Mr B's Railroad Tavern / etc, 8444 Parklane Road (Old Legrand Road) / 6531 Two Notch Road: 1991 / 2000 35 comments
This distressed building, on Old Legrand Road just off of Parklane near the Farrow intersection, was obviously a store of some sort, judging from the marquee space above doors in front. It also appears to have had a really nice ceiling at one time, though no more. I considered taking a closer look at the back rooms which are visible here, but decided that was the kind of place where people who don't want company might stay. There's what appears to be a pump shed on the right side of the building, so I'm guessing this place was never on city water.
Google has a pretty good satellite view of the place:
Looking at that, it appears there is another decrepit building on the same lot further back from the road.
UPDATE 14 April 2012: Commenter sugarbear1 provides one of the names for this place: Mr. B's Railroad Tavern. I have put that in the post title and have taken out the generic "Building". Also changed the "1970s" closing date to "1990s".
UPDATE 15 April 2012: Changed the closing date again to "late 2000s" based on the fantastic photos commenter Dennis dug up (check his link in the comments).
UPDATE 24 April 2012: OK, I did some research at the library. Interestingly, this location apparently never had a telephone listing, and I had to get the infromation from on "city" directories.
The first such listing is in the 1983 city directory, and gives the address (which is clearly *now* on Old Legrand Road) as 8444 Parklane Road. The listing is for
Mr. B's Railroad Tavern (Thos Hammonds)
I assume Thomas Hammonds was either the business owner or the property owner..
The last listing was in the 1991 city directory, and the 1992 directory lists the address as "vacant".
The Febuary 1993 Bellsouth directory is the first to list Mr. B's Railroad Tavern as being at 6531 Two Notch Road. The last listing was in the February 2000 directory. Here is a shot of what's currently at that location:
I'll note also, that it turns out "Mr. B's" is a pretty popular name for various places, and there were a number of other places with that prefix during the same time period. In fact, there is currently a Mr. B's at 3128 Two Notch Road just east of Beltline which appears to be a bar and venue.
35 Responses to 'Mr B's Railroad Tavern / etc, 8444 Parklane Road (Old Legrand Road) / 6531 Two Notch Road: 1991 / 2000'
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tonkatoy
13 Apr 12 at 6:49 am
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Is it near the railroad tracks? If so I remember it being one time a gas station and conveince store.
Tom
13 Apr 12 at 8:38 am
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I seem to recall that this location was vacant in the late 1970s, but someone reopened it once I-77 was complete (to Parklane Road). I think whatever kind of store it was did operate for a while in the 1980s.
badger
13 Apr 12 at 8:48 am
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That building was a bar in the 80s. Bill's? or Bill's Tap Room? or Sidetrack something? Had some sort of railroad themed name, I think. Had one of those white signs made of two crossed boards like a RR crossing over the door.
Looks like it was built on Farrow Road and somehow survived when they widened and modernized and slightly rerouted that intersection with Parklane.
Dennis
13 Apr 12 at 8:55 am
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that particular building was a bar in the early 90's. the name of the bar was Mr. B's RailRoad tavern.
sugarbear1
13 Apr 12 at 5:27 pm
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Absolutely right sugarbear1. It was Mr. B's. I only went in there once and it was a trip. They actually sold pints of chilled rotgut wine (Mad Dog, Wild Irish Rose, etc.) from the bar. I think they had a couple of pool tables and I remember how BAD the restrooms were. Other than that, I can't remember anything else. No clue what the building was in the old days. I can only assume it had something to do with wither the railroad or maybe the State Park facility across the street.
Homer
13 Apr 12 at 8:29 pm
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OK, I've changed the title to reflect that..
ted
14 Apr 12 at 1:07 pm
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Hey guys look what I found
http://search.reel-scout.com/location_detail.aspx?id=027-10006261
Dennis
14 Apr 12 at 8:56 pm
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Wow Dennis!
Everyone should click-through on that!
