Sunday, August 16, 2009

Bally Fitness in Renton is closed

Renton's Bally Fitness gym in the Cascade neighborhood closed at the end of June.
Some may see this as a sign of progress. Bally's was an old gym. It had been the Cascade Athletic Club and World Gym before Bally's took over about twelve hours ago.
Although I'm not currently a regular gym goer, I'd been going to Renton Bally's for about ten years, off and on. Bally's in Renton was kind of refreshing due to what it was not. To me, some gyms are intimidating, too full of young, trim, athletic people working out on the most modern equipment. Bally's wasn't like that. The place smelled, you could always find older and fatter folks breathing hard on the cross trainers, and you could hear Spanish, Russian, and Hindi commonly spoken as well as English.
It's now empty, just like the QFC in the same complex. Cascade Lanes bowling alley is also closed, slated to become a Hooters. Hillcrest Lanes on Sunset is also closed, changing ownership and remodeling. Are there currently any open bowling alleys in the Renton city limits at all? Skyway Lanes is open, but that's not quite Renton. And Renton has plenty of other gyms to work out in, cleaner, more modern, more expensive, less smelly places than Ballys. Progress, I guess.

6 comments:

alexpietsch said...

The owners of West Seattle Bowl are trying to re-open Hillcrest in the Highlands. Cascade Lanes is being renovated and will soon reopen with a Hooters restaurant.

Anonymous said...

Which means that, as it stands now, there are no currently open bowling alleys within the city of Renton.

Freakazoid Freddy

Anonymous said...

Hi all,

Let's not forget about the fitness facilities at the Renton Community Center. It's small, friendly, rarely any intimidating muscle heads, it's just outside of downtown, full of regular people, it's neighborhood focused, it's rather inexpensive with no longterm contracts, it's a good option for Renton Residents.

Stacy Near

Anonymous said...

Actually, LA Fitness at the Landing is pretty good, with excellent facilities, good teachers and lots of classes. Many Bally alum have ended up there and seem to like it. Monthly dues are reasonable, too, if you sign up a year in advance.

JustandRight said...

I miss the gym to work out
http://cascaderenton.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

That's too bad, it had the only steam room of any kind in the Renton area. It was an excellent gym with a lot of equipment that I've never seen anyplace else, such as an incline fly machine, and a forearm machine. It also definitely lacked the musclebound attitude of other gyms.