BALLARD, Wash. -- After a half-century of business, one of the city’s last remaining bowling alleys is just days away from shutting down.

Two-thousand people bowl each week at Seattle’s Sunset Bowl and some of those regulars are circulating a petition to save the bowling alley before it’s handed over to developers next month, reports KIRO 7 reporter Audra Schroeder.

Sunset Bowl is a Ballard institution. For 51 years it’s been a gathering place for friends and families, where the beer flows, birthdays are celebrated and bowling balls roll 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

"It's something that is more valuable than just the price of land," said bowler Nick Fraser.

This landmark has been sold and will close its doors at the end of the month to make way for luxury apartments.

"Regardless of how much everything builds up around us, we should be able to hold on to our past," said bowler Darryl Whalen.

One diehard bowler is trying to do just that.

"It's about keeping Ballard feeling like a neighborhood, like a community," said Jim Bristow.

Jim Bristow knows he can't save Sunset from the wrecking ball but he's hoping to pick up a spare. Bristow is collecting signatures on a petition in hopes of convincing the developers to build a bowling alley on the first floor of their new condo project.

It's a solution that allows for the builders to move forward while keeping the ball rolling too.

"We are allowing more and more buildings and thousands of people to come into the neighborhoods but there is less and less for us to do," said Bristow.

The developer, Avalon Bay, recently had a meeting with the Save Sunset Bowl group. They are considering the proposal and looking into the feasibility of incorporating a bowling alley into the condo project. However, they aren't making any promises.

For more information you can go to their website: Save Sunset Bowl