Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Get out there and hold some truths to be self evident!

And grill some hot dogs.

This is vacation phase 1, probably no posting for several days.

Well, this is interesting. I wrote about this building before under the mistaken impression that it was part of the old Quality Inn / Travelodge Suites property at 1539 Horseshoe Drive. As it turns out, I was wrong. This building was a totally seperate operation, and was just a typical office building.

Except that it turns out that one of the offices was used by the infamous 3 Hebrew Boys investment scam operation. In fact, according to this affidavit, two of the 3HB were actually arrested at this location.

Of course what got me to revisit this location and google the address was the fact that as I was driving by recently, I saw that it had almost totally burned down. Apparently this happened on 26 April, and here is what the appointed receiver for 3HB has to say about it:

On April 26, 2010 at approximately 1:00 pm, Richland County firefighters responded to a smoke alarm signal received from the office building located at 1529 Horseshoe Drive, Columbia, SC. The building is presently titled in the name of Daniel Development Group , LLC and was once used as the headquarters for Capital Consortium Group, LLC, a business among others that is referred to as the "Three Hebrew Boys". The building has been under the control of the Receiver since October 2007. The building and all contents therein were completely destroyed by the fire and has unofficially been determined to be a total loss. All computers and documents have been stored off-site since the Receiver took possession of the building in October 2007. The building was being managed by a reputable property management company, fully insured and continuously monitored by a security company. The Receiver will make a claim immediately with the Hartford Insurance Company for the full value of the building with the insurance proceeds going to the benefit of the victims.

Of course not everybody has gotten the news, and the building is still listed for sale on Loopnet.

There's an older picture there, and here are my pix from the other post I mentioned, which still have all the legal verbiage posted on the doors:

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"Your Host From Coast-to-Coast"

I went looking for this building on Knox Abbott last year, and as far as I can tell, there is nothing at that address now. The postcard certainly makes what appears to be a rather nondescript building look impressive by adding a sharp car and elegant model, even if there is perhaps a touch too much of "the old South" in the pose chosen.

My experience with Holiday Inns over the years has been mixed. I currently seek out the Holiday Inn Express sites, which seem to be uniformly good. The "regular" HIs can be a mixed bag. The one I used to go to quite often in DC invariably had the freeze/bake thermostat system, and at least once seemed to have gotten the cold and hot water pipes running to my room backwards (though luckily, hot was at best "tepid" in that case).

I've never been in The Bohemian though some of the merchandise I could see through the windows on Sunday looked kind of interesting. The vibe of Devine Street is rather distinct from the rest of Columbia, and somehow, since the days of taking piano lessons at Haven's music and talking to Herman the bird at The Aquarium & Pet Shop I haven't really spent much shopping there.

At any rate, it appears The Bohemian has found new digs about half a block towards the Capitol from its former location at 2736/2738 Devine to its new one at 2720 Devine.

This distinctive building is on Beltline between Rosewood and Devine Street. I don't know if they were the original tenant, but for many years it was an office supply store. I never went there myself, as I was living out of town for most of the time between when I started using "office equipment" (essentially printers in my case) and when I started buying supplies online. I'm pretty sure my sister did find a ribbon for the antique Brother "Diablo 630 compatible!" daisy-wheel printer I set her up with. Those things had a really unique machine-gun type staccato sound they made as the wheel spun and the solenoid hammerd the letters onto the page. I found the fan-fold paper feed almost impossible to adjust correctly such that it wouldn't gradually mangle the paper..

Anyway, the place was in the 1998 phonebook, but I believe Dollar General has been there pretty much for most of this century.

This storefront on Parklane across from K-Mart, started as a Chappy's Fish & Chips, but after that, I don't believe there was ever another restaurant in it, and the place took an automotive turn, a trajectory which it is still more or less on. Given the number of car lots that have come and gone along the Two Notch Corridor over the years, and the way title-loan places pop up everywhere, I wonder if turning cars into money isn't a more stable business model than turning money into cars..

Here's another recent vacancy in Boozer Shopping Center. I don't know if it's just coincidence, but there were a number of storefronts that moved out at more or less the same time, including The Book Dispensary, Gift's of Love and this one, Ron Grahams Allergy Center.

I don't know much about the place, but the full name is Ron Graham Allergy & Air Quality Center Inc, they can help you filtering all the allergens from your home air, and they are now out in Lexington on Sunset Drive near the Target and McAlister's Deli.

This move leaves Boozer at least three storefronts to replace on the north side of the center.

I've written about this building before, both in a closing for Steak & Ale (the original tenant of the whole building) and in one for House Brand (a furniture store which used the east side of the building after it was divided).

I see now that since the House Brand signage has been off the east side of the building, the previous Buster's Bistro sign is again visible.

I don't know much about Buster's other than it was the first tenant in the newly subdivided building and that according to several commenters on the Steak & Ale closing, the chef, Sig Buster, started at Fresh Pastabilities in the Forest Park (Piggly WIggly) shopping center on the other side of Trenholm, and opened Buster's Bistro after closing that.

The place is not listed in the 2008 phonebook, and so would have closed during or before 2007.

UPDATE 16 June 2022: Adding tags and map icon.

I finally got around to taking some pictures of The Village Tavern. This place was on Berryhill road, which is a frontage road on the north side of I-20, starting at Bush River Road and going east. I did not take it all the way to the other end, but it seems a fairly quiet road with very little traffic (though there is, of course a constant rumble from I-20 itself).

The area where the tavern building sits is quite pleasant. Visibility of I-20 is mostly screened by vegetation, and the tavern plot is very lush and grassy with Stoop Creek running behind the building, under a Berryhill Road bridge, I-20 and eventually into the Saluda River.

The tall neon sign at the edge of the property was the only part visible from I-20, and I would see it for years as I drove past either on errands in town, or on my way back to Aiken. Somehow I never got around to checking the place out while it was still open though.

Commenter Walt wrote this back in February:

I hope they found another place!

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