10th frame for Des Plaines landmark?

Sim's Bowl and Lounge shed its neon glow a few years ago.

When the downtown Des Plaines spot's trademark sign burned out, the cost to fix it would have cost a few grand.

But replacing it would be somewhat sacrilegious.

"It's a classic," says owner Jim Capparelli, who has run the bowling alley for 32 years and is something of a classic himself.

There's no real need for advertisement anyway after 53 years alongside the Metra tracks at 1555 Ellinwood Ave.

Plus, Capparelli is trying to find a buyer.

The real estate listing pitches Sim's Bowl and its adjoining restaurant as prime downtown Des Plaines property in a tax-increment financing district. A 12-story building could go there. The asking price is $4.2 million.

At 65, Capparelli is ready to retire, but there's no family member standing by to take over. His aunt and uncle, Bill and Angie Sim, opened the alley in November 1954.

These days Capparelli draws customers by billing the bowling alley as "retro," but it opened as cutting-edge. It was only the second alley in Illinois to sport Brunswick automatic lanes, which replaced setting pins by hand.

Today, you'll still need a pencil and card to keep score at Sim's.

Both Sim's, which was immortalized in a Chevrolet commercial in the 1990s, and the adjacent Depot Restaurant are revered by regulars who love the tight-knit feel of community.

Once inside, it's clear Sim's was kitsch before kitsch was cool -- from the brightly colored confetti rug to the swirled teal design on the walls. In the lounge, the beer taps feature bowling balls.

But for the place where time stands still, the clock is running down. The local landmark and the old Kinder Industrial Supply building were almost replaced by a retail and condo high-rise two years ago. The deal unraveled and a bank instead was built on the Kinder site.

City planners eye the block where Sim's is located and see retail and housing high-rise development. For them, Sim's represents the city's history but not necessarily its future.

Sim's is part of the downtown's neon trio, which also includes the Des Plaines Theatre and the Sugar Bowl Restaurant. Efforts to rehab the Des Plaines Theatre stalled at city hall. The Sugar Bowl is seeking a buyer as only its lounge stays open.

At Sim's, there's no "For Sale" sign in the window; the listing for it is on a real estate firm's Web site.

Capparelli seems torn between hopes for the bowling alley's future -- next year he wants to offer a Bowling with Santa event -- and selling it.

That could be partly a symptom of the real estate market as well as nostalgia.

"Right now, it's not a good time to develop real estate," Capparelli said. "I'm sure that this property will get developed. I'm just not sure when."

That's not to say Capparelli won't miss the joint, just like the regulars.

"I think there's a lot of people that feel that this business is a little bit of an icon and it needs to stay here," he said. "The thing that's killed the bowling alley over the past few years is the death of league bowling."

On Thursday nights, a lone league plays at Sim's. Other than that, it's parties for young people and others looking to bowl a game.

On a recent weeknight, three longtime Depot regulars scratched their lottery cards at a corner table as they do every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

There was no big winner. But for Roger and Liz LaPlant and friend Joellyn Bohlman, it's more about hanging out.

The LaPlants, married for 52 years, used to bowl in a league 40 years ago.

"It's like coming home," Liz LaPlant said.

Roger LaPlant remembers the time he narrowly averted a lifetime ban from Sim's when he hurled a 16-pound ball "on the fly" -- without touching the lane.

One of the employees lectured him after the feat.

"He said, 'Had I seen it, you never would have bowled here again,'" Roger LaPlant said.

Bohlman likes the Depot because she can stay for hours without being rushed.

"If we didn't show up, they'd get worried," she said.

So what would happen to the regulars should Sim's get redeveloped? Paul and Beth Smith, sitting at the next table, suggest it's Des Plaines that would suffer a blow. They see a bleak downtown, populated by impersonal chain establishments.

"These places just don't exist anymore," Beth Smith said. "Without it, it would be a very cold … town."