Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Millwood Coffee was the followup operation to Cafe Millwood after a bit of preliminary tease that it would become a pizza pub.

For one reason or another, I never got around to trying the place out, though I like coffee. I believe I did take some pictures of the place in operation, but I cannot lay my hands on them today. When I find them, I will post them.

The Harper Insurance Agency sign sometimes has a sign for the current business at 2911 as well, but today I included it for the bird's nest.

(Hat tip to commenter Diane Anderson)

The concept of Maze Mania was simple: You go into the maze, find the cheese, and get out of the maze. Best time wins.

It was a little more complicated in execution. The "cheese" was actually a box size wooden mock-up wedge with an electric rubber stamp device embedded inside it. Every day, the cheese would be moved to a different part of the maze, where it would be put on a special stand near an outlet. When you started the maze, you would be given a timecard with your start time, and when you found the cheese, you would stick the timecard into the block, which would stamp a picture of a piece of cheese on the card (proving that you completed the task), then you would try to find the exit, where your final time would be recorded. Assuming you were a kid, your parents would probably be on the observation deck overlooking the maze shouting down more (or less) helpful hints. Presumably, if you were a college student, it would be a bunch of drunk friends instead.

I only ran the maze, officially, once, probably about 20 years ago. I thought it was a lot of fun, and always wanted to take some younger cousins or other relatives there, but somehow never made it happen. I noticed earlier in the year that the place didn't seem to be open in what should be a viable, if not peak, time, and so made a point of looking in on it this summer as I would drive by at various times which led me to the conclusion that it was closed.

I finally made the time to stop and have a look at it. The big mouse billboard was in obvious need of cleaning, and the door sign said "closed for the season" without specifying what season that was. I have concluded it was probably fall 2013.

Finding my way back into the maze itself, I saw lots of signs of neglect and general decrepitude. The worse bit was a whole section of maze wall that had fallen down (or been knocked over) but overall there were a number of loose boards, and vegetation encroachment. Still, I think a good handyman with some lumber and paint could make the place runnable again with no more than one or two days work.

As you can tell from the pictures, it was a rather gray day, and started raining when I was out in the maze, and yes, I did get lost. (You can always find your way out of a maze by following the right wall if all else fails, but it may not be the shortest route by any means!)

Read the rest of this entry »

Glad to see y'all had a fruitful converstation without me!

Here are a few links that may be relevant:

The Shrimper, Knox Abbott, The Shrimper, Two Notch

Dutch Square Tenants over the years

Frank-N-Stein

Lum's, Greene Street, Lum's, Knox Abbott. I think Lum's is the beer steamed hotdog place Homer remembers.