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Red Wing Rollerway, 1215 Saint Andrews Road: 1980s(?)   25 comments

Posted at 1:39 am in Uncategorized

This building, at the intersection of Broad River & Saint Andrews Roads is apparently Mr. Bingo now (it seems to have an attached strip with a number of little businesses as well), but I'm pretty sure it was originally a skating rink, and I believe it was the last place I put on a pair of skates. This would have been in 1979, when I was a senior in high school. I distinctly remember going out with a group of friends to a rink somewhere near Irmo. I had never been before and didn't go again, so I can't absolutely say this was the place, but it seems to fit.

I had never been much of a skater because I never figured out how it was done. Oh, I could put on the skates, and "walk" around in them, but the "knack" of it -- actually using leg sweeps to move had always escaped me until this particular night, when I finally figured it out. Maybe that's why I never went back -- after figuring out the whole "propulsion" thing, what else was there to do on skates?

I think the building went through a number of incarnations after the rink closed. I seem to remember both a strip club and a C&W bar there, and some signage on the corner seeems to indicate it was a "Smoke House" restaurant as well.

UPDATE 18 Feb 09: The post was initially titled "Skating Rink". Tom in the comments identifies it as a Red Wing, and I have chaged the post title to reflect that.

Written by ted on February 18th, 2009

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25 Responses to 'Red Wing Rollerway, 1215 Saint Andrews Road: 1980s(?)'

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  1. It was a Red Wing Roller Rink as late as the 1990s. At one point it was a Chineese buffet. I do not recall it being a strip club though.

    Tom

    18 Feb 09 at 7:11 am

  2. Opps, typo on my last post, should be 1980s, not 1990s.

    Tom

    18 Feb 09 at 7:11 am

  3. Clearly y'all remember when this was Bubba 'N Buck, the country and western club circa 1993. The David Allen Coe show, anyone?

    Midnight Rambler

    18 Feb 09 at 7:54 am

  4. I saw Delbert McClinton there when it was Bubba & Buck's - great show.

    Widespread Panic played there in 1992.

    Dennis

    18 Feb 09 at 9:26 am

  5. Panic played there??? Wow!

    B.C.

    18 Feb 09 at 12:00 pm

  6. So it was another Red Wing?

    I'll update the post title.

    ted

    18 Feb 09 at 12:22 pm

  7. The right two-thirds was Bubba and Buck and the old wooden rink was the dance floor. The left 1/3 was Opening Break. Played many a round of pool there when I was younger and had much more time on my hands.

    There was another Opening Break on South Assembly, but the St. Andrews one was more pleasant.

    Steve

    18 Feb 09 at 12:27 pm

  8. I worked there as the house Dj when it first opened -It was opened by Cecil Barnes out of North Augusta. There were Red Wings in Batesburg, North Augusta, Augusta GA had 2 as well as 2 in Columbia and 2 in the Charleston area -The Red Wing in Columbia was the largest.-- It even had a full apartment that the managers Jim & Toni Agner lived in!

    Kc

    19 Feb 09 at 7:49 am

  9. This was an Opening Break before Bubba and Bucks

    JOHN JEFFCOAT

    28 Mar 09 at 9:00 am

  10. I grew up skating at this rink, because my mom was a manager. There was never a wooden rink. Both rinks were concrete. When it closed, it became Bubba and Buck's, and Opening Break was on the end. These 2 places were open at the same time. After they closed, it became Mr. Bingo with the chinese restaurant on the opposite end from where opening break was.

    melissa

    19 Jan 10 at 2:41 pm

  11. Opening Break, I was trying to remember that one earlier. Ted, there was a skating rink in Irmo, the other end of St Andrews, maybe right before it became Woodrow St. (or across the RR tracks from Woodrow St.) Then it was a wedding chapel or something. What was the brand name of that one?

    JBL

    1 Jul 10 at 2:39 am

  12. I believe the last surviving Opening Break in Columbia finally closed and Addams Bookstore moved into it's space in the retail strip next to Subway at Assembly and Whaley from their store at Main and Blossom.

    Mike

    1 Jul 10 at 4:59 am

  13. JBL,

    It was Carolina Skateland. It is a current wedding place.

    Jonathan

    1 Jul 10 at 8:37 am

  14. Carolina Skateland. Thanks, Jonathan. That was also the last place I laced up a pair of skates. Went two feet, fell hard flat on my backside, and realized how old I am. You said in your opening , ted, that in 1979 you were "somewhere close to Irmo," this is a little closer to Irmo than St Andrews and Broad River intersection. Is this where you were?
    Also, while I have your attention, why do many of the apostrophies, but not all, in the alphabetical closings show up as ' ? Is it my computer?

