Archive for the ‘Florence’ tag
Fatz Cafe, 2007 West Lucas Street (Forence): 23 August 2023 3 comments
The Florence Fatz Cafe still has a billboard on I-95, and the music in the foyer is still playing, but like all the rest, this location is now history.
Apparently the Southern 500 had just been run, and I had a heck of a time getting out of here and back onto I-95!
Greenacres Country Market / J & J Dollard Soul Food & BBQ / Event Center, 2101 North Willison Road (Florence): 2021 1 comment
This barn-esque building is across the street from Step Saver Gas on the cut-through from I-95 to US-76 in Florence. I became aware of it through driving to the beach that way from time to time, and when I first noticed it, it was one of those SCDA flagged stores that featured local produce and products. I wanted to stop and check it out, but it always seemed like I was in a hurry and in the event I never did before it was gone. Apparently the name was Greenacres Country Market, and there is a site with some nice pictures of it here. It appears they were also a bakery.
Recently I noticed that the signage for that operation was gone and that the building was operating as a soul food & barbecue restaurant which doubled as an event space. Apparently that didn't last too long, and the building is now listed for sale.
Step Saver Gas, 2124 North Williston Road (Florence): 2021 3 comments
Williston Road is the connector between I-95 and US-301/US-76. Over the years I had noticed this small convenience store from time to time as I was driving the north route to the beach, and recently noticed that it was gone. What I had *not* noticed before, is that it directly abuts a cemetary (Either "Mizpah Cemetary" if you look at the sign or "Hinds Cemetary" if you look at google maps). You could probably infer a pretty good closing date by looking at the gas prices, but all I see from google reviews is that it was already closed "six months ago" (I don't know why google won't put a real date on all their reviews..).
If you look at the google photos it appears that they had a pool table inside, and maybe a bar/food area, but honestly they are too blurry to really tell.
Young's Plantation Inn / Ramada Inn / Palmetto Inn, 3311 Meadors Road (Florence): 2020 3 comments
I don't normally grab a lot of pictures that aren't mine and put them up, but in this case they seem to have mainly come from a ".ru" site, so the cork is probably already out of that bottle, and I think it makes an interesting contrast:
I ran across this former Ramada Inn off I-95 exit 157 in Florence a few weeks ago, took a few drive through pictures, drove off, thought about it, and came back for a walk-through.
What I find interesting, apart from the general decrepitness is that the property seems to have operated well into 2020, judging by the COVID signs on the office (where the lights are still on). In fact, many of the rooms still look ready to go, though others, of course, do not. If it did run that late, I would put the closing date as well *after* the swimming pool fill-in date, as that looks to have been done a good time ago given the plants in the hot tub area, and the patchy grass on the pool itself.
Apparently at the end, the manager lived in-house, as there is a second story room with an irritated sign saying no knocking after 8PM as it is not an office.
To me the architecture with its fence around the top of the building and the corner towers looks a bit like a stalag, and I can't imagine what purpose the enclosed huts on top of those served. I would say AC, but the rooms appear to have had standard outside-wall AC units:
I'm not sure what Young's Plantation is, or why it merits a shout-out on the sign.
LoopNet says the property is six acres and at one time was on the market for $495,000, although it is apparently no longer for sale.
Shell Station, 3967 West Palmetto Street (Florence): 2007 1 comment
The earliest Google Steetview I can find for this lot is from November of 2007, and shows the station still standing here, though apparently already closed. The next view from January of 2008 already shows the building the the process of being torn down.
LoopNet says it is a 1.1 acre site, and has been sold, so presumably a new convenience store/gas station will go up here as it is on an I-95 exit (Exit 157).
Ms. Annie's Diner, 4617 East Palmetto Street (Florence): 2010s 4 comments
Some time ago, I did a closing for a vacant diner/gas-station on East Palmetto Street heading east out of Florence. Here's another one.
In fact Ms Annie's was closer to Florence than INS was. I think the reasons I hadn't noticed it before were twofold. First, if I'm going to go to the beach by this route, I usually take the cut-off from the I-95 exit that comes out by the Dunkin' Donuts which is past this stretch of US-76/East Palmetto. Second, more often than not, I would be driving by during the night even if I skipped the short-cut.
Anyway, I can't find out much about the place. The address comes from an online menu site, but the menu has been taken down, so I can't say what they served other than it was "Home Cooking", and the shattered window signage emphasizes breakfast. I'm just guessing about the closing date -- it certainly appears to have been several years ago.
I did find the historical marker quite interesting and a bit scary.
Be warned that the place has been heavily tagged by folks with foul mouths and strong political views as you can see if you continue to the rest of the pictures.
