Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Cletus' Roadside Grille was the latest restaurant to try to make a go of it in the old Whale's Tail spot. I'm not sure what their menu was, but the name puts me in the mind of down-home Southern cooking. I like the colorful, retro logo too.

(Hat tip to commenter Ralph Hightower)

UPDATE 28 August 2017 -- Now a La Fogata:

This little barbershop on Lake Murray Boulevard has closed up shop and has apparently gone from trying to lease all or part to being up for sale. A little sign in back notes that one of the barbers has moved on to a spot on Saint Andrews Drive.

Like Charlie's on Rosewood, this place had one of the now rare motorized spinning barber poles which I've always liked.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

This agency seems to be gradually moving to Camden.

They moved to this location from here, further up Two Notch around 2010, and have now moved out to just across from Big Lots near Spring Valley:

Commenter badger suggested that Kildare's on Harden Street might be closed, and that does in fact seem to be the case. Looking through the windows, there is a bit of dishevelment inside, with plywood up in one window and checking the roofline shows under-panels missing along the front.

Nothing has seemed to stick in this spot since it was re-purposed from a series of Chinese restaurants to bar use.

(Hat tip to commenter badger)

UPDATE 2 December 2015 -- This much clubbed spot is open again as The Horseshoe and it appears this time the front and back are the same operation:

UPDATE 24 June 2019: Add tag and map icon.

Auto Selection was the follow-up operation to K & C Radiator Center in this old gas station building on Two Notch at Covenant, and I believe it lasted about a year.

I have to say I liked the building better in white. I do like the curved facade on the roof, and would like to see the building restored as the sister building on Devine has been.

Commenter Sidney reported the McDonalds in The Crossings
at the corner of Hardcrabble and Clemson closed for renovations some time ago, but I only finally got out there after it re-opened.

Although I don't remember exactly what it looked like before, my impression is that this store has *not* been remodeled along the same lines as other recent McDonalds revampings (here, for example). In particular, the new style subtle arch cap-pieces and drive-through styling are not present, and the boxy glass playroom, which has been removed in other stores, still is.

UPDATE: Oops! Commenter Sidney says the remodeling hasn't happened yet. Looking at how fresh everything looks, I was sure it had, but now these can serve as "BEFORE" pictures.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

UPDATE 7 August 2017 -- I still have yet to put the construction and "after" pictures up. I have them. Somewhere. Anyway, the place is open again.

I'm not exactly sure when this little Two Notch spot closed, but the last Facebook postings are from October 2013, so I'll go with Fall 2013 even though I suspect it was later than that. Judging from the wall signs, they had a wider menu than I might have expected.

Apparently the building is being sold fully equipped.

Well, I was going to wait until I got over to the area again to get some pictures of the abandoned old location, and the new location in operation, but that didn't happen this weekend, and there's been a lot of Taco Cid talk here lately, so I'll go ahead with what I've got.

Longtime local Mexican fast-food restaurant Taco Cid has moved from their Cayce location near Piggy Park and out to Airport Tec Plaza at 3313 Platt Springs Road.

They have moved into the old Marino's Bistro location and are now open, though they have not yet replaced the Marino's marquee.

(Hat tip to commenter Mike)

UPDATE 21 August 2014 -- Here is the Charleston Highway location after closure:

UPDATE 10 March 2017 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, this building is going to pot:

UPDATE 30 August 2022: Well, color me surprised. I thought the Charleston Highway Taco Cid building was beyond salvage, but somebody has managed it, and it is now open as Perry's Gourmet Flaming Grilled Chicken!

(Also updating tags and adding map icon).

As usual, when I'm trying to shoot against the sun, the results aren't pretty, but this Piggly Wiggly on the Charleston Highway near the I-77/I-26 interchange is on the way out -- in fact, it may actually be closed at this point.

When I took these shots on 3 August 2014, the store was mostly still in full operation. There were a few signs that they were trying to sell off the whole stock, but really, if you had gone for most any normal grocery item, you would have found it and the discounts were pretty modest (I believe most signs said 20%, but only to Pig cardmembers).

With this closure, I'm not quite sure where the nearest replacement store is. There's an IGA in Gaston, but the Reid's which would have been the nearest store in the other direction recently closed as well.

Of course, the new State Farmers' Market is quite nearby for adventurous souls.

UPDATE 21 August 2014 -- The place is now closed:

UPDATE 14 December 2021 -- After seven years, this store is still vacant:

Also adding a map icon.

What A Field Day For The Heat

If you're the Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour with Brian Wilson to keep Mike Love in check, Mike Love to keep Brian Wilson on an even keel and the second most important catalog in rock history, you can open with the howitzers, drop back to hand grenades and finish with tactical nukes. Otherwise, you'd probably best stick with the standard rock act strategy of opening with small arms, dropping back to firecrackers and closing with the big guns -- which Crosby, Stills & Nash more or less did at the Township on Wednesday night.

The trio kicked the show off with "Carry On", and the signature tight (detractors say "painful") harmonies were spot on in a pretty decent sound mix:

They then moved fairly quickly to "Marakesh Express"

and "Just A Song Before I Go"

Inasmuch as there was a front man for the group, David Crosby took the role. He alluded briefly to his famously self destructive ways back in the day, and did most of the commentary and introductions. He seemed a bit froggy when speaking, but nailed all of his leads, sometimes with vocals of surprising power. Stephen Stills was vocally in worse shape. I don't know if it was due to being 69 years old, or if he just blew out his voice over the course of the tour, but it was very noticable on his solo leads -- not enough to spoil the enjoyment, but definitely there. Somehow his harmonies were still pure though. Graham Nash was the most retiring presence on stage, and didn't seem to have a lot to say.

During the "firecracker" portion of the show, CSN did several new tunes, both as a group and as three solo artists. I thought the best of these was a lament for the Tibetian monks who have set themselves on fire protesting Chinese rule of that mountain land.

The way they approached the solo and new material was a bit odd as often the two who were not involved with a song would leave the stage. It was certainly a reminder that CSN is as much three people showing up together as it is an organic group. While it gave each man a time to shine, I would have preferred the solo songs to be presented in group arrangements as was done very effectively with Still's famous ode to carnal convenience:

And with the exploration of Stills's previous membership in Buffalo Springfield:

The show closed with a meditation on education:

Big guns conspicuously silent: "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", "Ohio", "Woodstock" and Neil Young.

Certainly a great show.

(Would have posted this last night, but was having a terrible time getting the video uploaded. I will swap out the low-res for high when I finally get it transferred).