I would have to say that a movie filmed there would feature pretty desperate characters. And I'm surprised to see (given its state today) that the place was open as late as 25 August 2006. I'll update the date.
ted
14 Apr 12 at 11:45 pm
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bing! maps suggests these as address possibilities:
2357 Old Legrand Rd, 8444 Parklane RoadAndrew
15 Apr 12 at 12:17 am
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I remember as a kid in the 70's it was a store. and the railroad tracks were closer to it. I don't ever remember my parents taking me in there though.
tim
15 Apr 12 at 12:55 pm
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Ted - there's no way Mr. B's was open in the late 2000's. I've been working in that are since 1997 and it was closed as of that year. I took a close look at the pics that Dennis posted and they look like they are from the 80's. If you look at some of the signage and posters they look like they are from that era. The Miller Lite designs are definitely from the 80's as well as what look like Mountain Dew cans in one of the coolers. The last time I was in there was around '84-'85 and as far as I can remember that is what the place looked like at the time. These pictures did bring back some memories. I'd love to see what songs are on the jukebox!!
Homer
17 Apr 12 at 10:35 pm
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Huh, Well, I was seeing a timestamp saying "8/25/2006" on the photos, but since you said that, I looked again and it's some sort of overlay, not part of the photo itself. I don't know what it's for then..
I thought the place looked pretty decrepit for just 6 years gone. I'll have to check it out at the library in the old phonebooks sometime.
ted
17 Apr 12 at 10:47 pm
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Interestingly, the Feb 1997 phonebook says Mr. B's Railroad Tavern is at 6531 Two Notch Road, so apparently it moved..
ted
17 Apr 12 at 10:52 pm
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I think it'd be interesting to find out which of the 2 addresses (as I mentioned earlier in this posting) are the one the phone book will show.
Andrew
17 Apr 12 at 10:56 pm
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My guess is that "8/25/2006" was the date the image files were created/last edited, or the date they were added to the database. Either way, I agree with Homer: there's a lot in those pictures that places them as being taken at some point in the '80s.
Alaska Jill
18 Apr 12 at 4:04 am
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Those clothes just scream 80s.
tonkatoy
18 Apr 12 at 7:00 am
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The Two Notch address is a strip mall now. No idea what was there in '97. On a side note, has anyone ever posted anything about the old Opening Break pool hall/bars that used to be in town? There used to be one somewhere on Two Notch around this area as well, as one downtown, Lexington and the one I used to frequent on St. Andrews Rd (not to mention the old Bubba N' Bucks country and western bar next door). I'll bet there a lot of people on here that remember these places.
Homer
18 Apr 12 at 11:27 pm
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I vaguely remember a 'pool hall' type of place around GPS coordinates 34.04481,-81.127093 on St. Andrews Road. What happened was the place was demolished and was a flat lot for a while. Finally Dollar General moved out of Richardson Plaza across the street and has been there ever since.
Andrew
18 Apr 12 at 11:36 pm
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Andrew - I think that you are talking about the old site of the Putt Putt Golf and Games. It was right next door to what used to be a Ryan's Steakhouse. If memory serves me correct, the Putt Putt franchise in Columbia was owned by the same family that owned the Opening Breaks. The St. Andrews Rd Opening Break was in Widewater Square (Bi-Lo shopping center) in an old skating rink. There is still a bingo hall and an oriental buffet in the building.
Homer
18 Apr 12 at 11:42 pm
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Here is the current Widewater Square site plan
Andrew
18 Apr 12 at 11:46 pm
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Hmm - that's interesting, Andrew. It looks like the building that Opening Break was in is not considered to be a part of Widewater Square. Now that I think of it, it was privately owned by the family that owned Opening Break. The parcel where Opening Break was located is in the patch of green to the left of the main Bi-Lo parking area. Interesting also is that there is another little strip of shops just to the left of the Dollar General that must not be a part of Widewater as well. I do remember that the owner of Opening Break and Bubba N' Bucks was always in a parking war with the owners of Widewater on the weekends when all of the country & western people would flood the lot and park wherever they wanted to.
Homer
19 Apr 12 at 12:06 am
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My guess is that Widewater would get rid of "Nancy's Nook" if it could..
ted
19 Apr 12 at 12:12 am
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Wonder if Nancy's Nook is in the the little strip of shops that aren't a part of Widewater? Probably....
Homer
19 Apr 12 at 12:16 am
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OK - I've never tried to publish a link on here so I don't know if it will work. Anyway, this is the place area where the Opening Break building is located in relation to the rest of the center -
Opening Break locationHomer
19 Apr 12 at 12:32 am
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Where was an Opening Break on Two Notch?
