Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I always wondered about this place on US-501 in Marion heading towards the beach. From the signs, it sounded like it should be a big deal, but I never saw any activity there, or heard about any shows scheduled.

As it turns out, the complex started as Carolina Ampitheatre, opening some time in the early part of the century, I guess, and closing in 2009. It was revamped and re-opened as Swamp Fox Entertainment Complex in 2015, but never got a lot of traction due to the location being prone to storms and cancellations (as well as being rather out of the way), and closed again in 2020.

At that time, the plan was to redevlop it as housing, but it was early 2020, and the pandemic was coming on, so as far as I can tell, that never got off the ground and I am not sure of the current status of those plans, though *something* happened in 2021.

During the whole life of the Swamp Fox, the area also housed a locally popular bar called the Fox Hole Bar & Grill, which closed in March of 2021.

You can read about the complex in these stories from WMBF, and WBTW. If I ever go by there in the daytime, and it's not locked down, I may try to see what's left.

Kandy Shop was an alternative club in the Margarette H. Miller Cosmetology Center which apparently only lasted a couple of months. As I was driving by recently, I noticed that it was gone, and now the venue is another night operation Club 1509.

The Weekend seems to have been a dinner & dance club in this Spring Valley area strip mall best known for Big Lots. You can see some google photos of it in operation here.

Based on the vague "a year ago" dates on the google reviews, I'll say it closed in early 2021. According to the window signage, the next tenant is to be an even venue probably called Suite Sixty.

(Hat tip to commenter Dan R)

UPDATE 22 February 2022 -- The Suite Sixty signage is up:

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When I finally got over to Forest Lake Park after commenter Sidney mentioned that the gym was being torn down, I found the whole place fenced off and closed. Presumably there is an upfit planned here, but oddly, I can find no mention of it on the Richland County Recreation Commission site. Elsewhere on the site there is a ten year plan for the system, but the only mention of the park there is that it is in "fair" condition and could be better. I don't see any news stories about it either.

I actually did not realize this was a park -- I thought it was all part of the adjacent elementary school. It looks to have been a pleasant enough place.

Also, for the record, I have used the term Forest Lake Park on this site before to talk about the park attached to the old Forest Lake Shopping Center, which is apparently technically incorrect.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

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According to The State Delany's which has been open for almost 20 years will be closing on Friday 30 November 2018.

Delaney's Speakeasy, a jazz club down the street, was once under the same ownership as Delaney's. It was sold first, and then Delaney's itself was sold last year (it's not clear from the story, but I'm guessing not to the same party that bought Speakeasy).

In theory I have Irish roots, but in practice I've never been a pub goer, and never took the opportunity to visit Delaney's. From these pictures (taken several years ago), it looks like it would be a pleasant al-fresco experience in the spring or fall.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

While not one of the coast's great storms, Hurricane Matthew did damage enough. Our yard was under several feet of water apparently, though nothing was damaged aside from a trash caddy floating away. Other places, apparently at random, got it worse. One of the was Myrtle Beach's Palace Theater at Broadway at the Beach.

I never went to the Palace, thought I thought I was one time. Somehow or other, I convinced myself that this big theater must be the House of Blues, and that's where I headed when I had a ticket for the 1996 Beach Boys appearance there (Carl Wilson's last tour). In the event, when I got there I saw the name obviously did not match, and had to drive a further 10 miles or so. Fortunately I was running early.

I also ended up on their email list somehow, possibly from seeing a show at the other big theater in North Myrtle Beach, so I would get all the notices about the Christmas shows with the Rockettes.

I guessing that business must have been off from the peak years, otherwise they would have repaired and gone on (I do wonder about insurance, you would expect them to have it, at least for wind, and flood was not an issue here..), but that was not to be, as The Sun News recently reported.

The previous year or so has not been kind to big structures in Myrtle Beach.

(Hat tip to commenter Bobby)
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