Harvey's / Merlin's / Alley Cats / Gentleman's Quarters / Platinum Plus, 362 Jacob Road: 17 January 2018 19 comments
Well, I guess things were supposed to get hot, but not *that* hot.
Strip club Platinum Plus suffered a roof fire on the 17th. According to The State:
Around 5:30 a.m. the Columbia Fire Department responded to a fire at Platinum Plus, located in the 300 block of Jacob Road, which is not far from Greystone Boulevard and visible from I-126.
The club was not open at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported.
An off-duty training captain saw a glow coming from the club’s roof as he was driving on I-126, according to CFD Capt. Ernest “Brick” Lewis. The training captain investigated and reported the fire.
It was a heavy fire on the roof and spreading rapidly, Lewis said.
The blaze at Platinum Plus was classified as a two-alarm fire because it required extra manpower to fight it, and also because of the unusual type of structure of the building, which was so split up inside, according to Lewis.
That's an interesting point about the building. Does anyone know what this was built for? I'm pretty sure before it was Platinum Plus it was another strip club, called something like Tom Kats, but it's a pretty big building, and I doubt it was bespoke built to be a strip club.
The "evacuation plan" referenced on the corner sign is the former Southern Gentlemens strip club location on Old Dunbar Road which was re-opened as Platinum West a few years ago (though I think it was a move and re-branding of Heartbreakers rather than a wholly new operation). Interestingly, that club also abuts a graveyard.
UPDATE 23 January 2018: Added previous names to the post title based on the comments.
19 Responses to 'Harvey's / Merlin's / Alley Cats / Gentleman's Quarters / Platinum Plus, 362 Jacob Road: 17 January 2018'
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59 Ford Wheelman
23 Jan 18 at 6:48 am
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I went there in the spring of '79. At the time it was a disco called Harvey's. I had no interest in disco, but the girls I was with wanted to go there for a drink. The place was expanded in the following years, and it did become Merlin's for a while. Merlin Jones was a very nice guy, fwiw.
Mike R.
23 Jan 18 at 3:39 pm
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I'm too young to remember the the places mentioned in the previous 2 comments but the thing that gets me is this:
A different place that was Pandora was finally demolished about 2½ years after a fire (which turned out to be arson) and now this happened...
** as of the moment I'm typing this the cause remains under investigation **
Be that as it may, the neighborhood behind this is definitely on the dicey side I found out when I found myself in it a few years back...
Andrew
23 Jan 18 at 8:21 pm
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The first name of this club was the Looking Glass in the late 70's early 80's. It had lots of mirrors and a stainless steel dance floor. (Yes it was very disco)This was a private club so it could stay open till 2 AM on Saturday nights. The club was always packed. It had a huge wooden deck across the front what was later replaced with the current front wall.
Kc
24 Jan 18 at 10:47 am
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I can't swear by it but I do believe it went by another name in the mid-70's. When I worked at South Carolina National on Greystone around '77 or '78 I used to go there for happy hour with several coworkers. This was during the times when bars offered 3, 4 and 5 for 1 happy hours. I recall once ordering a drink and having four delivered to the table!
Here is an advertisement from 1976 that will show you how times have changed!!
Homer
24 Jan 18 at 8:49 pm
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@Homer, great advertisement, sounds like I am younger than you but still remember quarter draft nights at Pug's in Five Points. You wouldn't order just one but several at a time, mainly because it would take so long for the waitress to get back to your table.
ED
2 Feb 18 at 10:04 am
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@ED - glad you liked the advertisement. I really got a kick out of it. Pug's was one of the first bars I ever visited. Of course the other was my all-time favorite as I have mentioned ad nauseam, Group Therapy.
Homer
3 Feb 18 at 12:38 am
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I remember Pug's and quarter draft night Ed. It was on Thursdays as I recall. The place would be packed and they never told us what the quarter draft beer was, probably something pretty cheap. Thanks for the memories man!
Andy
3 Feb 18 at 1:34 pm
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@Andy-In the early 80's there was a bar on Rosewood called The Tabbard Inn. They had 10 cent drafts on Tuesday nights, Holly shit, there were a lot of drunks in there. The bartenders could hardly keep up. They had live music, it was almost standing room only and it was not uncommon to see people smoking a doob in the back of the bar, it was so crowded the smokers could get rid of the evidence before the cops could reach them. Ahhh the early 80's, what a great time it was. Walk in, 20 minutes later walk out with someone and have sex in the parking lot.
Rick
3 Feb 18 at 8:59 pm
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My bad, memory escaped me. 10 cent draft at the Tabbard in was more like '78 to '80.
Rick
4 Feb 18 at 6:39 am
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I remember pugs .25 draft night.we would order 12 at a time!
They also had cheap jello shooters.John
4 Feb 18 at 11:03 am
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I really hope that they do not rebuild this location in the same spot. The area is the first exit out of Columbia and has significant potential. They really need to capitalize on the potential of the area for Columbia and move the bad element out and clean up this area and then focus on Bush/Broad River areas.
Jessica
4 Apr 18 at 2:23 pm
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Today I noticed an excavator in front of this building making me wonder if this building has a date with one...
Andrew
3 Oct 18 at 6:48 pm
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The excavator I mentioned in my previous post has (over the course of the intervening days) been harnessed to demolish this building...
Andrew
9 Oct 18 at 8:59 pm
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Just an open lot now....
Homer
19 Nov 18 at 7:11 pm
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Merlins! Used to hang out here in the mid-80's, loved this place!
Ron Turner
22 Jul 20 at 8:14 pm
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In 1978 this was Harvey's Disco run by Mark Sherman. I shot a segment of WIS-TV's "DANCE" show there and eventually hired Sherman to host it. In 1979 the name was changed to "The Late Show" and we shot an entire "DANCE" show there. There is interior and exterior footage of both incarnations on my YouTube channel.
Steve Griggs
2 Jan 21 at 7:56 pm
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In the late 70’s it was also called JES’s. It was run by John Edward Stanley. Thursday night’s were ladies nights and all the women were served free champagne for several hours. It was always wall to wall people. This was the time that St Andrews area was full of great bars…..Polo’s, Fanny Teagues, Whispers, Cussin Bills, Beethoven’s, Rigbys, DJs…
Bill Watson
31 Jul 21 at 10:18 pm
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Bill W.
You're right on target with your comments. JES's was a great place to go especially on Thursday nights. Your mention of the other great bars brings back a ton of memories!
Bob
10 Nov 22 at 3:41 pm
I'm pretty sure it was originally a dance club named Merlin's in the 1980s. By the mid-1990s it was a strip club named Alley Cats, was taken over by new ownership in 1998 and renamed Gentleman's Quarters for a couple of months. Then Platinum Plus took over later in 1998 and it has remained that since.