GREENVILLIANS. Memories of People Who Lived in Greenville the Last 20+ years (Wade Hampton: middle school, shops)

[SirBrackalot]

Originally Posted by rjm22206

I remember the Bijou Movie Theater off Wade Hampton Blvd.

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Memories of the Bijou off Wade Hampton are immense. I saw Purple Rain there when it first came out with a throng of purple-clad folk meandering through a very long line to see a showing—-great memory, and the Popcorn was the best!

[Stromaluski]

I haven't been on this forum long enough to have seen this thread before, but I've lived in Greenville all my life. I definitely remember so many of the things that have been mentioned.

A few that I haven't seen mentioned yet...

Swensons on Wade Hampton in front of the Bijou. The building was super cool with octagonal rooms. I remember getting ice cream with gum balls as the topping.

Rally's on E. North Street in the building that is now Liquid Highway.

There was a fabric store on Wade Hampton in Taylors where Pets Supplies Plus is now before they built the Publix shopping center next to it. I can't remember the name of the store, though.

Tab's Dairy Bar in Greer. They used to have a monthly cruise in that was always fun.

And a question... Spaghetti Warehouse that used to be downtown was built to look like it was an old train car, wasn't it? Or am I thinking of something else?

[UpstateJohn]

Originally Posted by Stromaluski

I haven't been on this forum long enough to have seen this thread before, but I've lived in Greenville all my life. I definitely remember so many of the things that have been mentioned.

A few that I haven't seen mentioned yet...

Swensons on Wade Hampton in front of the Bijou. The building was super cool with octagonal rooms. I remember getting ice cream with gum balls as the topping.

Rally's on E. North Street in the building that is now Liquid Highway.

There was a fabric store on Wade Hampton in Taylors where Pets Supplies Plus is now before they built the Publix shopping center next to it. I can't remember the name of the store, though.

Tab's Dairy Bar in Greer. They used to have a monthly cruise in that was always fun.

And a question... Spaghetti Warehouse that used to be downtown was built to look like it was an old train car, wasn't it? Or am I thinking of something else?

IIRC, it was as trolley wasnt it? Lik an old San Fransico trolley?

[Stromaluski]

Originally Posted by UpstateJohn

IIRC, it was as trolley wasnt it? Lik an old San Fransico trolley?

According to Wikipedia, you're correct! I only remember going once or twice as a kid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_Warehouse

Each restaurant has a trolley car in the dining room and patrons are able to sit in the car.

[vistatiger]

Speaking of Taylors I remember Taylors Square shopping center before Walmart expanded from a smaller store into a Supercenter in late 90's. The plaza was 'L" shaped with a Goody's Family Clothing and Fatz Cafe before they tore all that down to expand Walmart and build the freestanding strip on the left where Dollar Tree is located now. There was also a Belk Clearance Outlet Store located there for a while in the early 90's.

[boykinlp]

I enjoyed reading ALL of this thread! It brought back a lot of great memories. I tried to think of some that haven’t been posted yet. Here they are:

1. Krystal Hamburger - Pleasantburg Dr. south of Lake Forest Shopping Center
2. The Train - Pleasantburg Dr. across from Lake Forest Shopping Center. It was 3 actual train Carson a section of track. It was originally a restaurant, then a car dealership.
3. Ugly Biscuit - Lake Forest Shopping Center. Awesome funky shaped biscuits.
4. Fill ‘Em Fast - Independent Gas Station at the corner of Pleasantburg Dr. and Edwards Rd. across from the Old Liberty Life Building. I remember my mother buying gas there for 37.9 cents per gallon!!
5. Little Pigs BBQ - Lake Forest Shopping Center. Tiny spot with fantastic BBQ and hamburgers, and the only seating was in old times school desks.
6. Little Rebel Drive-In - Across from Krispy Kreme on 291.
7. Dixie Bowl - Cedar Lane Rd. Berea
8. John Paul’s Armadillo Oil Company - Congaree Rd. Best Ribs in Greenville
9. Cheer’s Lounge and Bar - First in was just off North Main St., then off Augusta Rd., and finally on Woodruff Rd. near the Red Robin Gas Station
10. Daisy Queen Ice Cream - North Main St. Soft serve ice cream before Dairy Queen.
11. Hot Dog King - Main St. across from City Hall
12. Ted’s Country Kitchen - There was a few of them around Greenville. Great meat and veggies place. One was at the intersection of Haywood Rd. and Laurens Rd. kinda across from where Hooter’s is.
13. Casablanca Bar - I think it was on River St. Downtown Greenville. Owned by the Channel 4 weatherman Charlie Gertz.
14. Sports Card Shops - There used to be a few around Greenville, one at Wade Hampton Blvd. and Rutherford Rd., a nice one in Greenville Mall, and one in Mauldin on Butler Rd. I don’t think there are any around now.
15. Fishing Hole - This was located off Wade Hampton Blvd between Taylors and Greer. It was actually an old large concrete swimming pool. It was a pay to fish place stocked with catfish and trout.
16. Finally, I have a vague recollection of a huge slide. It was on 185 across from the K-mart, kinda near where the McDonald’s is now. It was like a mountain of slides. Am I remembering correctly?

Well, that’s a bunch that I could remember.

[vistatiger]

Yes I remember the Train and Krystal on N. Pleasantburg near the old Lake Forest shopping center there. The Krystal building is still there and houses a title loan place now. John Paul's was good eats!

I believe Charlie Gertz's wife (Lucille I think was her name) did run Casablanca on River St. While I didn't hang out there much I remember folks saying you would see Charlie stop by there a lot of nights on his break between the 6 and 11 news.
Won a "Charlie Said It Would" Umbrella one time. lol.

[boykinlp]

Originally Posted by vistatiger

Yes I remember the Train and Krystal on N. Pleasantburg near the old Lake Forest shopping center there. The Krystal building is still there and houses a title loan place now. John Paul's was good eats!

I believe Charlie Gertz's wife (Lucille I think was her name) did run Casablanca on River St. While I didn't hang out there much I remember folks saying you would see Charlie stop by there a lot of nights on his break between the 6 and 11 news.
Won a "Charlie Said It Would" Umbrella one time. lol.

Yep, it is a title loan place, and the Lake Forest Shopping Center is still alive and well. While I didn’t hang out at the Casablanca, I did got there a couple of times and saw Charlie there both times.

Here is a test for some “more seasoned” Greenville residents. The building on Pleasantburg that has housed “Taco Casa” for many, many years used to seem to be cursed. Many businesses would open up there, but fold fairly quickly. When I was in elementary or early middle school, there was an ice cream shop there. In fact, one of my classmate’s parents owned it. It made a go of it for quite awhile seemingly breaking the curse. Any of you folks remember what it was called? I can’t remember for the life of me. BTW, Taco Casa was actually named something else when it first opened as a Mexican restaurant. Do any of you remember the original name? I do know this.

[vistatiger]

I don't remember the Ice Cream place and would love to know the name of the original Mexican chain? That building always had an English vibe to me with the dark wood trim inside like an old Cedric's Fish and Chips place from years ago.

[boykinlp]

Originally Posted by vistatiger

I don't remember the Ice Cream place and would love to know the name of the original Mexican chain? That building always had an English vibe to me with the dark wood trim inside like an old Cedric's Fish and Chips place from years ago.

vistatiger, when Taco Casa first opened, it was called Taco Cid. Taco Casa had a second location in Easley many years ago too, kinda close to where Lowe’s is, on Hwy. 123.