Dennis
19 Apr 12 at 5:31 am
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It was located in one of those strip malls down the street from Columbia Mall going toward downtown. I only went there once so I don't remember which one. I think it was in a corner area.
Homer
19 Apr 12 at 7:11 pm
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I think you're remembering a pool hall that had food and was very similar to Opening Break. It was called Hot Diggity Dogs or something like that. It was in the corner of the small L shaped strip where Very's is, 6729 Two Notch. They has some sort of pinup girl on their sign and along with the name some people where I worked thought it was a strip club.
Dennis
20 Apr 12 at 5:01 am
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There was a strip club (or wannabe strip club) in the corner of the Very's. . . uh. . . "strip" in the late 80s, I think. It was run by Wendy Ethel's ex-husband, who had previously tried to open a strip joint in a hotel on Assembly (possibly the old Cabana?) His name was Richard, and his joint in the hotel was called "Dickie Bird's." I'd like to say he carried that name over to the Very's strip, but I can't for sure. I can't verify that any stripping actually took place in the Very's strip, since I (honestly!) never went there. That info came from an acquaintance who had a store in that same strip.
badger
21 Apr 12 at 8:01 am
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yeah badger -- I remember all that. This pool hall/hot dog place called Hot Diggity Dogs originally tried a kind of Hooters approach, with girls wearing basically lingerie doing waitress duty and keeping up with the pool tables and every so often hopping up on a little stage to do some go go dancing. It was weird and made no sense. People walked in and no one found what they expected. Didn't last long. FYI Wendy Ethel Goller was selling real estate in Beaufort last time I heard. I was in some art classes at USC with her. She has always been one of those high energy bold personalities.
Dennis
21 Apr 12 at 2:46 pm
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That may have been the location. After all these years I'm not too sure. I go to Very's once in a while for lunch to chow down on a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. Seems like several of the strip malls back in the day had a corner location so they all sort of run together. What you guys are recalling is during the time I had no reason to go to the Northeast side of town. After I left PMSC in '91 I don't think I went to that side of town until I went to work at BCBS in '97.
Homer
22 Apr 12 at 1:55 am
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Homer - what you said. I was at PMSC's Blythewood campus during all this (80s) and we were always desperate to find lunch away from their cafeteria. And happy hour spots. After I changed jobs and was back downtown I only saw this end of Two Notch maybe once a year.
Dennis
22 Apr 12 at 6:03 am
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This was an old biker bar...and I mean ROUGH! Girls could go in with no problem, in fact we were all welcome, but I only went once or twice because I preferred hanging out at Nightlights. Wow, now THAT'S reaching way back!
I used to love Opening Break, but we found the people at the OB downtown were much nicer than those at the OB on Two Notch.Miz T
21 May 12 at 12:52 pm
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Mr B's RR Tavern was originally opened as a bar by Herman Hammond. Sometime around his brother Thomas {Buster} Hammond purchased from Herman. Herman opened another club on Augusta Road between the 2 flea markets in Lexington County. Buster ran Mr B's from about 1980 to 1990 and leased the building from the Cooper family that lived next door. For some reason he decided to move to the location on Two Notch Road. Mr. B's closed abruptly after Buster had a massive stroke at 50 years of age. He died approximately 5 years later. He has two daughters Patsy living in Tennessee and Tina living in Pelion. You could always have a good time at Mr. B's on Parklane, never saw but one fight, I was working for B and a girl beat up her boyfriend one night. Other than that there was beer drinking, wind drinking and bullshit spreading for fun.
Roy Smith
18 Jun 19 at 7:38 pm
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My daddy Thomas (buster) Hammond was a hoot.He always enjoyed seeing people having a great time.The juke box and alcohol and pooltables was always fun.My daddy was one of the hardest working man I knew..Roy Smith and daddy shared some good old times and great memories.Tina and I took care of my dad the last 7 yrs of his life and it.Was the best years of our lives.Daddy passed away 5/18/1999 And his baby girls miss him everyday. Rip daddy Tina and Pat as you always called me gone but never forgotten
Patsy Ballard
24 Jul 20 at 11:08 pm
This place was waaaaay out in the sticks 40 years ago. So that shed is definitely a pump.
Looks like a tin ceiling, I'm betting the peeling paint is led. I thought at first that the front section was added on later, due to the different brick pattern, but then remembered that was a not uncommon theme in postwar architecture.
The two sky lights are throwing me.