驰辞耻苍驳蝉迟辞飞苍鈥檚 , which primarily operates as a music venue, planned to celebrate its two-year anniversary with a party and performance from local rock band in spring 2020.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit the area, and live music events in the venue were put on hold indefinitely.
Westside Bowl contains two main spaces in the building and allows for bowling and dining.
But with live music postponed for the foreseeable future, its main source of revenue was stripped away during the shutdown.
Rebreather, based in Youngstown and active since 1999, considers Westside Bowl to be its home base as a band and is close with its owners, Nate and Jami Offerdahl.
Guitarist Barley Rantilla wanted to support the venue after the planned anniversary party was canceled and the staff鈥檚 鈥渘ice payday鈥� never came to fruition.
Westside Bowl closed to the public in March 2020 but began offering carry-out dining.
After a Rebreather band practice, Rantilla headed to the venue and approached Nate Offerdahl with an offer to pay for the next 10 pizza orders that were placed.
Offerdahl posted a video on announcing that the next 10 call-in orders for pizza would be paid for by the band.
He said this caused a chain reaction鈥攎embers of the local art and music scene followed Rebreather鈥檚 pay-it-forward model, and soon, hundreds of pizzas were paid for by the community.
鈥淕ood friends of ours, a band called Daggers, they bought pizzas the next night. Another friend of ours, Mollie from , she bought pizzas the next night, and it sort of just avalanched after that. It was almost competitive. People were buying 100 pizzas, 50 pizzas, 300 pizzas,鈥� Rantilla said.
Musicians supporting their 鈥榟ome base鈥�
Rantilla plays slowed-down, distorted rock with fellow Rebreather members Steve Gardner on drums and Steve Wishnewski on bass.
The lineup has changed over the decades the band has been active in the Youngstown scene.
Rantilla said they鈥檙e not trained musicians鈥攈e and his friends decided to start Rebreather for fun back in high school. Since then, they鈥檝e released multiple albums and signed to a label. They鈥檝e built a following in the metal scene.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think any of us expected it to last a super long time. Members come and go. We鈥檝e taken long breaks over the 20, 21 years we鈥檝e been together,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been kind of a loose band for a really long time.鈥�
The band has played many shows at Westside Bowl and made connections quickly at the venue. They were gearing up to play the second-anniversary event until COVID-19 hit.
鈥淥n the way out there we said, 鈥楬ey, why don鈥檛 we buy the next 10 pizzas for people鈥� because half of our friends that work there, their hours are cut or they鈥檙e not working. We鈥檒l make somebody smile.'鈥�Barley Rantilla
鈥淲estside Bowl had to shut everything down. They had a restaurant, so they were able to sell food out of the front door. So we had been talking about going down to grab some food and see how everybody鈥檚 doing,鈥� Rantilla said.
He and his bandmates have spent a lot of time at the venue over the years, playing shows, watching other bands and just hanging out. Seeing forced layoffs and canceled events inspired them to take action and try to put some money into the venue.
鈥淲e wanted to go get some carry-out to support them,鈥� Rantilla said. 鈥淥n the way out there we said, 鈥楬ey, why don鈥檛 we buy the next 10 pizzas for people鈥� because half of our friends that work there, their hours are cut or they鈥檙e not working. We鈥檒l make somebody smile.'鈥�
Offerdahl said Westside Bowl moved to carry-out food only on March 15, 2020.
orders were only 10 percent of the venue鈥檚 business at the time. The 3,000-square-foot building was always intended to primarily be a live-music venue.
鈥淭he first day it was really slow, and later in the day, Barley sent me a message and said 鈥楬ey, we just had practice and we want to buy the next 10 pizzas for the next 10 people,鈥欌�� Offerdahl said.
By the end of that first week, they had 100 pizzas prepaid. By the end of the month, they had approximately 500 paid orders.
They鈥檝e given away more than 3,500 of these prepaid pizzas within the last year.
Posting a video to social media after Rebreather picked up the bill for the first 10 orders helped the concept take off and keep the community informed about ways to support Westside Bowl.
鈥淭hat was sort of the catalyst for us engaging the public,鈥� Offerdahl said.
The concept went viral, and they started getting an influx of new customers they鈥檇 never had at the venue before.
鈥淧osting those videos online was a way for us to interact with the public, let them know what we were doing and sort of reach out and say hey, hang in there, and if you feel like you want to help other people out, this is an avenue to do that,鈥� Offerdahl said.
He said it was a way for the venue to market and differentiate itself from other spots offering carry-out food during a difficult time.
鈥淚t was a steep learning curve for us because we were primarily serving food to people who were in our building,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 serving food to people for carryout.鈥�
Over the last year, the surprise success of the carryout business has kept Westside Bowl afloat. Offerdahl said they鈥檝e lost a little money from not having shows but not 鈥渁 ton."
Offerdahl credits his employees and the community of people who hang out at Westside Bowl for the good things that have happened to his business in an unprecedented year.
鈥淚 tell Barley, and it makes him real uncomfortable, that day was a big part of us staying in business,鈥� Offerdahl said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 the only thing, but it was the catalyst for us to be able to stay open, for sure.鈥�
Creating a venue for the creative community
When Offerdahl and his wife, Jami, decided to pursue careers as owners of a music venue, they purposely looked for a space within Youngstown city limits.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 necessarily looking for a bowling alley, we were just looking for a really big building,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e wanted to have two spaces like the 鈥攁 bigger room that held 500, and a smaller one that would hold 100 or 150.鈥�
The pair found a bowling alley that was for sale five minutes from their house. They opened their doors at the former Strikers bowling lanes, 2617 Mahoning Ave. in the spring of 2018 and decided to keep bowling as an option at the venue.
