Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This old-style walk-up soft-serve parlor was in Bishopville, on the north side of town near the high school stadium. I would pass by it several times a year on the way to family events, and always meant to stop some time or other, but the way it always worked out is that I was not alone, running late, or both.

I first noticed that it seemed to be closed on my way to Thanksgiving 2008, and finally got around to taking some pictures in March of 2009. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I had no qualms about heading out on I-20 with a camera and some good music. According to their sign, the place had been there more than 50 years, which I have to say is a pretyt good run.

Going by this last month for Thanksgiving, I saw that now all the signage is down, and the building is just sitting there empty with no indication of what it was.

UPDATE: Looks like there's a Facebook Group..

UPDATE 23 December 2011 -- Well, as these 24 November 2011 (Thanksgiving) pix show, the building is gone now.

UPDATE 24 December 2011 -- Oops! Building is still there, but boarded up. The pix were of a lot with a gas station destroyed by Hugo, so I've taken them out. I'll try to get the real thing next time I'm over there. (Didn't have my camera ready today..)

I always enjoyed pottery as a kid. There was just something about the feel and even smell of wet clay, and making something real rather than just a representation like a drawing or painting. In fact, the only time I was on Mr. Knozit, I was making a pot in the background while one of the Richland County Threnholm Park pottery teachers explained the county classes for kids in the foreground. Of course I never got actually good at it or even progressed up to the potters wheel, but it was fun.

Apparently Two Peas In A Pot on Saint Andrews Road was one of those "you paint / we fire" places a number of which, like build your own teddy-bear places, sprung up several years ago. I never went to one, but I can easily see how it would be a fun evening.

Their web site says they closed Thanksgiving, and it looks like the space is currently available. For some reason getting my oil changed took an hour longer than it should have and I got to the place after sunset. The parking lot was quite a bit busier than I expected -- apparently everybody suddenly had the desire to order take-out pizza..

(Hat tip to commenter Jonathan)

I don't know when this Burger King went under, but it may have never come back from that time in the 90s when the local franchisee (who owned all the Columbia BKs) got in a dispute with corporate and all Columbia Burger Kings closed. Eventually new ownership was found and a number of them came back (with special commercials featuring "Blues Doctor" Drink Small..), but several never did.

I'm not sure when the follow-on business: TitleMax/CheckMax closed, but I believe it was this year.

I find it rather interesting that the street number displayed on the building is clearly 1402, but google is adamant that the real number is 1400.

That's right. You know those 2010 Columbia Closings wall calendars I've been hawking the last few weeks? Well, none left the printing center last week.

Of course, you can fix that by ordering yours today!

(Oldtimers will recognize where I lifted the 'none left' gag from..)

Adriana's was a landmark Five Points coffee house that had apparently been open for 25 years. Eva in the Free Times has the story of how the end came, and it seems to have been a number of factors.

I believe that I only stopped in at Adriana's once, and got an initial "not for me" impression that I never spent enough time in Five Points to correct. As I recall, it was a hot summer day, and I was walking around the area as I do maybe once or twice a year (actually more than that now that I'm taking pictures for the blog..) and I stopped in for an iced cappuccino, which was served to me sweetened. My theory is that you should never put sugar in someone's coffee unless they ask for it (or unless you're ordering some frou-frou drink which explicitly lists it).

Be that as it may, they survived the coming of Starbucks just around the corner for a number of years, which is no mean feat. The storefront is currently empty, or was when I took these pictures a few weeks ago and I have not heard of anything new going into the space.

Well, I have to admit this is a pretty non-descript former gas station, but I'm a little curious as to what it was. The place is on the south side of Augusta Road (US 1) in West Columbia just before it joins up with Jarvis Klapman Boulevard. It appeared to me that the location would be something of a pain to get in and out of, so that may have had something to do with the place being empty. I know that this is around 2100 Augusta Road, and Google Streetview suggests it's about 2176 (though it should be an odd street number, I think) but I'm unable to google up any information on street numbers in that range..

UPDATE 7 December 2009: Thanks to commenter Badger, I've got the street address (2123) and a pointer to a business. That and google let me change the post title from "Gas Station" to the list currently at top now.

"Rawls Auto Auction Inc"? Hmm.. "You'll never find.... Another car like mine.."

UPDATE 15 Jan 2011 -- It's now Beer & Tobacco Outlet:

I had just turned out of Grecian Gardens on the adjacent block when I remembered about Gooney Birds and decided to get a few pictures. Of course that was after supper -- perhaps I'll add a day shot the next time I'm in the area and think about it.

I only ate at Gooney Birds once. I had a burger, and it was perfectly acceptable, but not something so incredibly good that I would pass dozens of other burger places to get over there. I don't recall much about the decor now, but at this remove, I'm wondering if the eponymous 'Gooney Birds' could have been The Gamecocks -- most years it seems as though it would fit well enough.

As do many buildings fitted out as restaurants, Gooney Birds has found new life as a Chinese Restaurant. (The other possibility would be a Lizards Thicket, but there was already one of those in the same parking lot :-)

UPDATE 3 Nov 2010 -- Here's a daylight picture, finally:

I first wrote about this former steakhouse when Crazy Buffett folded, but it now appears that the second Chinese buffet operation in the building is history as well. I'm not sure why -- it seems like a decent location with good visibility and plenty of traffic passing by and I can't think of any other Chinese buffets in the area. There's the second Eggroll Station on Sunset, but that's not a buffet.

Notice how the left side of the building still proclaims it to be a "restaurante", a bit of signage remaining from the Mexican incarnation of the place..

UPDATE 16 May 2013 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, this place is being knocked down:

OK, as is often the case, my memory is a bit hazy on this, but I think I recall this whole plaza as being the original site for the Cayce K-Mart, with this outbuilding, now mostly an auto-parts operation, some sort of grocery store. Anyway, it still seems to have that sort of "grocery" look in the facade.

The area in general (around the start of Airport Boulevard and Piggy Park) doesn't seem to have done well in recent years. The Magic Carpet Slide went under, Shoney's moved, the A&P closed, and the whole little plaza across the Charleston Highway from this strip has been in decline for years.

On the other hand, the last Taco Cid is still hanging in there..

I have noticed this building on Mobile Avenue (off of Airport Boulevard fairly near the airport) a number of times over the years, though I don't believe it has always had the castle-like facade.

I used to fly out of the airport fairly often (though luckily I haven't had to fly for a few years now), and it seemed to me that for a while it was something different every time I drove past. I think in the 90s it was a strip club that morphed into a night club or vice versa, and a few more things before it became The Flight Line and then Uncle Doctors.

Google gave me a pointer to the old Uncle Doctors web site, and I was able to find some zombie versions in www.archive.org from whence the logos. Apparently Uncle Doctors was a sister club to Ground Zero in Spartanburg as they shared a site. The current occupant in the building apparently does wedding receptions and catering.