Called Lucky Strike Lanes at Hollywood & Highland, the bowling alley and lounge features a "retro flair," according to Hollywood Entertainment officials, who call it an upscale alley with a "nightclub quality audio system."

The bowling alley joins new shops, restaurants, specialty stores, coffee houses and other establishments that are filling developments like the new Hollywood & Highland retail center as well as older buildings that are being rehabbed by developers, according to Kerry Morrison, executive director of the 18-block Hollywood Entertainment District Business Improvement District (BID). The district is funded by nearly $2.3 million in annual payments by area property owners, many of them entrepreneurs, Morrison notes. The BID runs along Hollywood Boulevard from La Brea Avenue to Gower Street and includes immediate side streets.

Even in the face of a slow economy, Morrison says, the property owners are "working hard to attract better tenants, fix their facades and improve their properties and the neighborhood overall."