鈥淚n the end, it was the best decision because it gave us other sources of revenue that weren鈥檛 related to the music,鈥� Offerdahl said.
The owners wanted to be actively involved in the venue鈥檚 neighborhood and be seen as a welcome and supportive presence in the local creative community.
鈥淲e knew that being good citizens was going to make or break our success,鈥� Offerdahl.
Several Westside Bowl staff members are musicians or artists.
鈥淭hose folks have been our biggest supporters and our biggest acolytes and have been the ones that have made it possible for us to stay in business,鈥� Offerdahl said.
Offerdahl said he was forced to lay off some employees during the early days of COVID-19, but several returned to work as volunteers because of their dedication to the venue. Kitchen staff used to making $1,000 a day in food sales started making $3,500 to $4,000 a day as the demand for carryout orders and pre-paid pizza amped up.
He said his business model is to be 鈥渞adically hospitable鈥濃�攁 principle he learned from his father.
The lesson is to make everyone feel welcome, whether they鈥檙e local or from out of town.
鈥淲e made investments in Youngstown, financially, emotionally, relationships, from day one. And when we needed those relationships, those folks were there for us,鈥� Offerdahl said.
This helped create an environment where people wanted to see the Westside Bowl stay open and encouraged people to step up when the venue needed help.
鈥淲hat Westside Bowl did was facilitate the generosity of others. Those pizzas were paid for, full price, not a reduced price鈥� so that we could make the pizza and give it to somebody else. And it wasn鈥檛 even our idea,鈥� Offerdahl.
He said people gravitate toward good ideas. The chain reaction caused by members of Rebreather鈥檚 act of kindness created a snowball effect.
鈥淭hose folks have been our biggest supporters and our biggest acolytes and have been the ones that have made it possible for us to stay in business."Nate Offerdahl
Rantilla said he simply wanted to be able to support the venue and feed members of the community who were laid off.
鈥淭hey treat you like you鈥檙e at home, and that鈥檚 why it turned into our home base,鈥� Rantilla said.
While surrounding cities like Cleveland have a variety of music venues that have found to stay in business during the pandemic, Youngstown is more limited in the amount of live-music spaces.
Rantilla said this has contributed to the tight-knit feeling of the local music scene and its ties to Westside Bowl鈥攁 venue that has only been around for three years.
鈥淚t鈥檚 super supportive, everyone goes to see everyone else鈥檚 shows. A lot of friends are in each other鈥檚 bands. It鈥檚 a big clique. That was one of the things with this pandemic, it sort of split all of that up,鈥� Rantilla said.
He said his biggest source of entertainment is going to shows and seeing live music, so he鈥檚 had to adapt during the last year.
鈥淭here鈥檚 something about being there and feeling the reactions from the crowd and feeling the volume of whatever you鈥檙e listening to, it makes such a big impact,鈥� Rantilla said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot that鈥檚 lost if you鈥檙e not there.鈥�
The return of live music in Youngstown
Westside Bowl is easing into fully reopening. The venue recently started hosting limited-capacity, sit-down shows. They鈥檝e been doing patio dining and have strict safety protocols in place.
鈥淒oing live music is still really complicated,鈥� Offerdahl said. 鈥淓veryone has to be seated. This is a venue that鈥檚 built for standing room shows鈥� Until standing and congregating is safe, and by extension allowed, it鈥檚 gonna be a difficult environment to operate in.鈥�
Offerdahl said the venue received some government assistance during the pandemic, including two loans and an economic injury disaster loan.
Because that funding was temporary, it has run out, and Westside Bowl鈥檚 main source of revenue presently is carry-out food orders.
They鈥檙e in the process of getting back to being open for live music, but Offerdahl said he doesn鈥檛 anticipate large, sold-out shows happening any time soon.
鈥淚鈥檓 starting to get emails again from touring bands, but not until July, August, September. Big touring bands鈥� everything鈥檚 getting pushed to next year,鈥� he said 鈥淚 own a building, so I do everything inside. I think the balance of 2021 is going to be difficult. Not impossible, but I think it鈥檚 going to be a lot of headwinds.鈥�
Rebreather is releasing a new album later this year and hopes to play a release show at Westside Bowl.
The three-piece band hasn鈥檛 performed a traditional live concert in the last year, but they hope to start touring once the album is pressed on vinyl and available to the public.
鈥淚t took a long time. We put a lot of effort into it. We鈥檙e all really proud of it,鈥� Rantilla said.
This year, Rebreather released two cover songs: for a COVID covers album released by their record label, .
Proceeds benefit artists and venues affected by the pandemic.
They shot for 鈥淧ets鈥�, where each member of Rebreather was filmed separately to adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Rantilla said recording the cover songs was a challenge but fun to do something different.
鈥淎nd in this last year of not being able to do much of anything, it was a good excuse to try to take on some entertaining endeavors,鈥� he said.
The community can continue to support the Youngstown music scene by following on upcoming shows, stopping by the venue or picking up the bill for someone else鈥檚 pizza order, if they choose to do so.
鈥淭his town, while cynical and tough, is a beautiful place,鈥� Offerdahl said. 鈥淧eople who live here are hard-nosed, but they have big hearts鈥� and when they latch onto something they like, they support it. Period.鈥�
!['UPFRNT' is a virtual variety show created to elevate Cleveland鈥檚 Black performers. Mourning [A] BLKstar, a multi-generational, gender and genre non-conforming band from the region, performed on episode one of the series.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9300743/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1280x713+0+0/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2c%2F73%2Fae7ceb8f46118db1ff75cb76c655%2Fupfrnt4deannajones.jpeg)
