Before You Relocate to Columbia (Charleston, Clemson: authority, pictures, basketball)

[Charleston Class]

I guess I'm in the minority here. I don't know why Columbia gets so much heat-not literally-. I attended Carolina before transferring schools to DC. I'll admit at first I did not like it. Coming from Charleston, I suppose I missed the water, Saturdays nights downtown,etc. However, once I got over myself and opened up to the city and it's people, it's not a bad place folks. IMO, it had conveniences of a larger city without all the hassle. Of course it has areas of opportunities in which to improve, but the same could be said about Anywhere, USA Correct? It's not Atlanta, It's not Charlotte, it's not Charleston..it's Columbia. If you seek more..you have 77north/26east and 20east/20west. The sun will still rise and set on Columbia.

[HopDude]

Originally Posted by waccamatt

I said that I had seen less than 10, not that there weren't ones I hadn't seen - don't twist my words. Other than the one at the State House, I hardly ever see any.

Sorry, but you can't possibly be looking because they are all over the place. Have you ever been to Maurice's BBQ? How many of those restaurants are there in Columbia? Each one of them has the Confederate flag prominently displayed, and some have each of the flags from all the Confederate states as well. If you go inside you will see an entire section of the restaurant dedicated to Confederate history. I'm not offended by it because it's part of this state's history.

If you drive around any rural section of town you will see them. Some folks have them on flagpoles in their front yards. West Columbia, Cayce, Lexington, Leesburg, Sumter. The obvious exception would be neighborhoods with majority black residents.

But again... so what? I'm from California and my only gripe, as the person who started this thread, is that this town is BORING. Not a lot happens here. People are slow, flaky, unambitious. The city has an overwhelmingly provincial quality to it, as evidenced by the relocation statistics in a previous post. It's unsophisticated, it is not the least bit cosmopolitan and yet, ironically, there is a ubiquitous display of local pride.

Hey, if you're southern, or want a southern lifestyle, then you'll be right at home. I'm not knockin' it - it's just not my cup of tea.

[g-man430]

Originally Posted by Charleston Class

I guess I'm in the minority here. I don't know why Columbia gets so much heat-not literally-. I attended Carolina before transferring schools to DC. I'll admit at first I did not like it. Coming from Charleston, I suppose I missed the water, Saturdays nights downtown,etc. However, once I got over myself and opened up to the city and it's people, it's not a bad place folks. IMO, it had conveniences of a larger city without all the hassle. Of course it has areas of opportunities in which to improve, but the same could be said about Anywhere, USA Correct? It's not Atlanta, It's not Charlotte, it's not Charleston..it's Columbia. If you seek more..you have 77north/26east and 20east/20west. The sun will still rise and set on Columbia.

It's because the Cocks lost last night.

[Geechie North]

Originally Posted by HopDude

Sorry, but you can't possibly be looking because they are all over the place. Have you ever been to Maurice's BBQ? How many of those restaurants are there in Columbia? Each one of them has the Confederate flag prominently displayed, and some have each of the flags from all the Confederate states as well. If you go inside you will see an entire section of the restaurant dedicated to Confederate history. I'm not offended by it because it's part of this state's history.

If you drive around any rural section of town you will see them. Some folks have them on flagpoles in their front yards. West Columbia, Cayce, Lexington, Leesburg, Sumter. The obvious exception would be neighborhoods with majority black residents.

But again... so what? I'm from California and my only gripe, as the person who started this thread, is that this town is BORING. Not a lot happens here. People are slow, flaky, unambitious. The city has an overwhelmingly provincial quality to it, as evidenced by the relocation statistics in a previous post. It's unsophisticated, it is not the least bit cosmopolitan and yet, ironically, there is a ubiquitous display of local pride.

Hey, if you're southern, or want a southern lifestyle, then you'll be right at home. I'm not knockin' it - it's just not my cup of tea.

Maurice is crazy- and his onion rings are junk, also. Go by Melvin's, or Bessinger's on Savannah Hwy (Chas) for better food without the KKK connection.

Flag is just a symbol of lingering racism (to those who even know it's a Confederate flag; hey that's one way SC is like all Americana, we don't know history.) and to fly it on public land is a disgrace.

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by HopDude

Sorry, but you can't possibly be looking because they are all over the place. Have you ever been to Maurice's BBQ? How many of those restaurants are there in Columbia? Each one of them has the Confederate flag prominently displayed, and some have each of the flags from all the Confederate states as well. If you go inside you will see an entire section of the restaurant dedicated to Confederate history. I'm not offended by it because it's part of this state's history.

