Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I noticed this building a few weeks back as I was coming out of the USC credit union on Pulaski Street. You can see a smallish picture with the Harrison sign still up in this Loopnet listing. It also notes that the facade is stucco.

This Allpages listing says the firm was in the "Hydraulic Equipment & Supplies, Hydraulic Equipment Repair & Service, Tools & Hardware Supplies" business.

Finally, this listing includes an aerial shot, and notes that the property is

located in the heart of the Innovista Master Plan

which to me at this point is rather like saying it is located convenient to Hard Rock Park..

UPDATE 14 July 2014 -- This building has now been demolished:

Commenter O'Reilly first mentioned that the Bull Market( in the old Seaboard Station on Gervais street) was closed back on 10 July 2010.

I snapped the two pictures above on 11 July when I went to take a look. At the time, I took the note at face value and concluded that nothing was going on. In retrospect though, as is often the case, the note was rather optimistic.

By the time I got back to take the rest of these pictures on 4 Sept 2010, the place was long gone. You can see that even the lamps flanking the door were taken down.

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Paul's Philadelphia Eatery was on Senate Street in the Vista, in the same building as 5 Guys and The Flying Saucer, right next to the former Alan Ray's Salon, and on the same block as the former Damon's.

Once you get past "Philly Chese-steak", my knowledge of Philly cuisine is a bit thin, and although I do get to Very's on Two Notch once or twice a month, I never managed to make it to Paul's.

I suspect the environment for restaurants in this part of the Vista is a bit mixed. It's not Gervais Street, so you're not going to get the casual passers-by. 5 Guys does well, because people specifically go looking for a 5 Guys.

(Hat tip to commenter Badger)

I've eaten at Damon's a few times, first I believe in Litchfield Beach at The Exchange in a space which is now a church, and later in Augusta. I'm not particularly interested in ribs, but as I recall they had good burgers and some sort of deep-fried onion-loaf. If I'm remembering correctly, the only thing I didn't like about the place was they had little teeny-tiny napkins that were really wash-cloths.

That's Damon's in general -- this particular Damon's I never got to. Given the location, if I was in the area and craving a burger, I would more likely cross the street to 5 Guys.

It is a nice location though, and it looks like they had a patio which would be very pleasant evenings this time of year. According to LoopNet, the building is being sold as a fully kitted out restaurant, and in fact the Damon's franchaise itself appears to be still available for the right offer.

(Hat tip to commenter Steve)

UPDATE 31 March 2014 -- The place was demolished some time ago, and now is in preparation to be the new USC Alumni Association headquarters:

UPDATE 17 July 2014 -- Construction has started:

This place is tucked about a building's length off of Gervais Street, and I was completely unaware of it until commenter Mike D mentioned that it might be closed (and commenter Jeff suggested that the building was for sale).

I haven't verified that with 100% certainty as there was no sign on the door, or other indication of defunct-itude. However, when I took these pictures, the place was locked tight and it was a Saturday, and after their posted opening hours, so I'm pretty sure it's gone. (Also, the last events mentioned on the "upcoming" page seem to be Christmas themed).

The web site pitches it as sort of a networking hub for Columbia's upcoming movers & shakers, with a whiskey & cigars subtheme.

(Hat tip to commenter Mike D).

UPDATE 4 June 2010: Updated closing date in post title to "May" based on comments.

UPDATE 19 Nov 2010 -- Looks like the place is open again. They have events scheduled during Vista Lights:

UPDATE 28 March 2011: Apparently it's not actually open to the general public again yet.

UPDATE 19 October 2011: Ok, now they definitely are open again. The new web site is www.RustColumbia.com.

Here's another nice, but empty, brick building in the Vista. Judging from the poster in the foyer, Charlton Hall moved in 2007 (when 24 March last fell on a Saturday), and is now at 7 Lexington Drive in West Columbia.

I'm not wild about the floors, but the interior brick walls are very nice. Hopefully something will go in here soon. Loopnet says the building will be divided into three spaces for retail or restaurants.

UPDATE 9 June 2012-- This space is still empty!

