Westside Bowl expands venue, bar space, adds bands

By GRAIG GRAZIOSI

ggraziosi@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Westside Bowl, 2617 Mahoning Ave., wants more this year: more bands, more space, more booze and more patrons.

When Nate and Jami Offerdahl first set out to own their own business, they knew they wanted a music venue.

Though they didn’t initially envision their venue in the basement of a bowling alley, the 200-person capacity space became a popular spot for both local and touring bands.

Nate Offerdahl wanted to attract more bands – regional and national touring acts with established fan bases – and to do that, he knew he’d needed a space that could hold at least 500 people.

Over the course of 2018, Offerdahl, his brother and a group of volunteers worked to tear up eight of the 24 bowling lanes and build a stage and audience pit in the space.

The new upstairs venue can hold more than 500 people, and when it’s not in use serves as floor space for customer overflow or those looking to test their skills at cornhole.

“We’ve already had a few shows on the new stage,” Offerdahl said. “We’ve already had bands from all over the country come through, and we’re hoping with the new space, we’ll get even more.”

The venue will celebrate its first anniversary in March, and Offerdahl said he hopes to pack the alley with bands all month long.

Though Offerdahl no longer has to worry about space issues when booking bands, now he’s got to wrestle with his precinct’s drinking dilemma – Westside Bowl can’t serve wine or liquor Sundays because of restrictions on its liquor license.

“It makes it difficult for us to schedule concerts on Sundays,” Offerdahl said. “We can still serve beer, but there’s a lot of people who don’t drink beer that still want to drink if they’re here for a concert.”

Not only does the semi-dry Sunday make booking difficult, it also eats into the business’ bottom line.

“I’d say conservatively we’d see a 20 to 25 percent sales increase on Sundays if we could serve liquor,” he said.

To change the restriction on his liquor license, Offerdahl needs to get the issue on the ballot, which means collecting at least 155 signatures from residents of Youngstown Precinct 4B.

“I’ll be honest, with a Feb. 6 deadline we’re probably not going to have the votes we need to get it on in May,” he said. “If we could pull the votes from the entire 4th Ward, we’d probably have them in an afternoon. But since we’re limited to just this precinct, it’s tougher. The weather makes it hard to go door to door. We don’t have many people actually willing to volunteer, and a lot of times people don’t answer their doors because they think you’re selling something. Plus, we did get a late start, so that’s on us.”

He said he’s confident he’ll have the signatures for the November general election.

“I don’t think we’ll have any issues getting it passed. The neighborhood seems like it’s been supportive of everyone else in the area,” he said.

The Dash Inn, a bar across the street from Westside Bowl, also had to go through the process of amending its liquor license.

Though Offerdahl is waiting to expand the bar’s Sunday drink offerings, he plans to expand the space available to do the drinking.

He recently installed a 60-foot extension to the building’s main bar. The bowling lanes that were torn out to make the upstairs stage provided the wood for the project.

With that project completed, Offerdahl said he plans to build a deck for use in warmer months.

“Seventy-five percent of that I’m looking to have done in the next month or so,” Offerdahl said.

Though patrons aren’t likely to have the chance to drink liquor or wine on Sundays on the deck, Offerdahl is confident come fall it will no longer be an issue.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of if, but when,” he said. “We’ll get votes, and I’m pretty confident it’s going to pass.”