If you drive around any rural section of town you will see them. Some folks have them on flagpoles in their front yards. West Columbia, Cayce, Lexington, Leesburg, Sumter. The obvious exception would be neighborhoods with majority black residents.

But again... so what? I'm from California and my only gripe, as the person who started this thread, is that this town is BORING. Not a lot happens here. People are slow, flaky, unambitious. The city has an overwhelmingly provincial quality to it, as evidenced by the relocation statistics in a previous post. It's unsophisticated, it is not the least bit cosmopolitan and yet, ironically, there is a ubiquitous display of local pride.

Hey, if you're southern, or want a southern lifestyle, then you'll be right at home. I'm not knockin' it - it's just not my cup of tea.

I live in Columbia, I don't live in Lexington, Sumter or Leesville, etc. and I hardly have any occasion to go there. The discussion was about Columbia. Have I ever been to Maurice's - heck no, I wouldn't give a penny of my money to him, not to mention that I don't like barbeque. As it so happens, I'm not from here, but I'm going to call out what I see as false comments. If you think it's boring, fine. I don't happen to agree with you, but whatever floats your boat. To say that there are "confederate flags all over the place", though, is ridiculous and to use blanket terms to describe local residents is absurd.

[dgfurman]

In 2 yrs, we will be moving back to the States, and I've done a lot, and I mean a lot, of research online to try to find an area that we can call home. And so far, Columbia is the front runner, with Greenville close behind.

Why Columbia? Well, it may not be as cosmopolitan as some other cities that I've looked into (like Atlanta or Charlotte), but it depends on what you're looking for. For us, that would be a city with enough to do, but also without some of the pains that come with the larger, more cosmo cities, like traffic headaches. We want a 4 season climate heavy on summer, light on winter, a place where we can raise the family without all the hustle and bustle of a large city, somewhere that has stuff for us to do, and if we want to, we can easily drive a few hrs. for a change of venue/scenery.

For us personally, is it going to matter more if we have a Neiman Marcus, or are we going to be going to Walmart anyway? What's more important - getting downtown in 20-30 minutes vs. 45-1 hr? What do we do on a daily basis - see cultural events (which are more abundant in the larger cities), or get up, get the kids to school, go to work (with a short commute), come home, eat dinner, yadda yadda, you get the idea.

On the wknds, there will be plenty to do, whether we decide to play in the backyard, go to the pool or lake, or check out EdVenture. And when we get bored doing all that, we can drive a few hrs to the seashore, or to the mountains.

That's why I think Columbia will be the perfect spot for us. Next March we will be coming to do the "Grand Tour" of SC just to see what really feels right, but I'm thinking it will be Columbia.

The only thing that could make it more perfect would be if it had a Costco and Whole Foods. But we've been living in a (basically) 3rd world country for so many yrs now that even Walmart looks like heaven to me, so I think we'll be very happy there.

[HopDude]

Originally Posted by waccamatt

I live in Columbia, I don't live in Lexington, Sumter or Leesville, etc. and I hardly have any occasion to go there. The discussion was about Columbia. Have I ever been to Maurice's - heck no, I wouldn't give a penny of my money to him, not to mention that I don't like barbeque. As it so happens, I'm not from here, but I'm going to call out what I see as false comments. If you think it's boring, fine. I don't happen to agree with you, but whatever floats your boat. To say that there are "confederate flags all over the place", though, is ridiculous and to use blanket terms to describe local residents is absurd.

Dude, you are in serious denial.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by HopDude

Sorry, but you can't possibly be looking because they are all over the place. Have you ever been to Maurice's BBQ? How many of those restaurants are there in Columbia? Each one of them has the Confederate flag prominently displayed, and some have each of the flags from all the Confederate states as well.

The one on Elmwood is a notable exception. There's a new one in Rock Hill also; I don't think the flag is flying at that location, but I'm not entirely sure.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by HopDude

Dude, you are in serious denial.

To be fair, that's far from depicting an everyday scenario in Columbia. Those are probably SOCV from all over the state. The flag can definitely be seen in the Columbia area, but it's presence is somewhat muted within the city itself relatively speaking (aside from the Statehouse grounds).

[HopDude]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

To be fair, that's far from depicting an everyday scenario in Columbia. Those are probably SOCV from all over the state. The flag can definitely be seen in the Columbia area, but it's presence is somewhat muted within the city itself relatively speaking (aside from the Statehouse grounds).

Yeah, I know but I couldn't resist giving a little dig to waccamole, or whatever his name is .