UPDATE 31 March 2014 -- This is now (and has been for a while) Urban Outfitters:

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My memory of The Trestles is now rather hazy, but I'm pretty sure they were along Gadsden Street, at the lower end of The Coliseum parking lots.

As the name suggests, they were elevated train tracks, but instead of crossing a river, they crossed Blossom Street. At this remove I can't recall the sequence of events, but I suppose that the current arch on Blossom Street which lets train traffic run under it was done so that the trestles could be demolished. The demolition itself was controversial. Many people considered The Trestles to be a huge eyesore in the middle of the city's new development project, The Congaree Vista. Others considered them an important Columbia landmark and a visible remider of Columbia history. I was living in Fayteville NC at the time The Trestles came down, but I came home fairly often and noticed story after story in The State about it. I came down on the side of leaving The Trestles because I hate for anything to change ever, but that side lost and a search of The State's archive suggests that demolition began 28 Janurary 1991.

Of course, the historicity aside, what I really remember about The Trestles is that is where everyone when to practice parallel parking. I'm not sure exactly why this was other than there was not a lot of traffic under the structures, but I clearly recall driving down there around 1976 to try my hand at it. (I was, and remain, so-so). I don't think the activity was officially sanctioned by anyone, but nobody seemed to have a problem with it. I'm sure today it would be an insurance issue for somebody.

UPDATE 24 November 2009: Corrected typo/thinko for "Gadsden Street".

UPDATE 10 October 2025 -- Commenter E Mathis sent this Trestles picture long ago in a message I just found again:

The last time I was in Doc's Gumbo Grille would have been 11 May 2007. In fact, that was only the second time I had been there, the first being for another Qs show. I can't say I was as enthusiastic about the food as some folks. It may have just been that I was ordering the "we have to have this or some guy in a group will always veto us" menu items instead of the gumbo, but I thought the food was average. That said, I wasn't there for the food, and the place was a pretty good venue. In particular, the acoustics were much improved over the last place I had seen the Qs, the New Brookland Tavern, and the staff was friendly. It's definitely a shame to see another local music venue close. (Not that I see shows these days, or really regularly any days..)

Eva has the story of the closing in The Free Times, and it appears the biggest blow to the place was the SCE&G lunch crowd's recent departure from downtown. I hope that doesn't have any other knock-on effects in the Vista.

As usual with anything on the west side of a street, these pictures are not great as I never get out early enough to have the sun behind me. Unfortunately, I also missed the neon sign being lit. The last time I saw it on, I was driving somewhere and couldn't stop to take the picture.

UPDATE 3 November 2009: Added "Kinch's" to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 4 November 2009: Added "Shealy's Sandwiches" based on Badger's comment and looking in the 1970 Yellow Pages

UPDATE 9 April 2010: For whatever reason, someone turned on the sign the night of the 6th, so I got some pictures of it lit up and have added them at the front of the pictures.

UPDATE 14 April 2010 -- Here's the new Doc's location at 3830 Rosewood Drive:

UPDATE 15 May 2011 -- The follow-on operation on Assembly, is now open (and has been since at least mid 2010):

Also, the Doc's on Rosewood went under after the move.

I should remember this place, but for some reason I don't. From the 1970 Southern Bell Yellow Pages ad, it looks much too fancy for anything that our parents might have taken us to, and when I was picking restaurants on my own, the lobster and fish would have scared me off.

As you can see from these shots, the building is long gone, and the area is now an annoying parking lot (always half empty, but zealously patrolled) at the corner of Gervais and Assembly streets bordered on the bottom by The Mellow Mushroom and on the right by the former John Paul’s Armadillo Oil Company.

Notice also on the ad another common feature from restaurants of this era: Late hours. I really wish this had continued and that there were decent places open until "11:15" on week-nights nowdays.

Anyone know what happened to this place?

UPDATE 13 October 2009: Added a postcard of The Market and the text from the back of it.

UPDATE 4 January 2012: Updated the closing date in the post title from "1970s" to "11 January 1985" based on the comments. I was only off by 10 years or so..