JEFFERY MANOR — People used to stop by the bowling alley just to talk to Johnnie Hill.
Hill — who went from picking cotton in Alabama to holding offices tied to Chicago’s Democratic machine — opened South Side laundromats, convenience stores, car washes and bowling alleys, doling out jobs and favors to community members.
But by the time Hill died in 2016 from cancer, his family held on to only Skyway Lanes, 9915 S. Torrence Ave., a 36-lane bowling alley that’s been a neighborhood gathering space since the 1950s, hosting leagues, baby showers, graduations, birthday parties and local high school teams…