Archive for the ‘2770 McCords Ferry Road’ tag
Anyday Inn, 2770 McCords Ferry Rd (Eastover): 2019 no comments
This legacy motel on US-601 at the Sumter Highway interchange has been here many years, and had a certain amount of fame as the Coronet Motel, which was the home of the The Circus Room -- A nightclub in an old circus bigtop tent.
In more recent years it has been a generic family run motel with a convenience store added in the office to bring in a bit more business (which has been in decline ever since Interstates became a thing). The only time I ever stopped was for a much needed comfort break on my way to the beach. I had previously been to the gas station on the other side of the intersection, and had been well less than impressed. In the event I probably should have take that option again. It turned out that the bathroom was unisex, and despite the fact that it had a perfectly good door lock, the exceedingly large woman on the pot when I opened the door had not engaged it. It was an encounter which I don't think did either of us much good..
I noticed a year or so ago that the place had finally given up the ghost and took these pictures a few months ago. Unfortunately many were taken against the sun, but since I doubt I will ever get by there in the morning, so it is what it is.
Coronet Motel / Circus Room, 2770 McCords Ferry Road: 1980s 5 comments
I probably should remember seeing this place more, as we drove past it on the way to the beach innumerable times while I was growing up. However, I always had my nose in a book, so I was only vaguely aware of the name Circus Room and couldn't have told you where it was. Or, for that matter, *what* it was. At this remove, my understanding is that The Circus Room was actually a circus style tent set up on the grounds of the Coronet Inn at the intersection of US-601 & US-378 in Eastover, and that the tent hosted a restaurant and nightclub. Even in these days of the metro area creeping ever outwards, this is a pretty rural area, and back in the day it must have been even stranger to find a well regarded hotspot here.
What was the attraction? Google pulls up this hint from the 2006 cookbook Cookin' with Cocky II: More Than Just a Cookbook:
Bright Stevenson:
I first met Bright in the Fall of 1956. Bright owned the Coronet Motel and Circus Room nightclub in Eastover. The Circus Room had the finest food and the only mixed drinks in the Columbia area at that time.
The two ads above are from the Sumter Register in 1974 and 1976 respectively.
Amazingly, both Coronet motels still exist and still are in operation, although under different names and ownership. The Eastover location is currently an Anyday Inn and is now combined with a convenience store run in the old office.
The topic has come up in Have Your Say from time to time, and here is what some people have recalled:
Tom
John Merrell
Michael Taylor
She also said the guy who built the motel back in the fifties still drops into the convenience store every day.
jamie
Sid
UPDATE 24 October 2014: Added Yellow Pages graphic from the 1970 Southern Bell phonebook.
UPDATE 8 September 2021: Add map icon, update tags.
UPDATE 4 March 2022: I should probably add a link here to the final(?) fate of the Coronet building: Anyday Inn.