensen are upset about closing their Rose Bowl West, which Forrest’s father, Woody, opened in May 1959.
“We lost our 50-year lease,” Barbara Jensen says. “We’re pretty bitter about it right now.”
The Jensens, who have owned the business at 520 N. West St. since 1981, tried to buy the building 15 years ago. It’s owned by three trusts.
“They weren’t interested at the time,” Jensen says. “Now that it needs work done to it, they don’t want to put any money into it.”
But the owners are interested in selling now.
“We just can’t swing a deal,” Jensen says.
“It’s hard to explain,” she says of how she feels right now. “How would you feel working your butt off for years, and they don’t want to deal with you?”
There had been a Rose Bowl East on East Kellogg that Woody Jensen opened in 1956, but the family sold it. It closed a few years back.
Rose Bowl West most likely will close May 15. There will be an auction of its contents May 30.
“After 50 years, you’ve got a lot of stuff,” Jensen says.
She’s already sold the lanes back to the company she bought them from.
“We just decided to call it a day,” Jensen says. “It’s an end of an era.”