    JBL

    1 Jul 10 at 3:52 pm

  15. Interesting. Could be!

    On the apostrophe thing, looks like it is an Internet Explorer vs level of HTML/XHTML supported issue. I explicitly started using the "apos" notation because wordpress was replacing all my single quotes with "smart" apostrophes, making text searches fail. This works fine with firefox, but apparently not IE. I will research how to encode for both, probably just use a hex reference.

    ted

    1 Jul 10 at 4:41 pm

  16. Thanks. Great site, but addicting. Memories always do that to us humans.

    JBL

    1 Jul 10 at 6:01 pm

  17. I moved away from Columbia in '86. There was about a three year time period where I spent every Saturday from 10am to 6pm at Redwing. It was THE happening spot if you were from Columbia and had friends from Irmo, or vice versa. Kind of like Switzerland on wheels, neutral territory. There was a big rink, and then a kiddie rink off to the left. Seating benches wrapped around the back, and off to the right it was all a wide carpeted area where you could sit on the floor with your buds. As you walked in, to the left was a (*gasp* nowadays) smoking area, and a little further down was the concession area. Suicide sodas anyone? In that area were the games of the time. . . Frogger, Ms. Pacman, Defender, and a few other different ones from time to time. I had SUCH a blast there. . . was a major part of my teen years. Everyone had to have their own skates to be "in", girls always had white and guys always had black, with the errant pompom thrown in.

    Thanks for the site guys!

    LTC

    4 Aug 11 at 11:10 am

  18. Apperently the drink/snack area sortof still standd. Mr. Bingo uses it as their own snack area now.

    Renee1986

    19 Aug 12 at 12:41 am

  19. I need to go in there and check the building out and see if there is anything left that looks familiar. I spent a large portion of my life in there when it was Opening Break/Bubba N Buck's. I lived in the St. Andrews Commons in the early 90's and that was my hang out since I could walk home! So many stories I could tell about this place!!!

    Homer

    19 Aug 12 at 4:30 am

  20. Someone was asking about a ToughMan Contest back in 92 or 93 that was at Bubba & Bucks. A young man named David Ard was in that contest. Just wondering if by chance could it have been viedo taped? This man was the brother on a girl asking, he passed away last May and she was asking on FB if anyone knew of this contest and if it had been taped. I don't know these people, but wanted to try to help her......just asking! Thanks!

    Linda

    23 Jan 13 at 1:17 pm

  21. It was definitely a Red Wing... I skated there many-a times as a young kid in the 80's... And no, the floor was not wooden... It was actually a sky blue-colored, smooth concrete... There were actually two skate floors... The main floor was a large oval-shape. The second skate floor was a smaller oval or circle... It was the kiddie floor. It had silver rails that young kids or novice skaters could hold on to, if they needed the extra security.

    I had three pairs of skates as a kid... My first pair, were the the red plastic Fisher Price skates that you slip your sneakers into... Then I graduated into the "big-girl" four-wheeled skates, around first grade, or so. They were white, with blue wheels, toe stops and strings... They had little Smurf logos on the outer ankle portion of each skate... The Smurf's were so popular back then.
    And by the time I was in fifth grade, I got Another pair. They were so beautiful... Bright white, with purple wheels, toe stops and laces... I even had pretty purple Pom poms on both skates... The Pom poms had little silver bells in each... So each time I moved, they'd jingle.

    The rink also had skates for rent... They were a tanish color, with bright orange wheels and toe stops... and super long dark brown laces... I always saw people wrap the laces around their ankles, cause they were still too long once they were tied... So many memories... This blog is the absolute best!

    Dee Dee

    27 Jan 13 at 2:21 am

  22. For those that mentioned Carolina Skateland - after Carolina Skateland closed down, it became 'The Concrete Pond' and catered to roller-hocky leagues, with weird open skate hours.

    I spent many Friday's at Carolina Skateland - my daycare took us there every other Friday I believe. I won the shoot-the-duck/choo-choo contest for a free snack several times, spent many quarters playing double dragon, and a baseball/pin-ball game that was supposed to dispense baseball cards - but I never did well enough to get one, or more likely - it was never stocked.

    Matt

    30 Jan 13 at 2:36 pm

  23. It was red wing I meat my first wife there I still skate at Three fountains rink by the air port

    Jimmy

    18 Jul 17 at 6:26 pm

  24. This place....I only knew it as Bubba n' Bucks. In the early '90s the whole country line dance craze was happening and I dated a couple gals in college that wanted to go, so I did. 2 Step anyone?

    I saw both of the concerts mentioned early in the comments from years ago. I saw Widespread Panic there as I was a huge fan then and i still go to their shows today. They still melt your face with old and their new material.

    David Allen Coe was wasted the night he played at B&B. I saw him fall off his stool while playing. Hated it for the guy. It was kinda sad to be honest.

    Also, the only time I skated at Red Wing was the one on Decker, because I was a Foxcroft kinda guy when I was skating back in elem/middle school.

    palmettoconnection

    20 Jul 17 at 2:49 pm

  25. Anyone know how to reach CECIL BARNES????!?!?!?

    Bruce Robinson

    18 Aug 23 at 1:43 am

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