Joey Padilla had a lot of ideas for improvements when he opened a boutique bowling alley at DeVargas Center six years ago, but it’s taken him some time to make those plans a reality.
Over the course of the last year, those changes at The Alley have begun to add up. The latest improvements may have nothing to do with bowling, but Padilla hopes they improve the experience for other folks who visit The Alley, which he characterizes as a lounge as opposed to simply a bowling alley.
In September, Padilla brought in a dozen Diamond Billiard Products pool tables, which he said are a significant upgrade from the tables they replaced. He described them as competition-caliber tables that will position The Alley to attract state and regional tournaments for the first time. Until now, he said, the only billiards venue in New Mexico that was equipped to handle such events was the Billiard Palace in Albuquerque.
“Santa Fe’s never had tables like this before,” he said.
At 7 feet in length, the tables are smaller than the 8-foot ones they have replaced. That has allowed Padilla to fit in an extra table at The Alley.
“The pool players are extremely excited,” he said.
Padilla kept four of the old 8-footers, but they are in a separate space from the pool hall, which is adjacent to the new bar. Padilla replaced the old, circular bar — which he said was very inefficient — with a shiny new metal bar crafted by John Stump at Santa Fe’s IronHand Fabrication.
The new bar faces several new large televisions that Padilla installed to create more of a sports bar vibe at The Alley. He began making changes in the fall of 2024, when he installed a string-pin bowling system, a new racking system that forsakes the traditional mechanical arm and setter used to clear a lane of downed pins and reset the others.
Padilla followed that up by installing a Neoverse multisensory video wall above The Alley’s 12 bowling lanes earlier this year, a system that features a dazzling mix of video, audio and lighting components.
With the new pool tables and bar, Padilla said he’s reached the point where he feels like The Alley has become the kind of enterprise he always envisioned.
“My goal is to bring an experience to Santa Fe we’ve never had before,” he said.
Click here to read the original article.