Oak Forest Bowl: Tadevich Crew Keeps Fun in the Family

Since 1960, Oak Forest Bowl has provided inexpensive entertainment for local residents.  Those of us (myself included) who grew up in the area have spent birthday parties, and more than a few Sunday afternoons during the winter months bowling with friends and families.

It was also a good target when it came time to sell candy bars for our youth sports teams.  It seemed like the place was always full of league bowlers, and they all loved America's Finest Chocolates.

These things are all still true, but in the past decade the place has become so much more.  Under the ownership of the Tadevich family, who purchased the facility in 1997, it has grown into a playground for adults.

Keith Tadevich handles operations at Oak Forest Bowl for his family, along with operations at Burr Oak Bowl in Blue Island, which the family has owned since 1966, and Mardi Gras Lanes in DeKalb, which the family purchased in 1991.

The Tadevich family has a long history in the bowling business.  They opened their first facility four generations ago on the north side of Chicago.

"It was called Tadevich's," said Keith Tadevich.  "It was on Fullerton Avenue.  They had bowling on the second floor, along with a pool hall and bar on the first floor.  That was before my time, so I don't know a lot about it, but that is where it all started."

Skip ahead four generations to Keith and Oak Forest Bowl, and you find a facility that has evolved into an entertainment center that has people coming through the doors for more than just bowling.

The summer months are traditionally slow for the bowling business, so the family looked for other ways to entertain the residents.  That led them to The Park—an outdoor beer garden with two sand volleyball courts and two bean bag courts, created in 2000. During the summer months, they now have 113 volleyball teams dig their toes into Park sand.

"The volleyball leagues have become very popular," said Tadevich.  "There are waiting lists to get in. Most of the leagues are co-ed, with a women's league playing on Wednesdays. We have two levels of play: recreational and intermediate."

The bean bag courts were originally bocce ball courts.  "That didn't go over real well," he said, "so we changed to bean bag courts.  We now have leagues competing a few nights a week."

While The Park has been a great success, the core of the business is still bowling.  "We're still a traditional bowling center," he said.  "We cater to our league bowlers."

They host two seasons of league play.  The larger one, which begins in the fall, runs for 35 weeks. The other season begins in the spring, and it runs for 14 weeks.

But the lanes aren't always dominated by leagues.

"The leagues usually run from 5:30pm until 9:30pm. Other than that, we're open to everyone. On Sunday, we have a pizza bowl special, which has become popular."

They host cosmic bowling, bumper bowling parties for kids, and candlelight bowl fundraisers for organizations. They also serve as the host center for the bowling teams at Oak Forest and Bremen High Schools.

A few years ago they were selected as one of 750 bowling centers to participate in the Kids Bowl Free program.  The program, which is promoted primarily through schools, park districts and libraries, allows kids to bowl two free games each day during summer months. For details, go to kidsbowlfree.com/oakforest.

The third business housed within the facility is Jake's Bar and Grill.  It was created to enhance their bowling business.  While most other bowling centers have the traditional selection of warmed over hot dogs and soft pretzels, the Tadevich family saw the opportunity to provide something more.

"It's an actual restaurant with real food." said Keith.  "All of our ingredients are made from scratch. Nothing is frozen. We even make the pizza dough and the sauce for our pizza. It's important to us that the food is all fresh and homemade."

In fact, the food is so good it's led to some catering.  "We cater our own events, and people started asking where we got the food.  When we told them we made it ourselves, they started using us for some of their catering events."

In case you're wondering about the origin of the name for the bar and grill, even that comes from the family: His mother's name is Jill, his sister's name is Adrienne, his name provides the K, and his father's name is Edward.

Oak Forest Bowl has been holding its own during the recession—due at least in part to the family's innovation, but also because of the value of the entertainment. 

"It's a very inexpensive form of entertainment," says Keith.  "People still need to get out and socialize, and they need to do things with their kids." 

And if they don't like to bowl, they can always play in The Park.

Oak Forest Bowl is located at 15240 S Cicero Ave, in Oak Forest.  Their phone number is 708-687-2000.  Their website is www.oakforestbowl.com.