Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

UPDATE 21 March 2016 Wow, who would have thought this photo and letter would turn up at my house at this late date, but there we are: David Pearson's first ride crew on Thunder Road. See the text below for details.

Grit Your Teeth
Bear The Load
Enjoy Your Ride
On Thunder Road
-- Burma Shave

I was on the first run of Thunder Road on 3 April 1976.

As it happened, I had won a phone-in contest on WIS Radio. I suppose there were similar contests on stations all over the Carolinas to fill both cars. It was not the first time I had been to Carowinds, I remember a school trip in particular, but it was not the quick jaunt from Columbia it is nowdays, as I-77 between Columbia & Charlotte was not yet finished and it was a longish two lane drive on US-21.

In its initial configuration, the two track coaster was promoted as a "race" between moonshiners and police with the trams on each track having automobile body front ends. For the initial ride, we contest winners were divided into two teams, one per car, and in the front seat of each car was a then prominent NASCAR driver. I'm afraid I didn't (and don't) really follow NASCAR so the names of our team leaders has totally slipped my mind. I have the feeling that our team was on the right hand track, and that we were the law, but I couldn't swear that to you. What I do remember in particular is the set of four Burma Shave signs, quoted above, which were between the two tracks as the cars were chain pulled to the top of the first hill. They gave you something to laugh about just before cresting the hill and that first precipitous descent.

At the time, my experience with roller coasters was pretty limited. My father did not trust the travelling coasters at the State Fair, so the only coasters I had ridden were the Swamp Fox in Myrtle Beach, and the mining themed Goldrusher also at Carowinds. There was really no comparison, and Thunder Road was a thrill ride far and above either (though I still love both the others). There was just something about that initial jerk and the clank of the chains as you went up that first hill, then teetered on top of the world for a second before the bottom dropped out..

I rode Thunder Road many other times over the years, though probably not any after the early 1980s. I totaly missed the era when they ran one of the trains facing backwards.

When I heard that Thunder Road was to be retired, I wanted to try and be on the last ride, but in the event I was on vacation that day, and while I seriously considered making the ten hour round trip drive, in the end I didn't. It would make a better story, but that's life.

I did go out last weekend though and get what pictures I could of the attraction before it is all torn down. The entrance is in what is now the Snoopy section of Carowinds while the main body parallels the water park area.

It's kind of sad how little of the original Carowinds remains. Really, I think the only two remaining original rides are the Eastern Airlines Skytower and the aforementioned Goldrusher. While I was googling some Thunder Road facts for this post, I ran across a teriffic site Carowinds The Early Years where most of the links above come from, and which you should definitely visit. Who could forget The Oaken Bucket, The Hillbilly Jalopies, The Powder Keg Flume, the awful food at The Grubsteak (You expect grubs to be good steak? we asked..), The Paddle Wheel Steamer, The Skyway and The Monorail?

UPDATE 14 August 2015: My sister (who was also there the first day of Thunder Road though she did not have a first ride ticket) says she remembers that the NASCAR teamleaders were Cale Yarborough and David Pearson and that I was on Pearson's team. She has also found online sources saying it was Bobby Allison & David Pearson though that's not the way she remembers it (and all it takes is for one source to get it wrong and then be quoted by everyone else..)

I have also found a number of Youtube videos of Thunder Road. Here are a tribute video and then a front car POV video:

This new-ish but odd little building is on Knox Abbott in between Taco Bell and Wendy's.

For the life of me I can't remember what it was right now, and am unable to come up with a street number to google it.

UPDATE 16 September 2016 -- This is one of the posts lost in a database crash. Originally it was just titled "Building", but based on the comments as I bring it back, I'm changing the post title to Kleen Kare Dry Cleaner as that what it was to be, though it never opened due to the big crash of the late 2000s.

UPDATE 11 June 2019 -- This is now Carstar auto repair. Not sure if they do the actual work at this location:

UPDATE 15 Novemeber 2023: Update tags.

I was not familiar with this place, but apparently this store was the only Apple authorized repair location in town.

My experience as a computer guy is that Mac stuff is great until it stops working, then it's a real pain to get working again. Granted this impression comes mainly from the software side where everything was so "easy to use" that there were never any diagnostic knobs to tweak, but there you go..

Commenter Matt reports a new Apple repair location on Taylor Street.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Here is another Anna's Linens closing, part of the continuing fallout of the chain's bankruptcy. This storefront is in the Wal Mart plaza on Two Notch, and is the former site of Ya Food.

These pictures were taken in mid July 2015, and I expect the store is actually closed by now, though I have not driven by there since.

UPDATE 23 January 2026: Update tags, add map icon.

Here's another home-cookin' type restaurant I never got around to trying, this one in the old Southern Skillet location in West Columbia across from New Brookland Baptist.

I like comfort food but I tend to eat lunch later than they were open, and it's a long way to drive..

This tuneup garage in between Bike Street and Prowash was at this location for a number of years, but I'm not sure exactly when it closed or moved. My
phonebooks are sparse that far back, so I can say it was definitely here as of the 1997 book, but by the time of the 2005 book, the listed
address was 2517 Broad River Road, which would be on the other side of Bike Street. However, as you can see in the first photo, t
he signage was still up as of 2010.

Also, notice the same sign in the second picture. The Buy Here, Pay Here verbiage sounds like maybe there was a used car lot on
the property at some point in the interim. Perhaps that black SUV is for sale?

UPDATE 14 March 2016 -- As mentioned in the comments and as shown in this (bad) picture, this place has been demolished and Family Dollar is about to open here:

This secluded Cayce spot has featured here before (albeit apparent
ly with the wrong street address) and 2108 State carried on with the Lizard Man tradition.

I'll admit this corner is so far off my radar that it never even crossed my mind to stop here when I wasn't in direct visual c
ontact with the place, but apparently it was pretty good. There Facebook page i
s still up for now, and if you should want to buy the building, LoopNet has you covered.

(Hat tip to commenter Brandon Barkley)

UPDATE 12 April 2017 -- As reported, now a Henry's:

I noticed the other day that this ABC storefront next to Solstice on Sparkleberry is now vacant. I had actually pulled
in there because I thought Solstice might be closed, but apparently it is just never open whenever I drive by..

I first wrote about this building on Farrow Road in the closing for the storied Fountain Bleu Club back in 2009, when the first two pictures above were taken.

Riding down that stretch last weekend, I noticed that the Fountain Of Youth Child Development Center (whose name harkened back to the original club) is now also gone. Looking in some phonebooks, I would say it closed in 2012, and the building is now for sale.

I've noticed Traditions Elder Day Care at the corner of Woodrow and Gervais Streets a number of times over the years as I've kept an eye on the little plaza the building is in, but missed the fact that it was recently closed until my sisterer pointed it out to me. The building is now being remodeled into New York Butcher Shoppe

(Hat tip to my sister)