Cussin' Bill's Eats & Drinks / BAWA Oyster Co / Cadillac's, 110 Woodland Hills Road: July 2010 etc 12 comments
Cussin' Bill's is another place I would hear about but never go around to going to. It may be just as well. From the name, I always assumed it was mainly a restaurant, but this 1997 Administrative Law Court judgement makes clear that at least by 1996 it was operating as one of South Carolina's ubiquitious video poker malls.
At this remove, it's easy to forget how pervasive video poker was in the state at that time, and how odd the operating conditions were. Video poker was legal, but only just tolerated and the ostensible rule was that no one business could operate more than 5 machines. This, of course, led to many places implementing the "mall" concept. Each room of 5 machines was operated, on paper, as a separate business. In this case, it was found that Cussin' Bill's did not have employees in each room to maintain the fiction, and they got landed with a $5000 fine and lost most of their machines.
I'm not sure when Cussin' Bill's closed. I don't think that ruling was the end for them, but I could be wrong. At any rate, after they closed, the next operation in the building was BAWA Oyster Co about which I know nothing, other than presumably they served oysters (something I have less than no interest in).
I don't even know that much about the most recent tenant, Cadallic's, which folded earlier this year. Judging from Have Your Say notes by commenters Joel & O'Reilly, it was connected with the 360 Sports Bar (also now closed) on Bush River Road, and may or may not have been a strip club.
I have to say it's a fairly attractive building (across Woodland Hills road from the old Steak & Ale and behind the old Na href="http://columbiaclosings.com/wordpress/?p=421">Steak Out) with a very nice deck. There is a lot of traffic, of course, on nearby I-20 and Saint Andrews Road, but the building is well off of those, and is fairly quiet. It seems to me that some sort of casual restaurant could do well there -- I certainly wouldn't mind having a burger or burrito out on the deck in the spring or fall.
UPDATE 13 March 2017 -- This place is still unoccupied, and is starting to deteriorate:
UPDATE 31 August 2022: Still going downhill!
Also found a LoopNet listing, and adding a map icon.
UPDATE 14 February 2024 -- The building continues to deterioate:
12 Responses to 'Cussin' Bill's Eats & Drinks / BAWA Oyster Co / Cadillac's, 110 Woodland Hills Road: July 2010 etc'
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Tom
9 Nov 10 at 1:45 pm
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Cussin Bills was open until 2002 at least. I remember because I used to live in some apartments on that side of town. BaWa was open in the middle of 2008 and I think they were open for about a year.
Matt
9 Nov 10 at 3:05 pm
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Ah the memories. I could go in and play the Cherry Master machines and eat and drink all night long and still have money left over.
We would stick a toothpick in the play button to jam it in and walk away while it played.
10cent Oysters and happy hour.
Not a place to bring your children....LT
9 Nov 10 at 4:11 pm
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Part of the problem I have heard is the rent alone on this fine building is 5K per mo. - Gotta sell alot of burgers or have a bunch of video poker machines to cover that nut. And that dont cover other costs!
Edgar
11 Nov 10 at 2:43 pm
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Cussin' Bills closed in September of 2006 after a year of operation. It was in business in the early part of the decade and closed in 2002. According to the owners, it was a very expensive place to operate. The electric bill was a thousand a month and the rent was quite high. The irony is that the couple who ran it are related to the owner of the building. You would assume that some special family rent rate would apply. The other problem was employee theft. The GM as well as his employees had their hands in the till, so to speak. Kevin later said that theft was the breaking point for the future of the place and he close it in September. I had a great time there considering that I lived a block away in Woodland Hills and was between jobs. I drank a great number of beers, became an expert in pool and made a lot of friends there.
joelc
24 Nov 10 at 11:05 pm
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Cussin'Bills openned in the late 70s it was a great locals bar allot of Irmo and St Andrews people use to hang out there back in the day. The original owner Karry I think his name was was a nut my wife worked there as a waitress back in the early 80s, have allot of fond memories of that place it's a very unique building and had a small dinning area upstairs. You are right once video poker was outlawed the lost allot of income.
smoaky
11 Feb 11 at 3:01 pm
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I remember it being a favorite after work hangout for Outback employees for some reason. Video Poker or underage drinking? I never played the machines but recall finding a ticket in the nearby Sheraton lounge. Handed it to the bartender and she gave me $70! Easy money!
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I went there several times in the mid 90s with a buddy to enjoy their 2 for 1 dinner specials. I remember the food bbeing very good...
Heath
6 May 11 at 11:48 pm
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Cussin' Bill's was one of my favorite places in the late 70's and early 80's. We would go there for a warm-up and then climb the hill to go to Beethoven's 5 for 1 (YES, 5 for 1) Happy Hour. (I think they are the ones who received the wrath of MADD). Then we would stumble back down the hill to finish the night's drinking at Cussin' Bill's. When they closed for the night we went off to Denny's on Broad River Rd for the all important greasy breakfast. What great memories!
Chuck
26 Dec 11 at 7:20 pm
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I lived at Cussin Bills in the 80s...so if you went there....you knew me and my brown jeep. I knew Kerry and the manager Bear. I had a long term relationship with someone that went there as well. I was so sad to see it close......I had more memories there than any other place ...except the Dry Gultch saloon.....I wish I was sitting there now with a cold beer....and no worries.....as when we are young...there are no BIG worries. Party on......
Amanda
23 Jan 12 at 8:45 pm
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All of you are so ignorant!
My uncle built this place out of wood of the cypress of the Francis Marion Forrest from the coast of South Carolina!
They hand built all the furniture and installment s of the building from scratch!
I know because as a teenage kid in the worksite I used to travel to the coast in the summer and when out of school to help bring the lumber up from Francis Marion Forrest and begin my first barracking job at cussin bills!
Carrey hardin was a fantastic guy who treated me with great respect!
It was the Best nightclub in Columbia!!
It was built at a cost in 1978 at 400K! A fortune back then!!A fortune, he made it back in four years!!! What a success!!!
Brad
14 Oct 19 at 9:19 pm
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Drove by there yesterday and it looked like someone was doing some work there.
Tom
23 Jul 23 at 3:58 pm
Cussin Bills was there for almost two decades. it was operating as a bar and restaujrant when I was at USC (class of 82). They once got into trouble with MADD over their drink specials.