Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Apparently I never got around to doing a formal closing, though I did mention it in one of the flood posts, but Sakura Japanese Restaurant has been closed since they lost their storefront behind Coplon's to the great flood of October 2015.

Now it seems that they will be making a comeback in the former location of Fujiya Japanese Restaurant at the foot of Rosewood Drive. The State has the story here.

Here is Sakura in operation at its old location:

and here are a few pictures from not long after the flood:

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

The Southern Belly (whose sign I originally misread as "The Southern Belle") was the follow-on operation to The Rolling Stone at this Rosewood lot near the Fairgrounds which has been home to many bars and restaurants. I see, in fact, that they never got around to completely removing the Rolling Stone signage, which wasn't essential as I understand the ownership was the same.

At some point around 2015, they moved shop to 819 Harden Street, the former site of Mucho Maragaritas, San Jose, Sizzle and many others over the years:

Personally, I believe I like the Rosewood spot better, at least for parking.

UPDATE 15 February 2017 -- According to commenter Justin, this was not a move as I indicate above, but they ran the Harden Street location (and a Colonial Life location) in parallel with this one and only recently closed this branch. I've taken "moved" off the post title and put a better guess at the timeframe.

UPDATE 11 July 2018 -- Now Peebles Wing Shack:

Speaking of Pelican's (as we just were), I noticed that the Rosewood location is gone.

This was the follow-on operation in this building to Charlie's Barber Shop.

I'm not totally clear on what is going on. The real estate sign says that they have moved to 1912 Rosewood, which, as far as I can tell, is a vacant lot.

I got back to town a bit late this year, and missed out on some of my State Fair usuals because the buildings closed early the final day, so no art, flowers, sand sculpture or baby ducks this year. I was able to have my annual Italian sausage sandwich, Fiske fries and ride the skyway, swings and bumper cars. Most of the regular rides were there, along with a couple of new, or at least re-painted wacky-house type walk-throughs. Apparently the rocket is no longer the "Time-Warner Rocket" and is just back to "The Rocket", though it does have a few new sponsorship plaques at the base. I still miss the Steel Building: That corner just does not feel right without it.

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I only went to Moe's Grapevine once. It was many years ago, when, I believe, I was still living out of town. I don't remember much about it other than it was perfectly OK as far as the food went, and that I saw a waitress who knew me from another Columbia restaurant.

I never got in the habit of going there however because after that, it seemed every time I drove by the place was closed. I realize I keep odd meal hours, but I would have expected to hit it sooner or later..

Commenter JB sends this link to a Free Times story on the closing.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

This little Hispanic grocery or convienence store was in this little Rosewood plaza for a number of years adjacent to Killoy. It appears the interior is now being completely gutted for whatever comes next.

Family Dollar has left their original home at 1901 Rosewood Drive and has moved across the street to 1825 Rosewood Drive, which is the former KFC lot. You can see the new, custom built, building in the background of some of these shots.

I really should have crossed the street to get a better picture of this building. It has kind of a grocery store look to me, though that would put it awfully close to the old Piggly Wiggly

We were having one of our many gray December rainy days while I was trying to get pictures of Rosewood Florist so I couldn't really frame anything except out the passenger side window without getting my lens wet.

Commenter Frank reported this store closed in early December, and it does seem to be up in the air at the moment. Their Facebook page reports, in a comment, that they are moving, but there are no details as yet.

(Hat tip to commenter Frank)

Well, I had written a few paragraphs about the State Fair, mainly lamenting the demise of the Steel Building, had got it posted and even had a comment on the post when my whole database went *Kaflooey*!. Enjoy these pictures of the State Fair while I try to get back to a somewhat normal state..

UPDATE 28 October 2015

OK, I'm not going to be able to find the original text in google cache, so the post went something like this:

It turns out 2014 was the end of an era, though I didn't know it at the time. This year, the Steel Building which has been a central focus for the Fair for all of my life was gone. In its place is an open plaza called Hampton Plaza, this year the site of an animatronic exhibit called Enter The Dinosaurs. The function of the Steel Building has been largely picked up by a new building at the South wall called the Goodman Building. It houses many, though not all, of the exhibits and vendors typically in the Steel building, but seems designed to be slightly more upscale. The Cantey Building has been extensively reconfigured for the Art exhibit, and is now much better lit (and the upstairs arcade is unused). The flowers have moved across the corridor from the Ellison Building to the Cantey Building and most of the agricultural exhibits have made the opposite move.

Anyway, if you've followed my Fair posts, you know the kind of thing I like, and these pictures are more of it.

I'll also note that the Televac 86000 handwriting computer is still gone..

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I generally like my steak in ground-beef form, but I have certainly noticed Steak Mart on the corner of Rosewood and Maple since it has been there for my entire life. As commenter Robert S pointed out though, they have closed up shop as of Christmas Eve after a 54 year run.

(Hat tip to commenter Robert S.)

UPDATE 19 October 2021 -- Now Koru Group Fitness:

Also adding map icon.